WILD CARD PERSONAL WASH LIFEBUOY

LIFEBUOY SUPERFAST HAND WASH CASE STUDY

Market Scenario:
With the rise in incidences of various epidemics globally, there is a structural shift in the Skin Cleansing (SCL) market towards the Health & Hygiene (H&H) products, which is driving category growth. In this market hand wash (HW) is the fastest growing format, growing ahead of bars and body wash, with a potential to grow exponentially. Lifebuoy is the world's largest H&H brand by volume within the SCL category. However HW is still a small part of the brand currently contributing under 10% of Lifebuoy's overall turnover. Due to the growth opportunity in the HW market many players are beginning to enter into this segment with tailor made offerings, as such there is a growth in the number of SKUs available in the market. The global HW market has the appetite for more consumer need specific SKUs & variants. In the HW market some of the major competitors of Lifebuoy are:

- Dettol: The biggest player in the H&H HW market, Dettol's message for liquid HW is focused on indicting bar that is
used and touched by many people. Dettol is proliferating the market with different variants such as the core germ kill range, naturals range, healthy tough range etc. and are upgrading consumers through premium formats such as HW devices.

- Kirei Kirei: A considerable opponent in South East Asian market, Kirei Kirei is focusing on a superiority message
about killing bad bacteria and being the No. 1 brand in Japan.

- Carex: Their proposition is based on faster germ kill with promotions to drive consumption (Pump & refill banded
packs)

- Protex: The third largest player in the H&H market, Protex's proposition is about 10X more antibacterial protection.

Consumer Profile:
The HW consumer is a 25-35 year old mother with kids. She lives in a big city, resides in a 2BHK (1100 sq ft). She shops in supermarket for monthly grocery but visits a neighborhood grocer for top up purchases. She wants her family to be healthy & feels responsible for driving their hygiene habits. She is aspirational and desires to project herself as a progressive urban woman. Her children are now spending more time outdoors and she is worried about their health and hygiene. She runs a very tight family budget and tries her best to contribute to family savings as much as possible She uses bar soap for hand washing for the entire family. She believes that a liquid HW doesn't add much. Bar is good enough and efficacy is not a problem. However, HW is only kept in the guest washroom to appear progressive and modern in front of her friends, families & relatives. She is worried that kids don't wash hands properly and therefore they may have germs left on their hands which could cause infection She believes that bar soap is as effective as liquid HW for washing hands. As she doesn't see any superiority for liquid HW over bars, she doesn't understand the value and need to pay more for a liquid HW Liquid HW is merely seen as a modern and progressive format

Lifebuoy's Role:
The campaign run by Lifebuoy during the last 3 years has proven to be successful and has taken Lifebuoy HW to new heights. The success lies behind identifying the real consumer insight that could drive HW adoption. The insight was that despite education by governments, manufacturers and NGOs to wash hands for a minute to get germ free hands, consumers only washed hands for about 7-8 seconds on average. This was even more evident for kids, who never washed hands properly. All along competition was focused on driving long hand washing with undifferentiated 99.9% germ kill claims. Instead of trying to change the behaviour of consumers, Lifebuoy delivered a HW that promised 99.9% Germ Protection in just 10 seconds. Hence, delivered a product that changed for the consumers instead of changing them.

LIFEBUOY SUPERFAST HAND WASH CASE STUDY

Lifebuoy HW has 4 SKUs for different consumer needs: Total - for core germ protection, Care - for germ protection and moisturized skin, Active Fresh for germ protection and cooling fresh feeling on skin, Nature - for germ protection with natural ingredients. Currently there is no communication done on the separate variants. Competitor brands sometime have as many as 10 HW variants targeted at different consumer needs.

Marketing Mix:
Given that HW contribution to the total brand is quite small there are investment constraints with promoting the HW message and sustaining it. However, a number of activities were conducted within the limited budget. Proposition: For the first time for many countries that have Lifebuoy HW, two new TV commercials were aired highlighting the 10 second HW message.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro9duaoL_EQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLHp65g1q6U&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL89BAB3770EFE176C

Product: Product superiority was demonstrated at point of sale and urban schools through product demonstrations. Pack: Combination of 200ml & 500ml pump packs, coupled with refills pouches were introduced to ensure continued repeat purchases. Place: The new campaign allowed expanded distribution across super markets and key traditional trade outlets Promotion: Price-offs were deployed to drive penetration amongst consumers. Pricing: Pricing was managed in a manner in which bar users could upgrade to Liquid Hand wash.

Opportunities & Challenges Ahead:

The business challenge for Lifebuoy is how to develop, grow and accelerate the HW category within the constraint of a limited support budget given the relatively small size of current HW business. Therefore, the answers to the following questions are critical for the brand's success: 1. How can Lifebuoy HW develop the HW market by getting bar consumers to use liquid HW and thereby driving penetration? Suggest a marketing model that drives this conversion across various consumer touch points using the current superior proposition of 99.9% germ kill in just 10 seconds. 2. Given the budget constraints for the HW segment of the brand, suggest a support model that effectively reaches consumers and can be sustained. Assume minimal TV communication and propose an innovative channel communication mix. 3. Since the HW market has the appetite for more variants, look at consumer trends and identify one new variant idea that Lifebuoy as a health & hygiene brand could launch. Suggest an appropriate launch strategy to introduce the new variants into the market within the constraints of a limited budget. Assume no TV communication is possible for the new variant.

Methodology:
Consumer interactions to identify triggers and barriers to drive market development for HW and touch points to innovatively communicate the HW message Store visits to understand the retail environment and marketing initiatives by existing players. Establish key learnings from best practices of competitors and other categories that can be used to drive penetration with limited investment. Study of non conventional media channels and its relevance to the HW category and how they can be used in a cost effective manner

Expected Output:
A clear marketing strategy and recommended channel mix to answer the above questions

LIFEBUOY SUPERFAST HAND WASH CASE STUDY