It is a sales promotion technique that compares the products or services of one undertaking with those of other competitors.

It is designed to highlight the advantages of the goods or services offered by the advertiser as compared to those of a competitor. It drives sales by comparing the features or services of a brand with that of its closest competitor.

Some of the reasons for brand wars are:

To generate attention and larger number of views. To make certain claims that they are better than their competitors.

A creative way to show that competitors claims are not

sensible.

VS

It is a product of HUL. Rin was launched in India as a bar in

1969 with the iconic lightning .

Rin powder was launched in 1994 as Rin Power White. The advertising campaign 'ZARA SA RIN' which means 'just a little of Rin' achieves superlative whiteness.

This was hugely successful in establishing a superior brand

image in the consumer's mind.

It is manufactured by Procter & Gamble.

The brand in India was launched with only two types of

products namely Tide detergent and Tide bar.

Consumers believe that white clothes once dirtied or stained can never look new again. Tide wanted to change this very belief of the consumers by bringing to life the Tide dirt magnets property.

Initially Tide was trailing behind Rin but since 2007, sales picked up, and its market share rose posing a threat to HUL whose share started eroding. In December 2009, P&G Home Products introduced Tide Natural, a new version of Tide, at a price lower than HULs Rin brand targeted at the rural segment.

Competitive intensity had increased after the launch of Tide Naturals by P&G in the mass segment.
HUL had responded with aggressive price cuts in Rin and a formulation change and thus the war begins.

In Jan 2004 new Rin powder was launched with double whiteness proposition. Rin was priced at Rs. 42 for 1 kg pack, and Rs. 20 for 500 gms and Rs. 10 for 250 grams. Seeing the bold & confident move from Hul and realizing that pricing being of one reason for not being accepted by market even P&G slashed the prices of Tide. The Price was brought down to Rs. 23 for 500 gms as against previous price of Rs. 43 , Rs. 50 for 750 gms as against Rs. 70.

Rin launched a commercial in 2010 comparing Rin and Tide

naturals.

In the ad the boy using rin questions AUNTY CHAUNK KYU

GAYI? with the obvious reference to tide caption CHAUNK GAYE !

Thus claiming better whiteness than tide naturals at an affordable price.

P&G takes HUL to court over Rin advertisement. The practice of pulling down rivals in ones marketing communications is not new in India, yet, the ad took the

industry by surprise because it was an open war declared by

one powerful company against the other.

P&G has

filed a

case in the Calcutta

High Court

against Hindustan Unilever's new ad campaign, which openly challenged the superiority of its product Rin over P&G's Tide.

The price wars enabled P&G to popularize the brand and increase the penetration.

Tide had found its formula highlighting its whitening power

against HULs Rin which has the same positioning.

On the other hand war entered a new episode when HUL

launched its RIN SAFEDI KI CHALLENGE campaign .

Apart from this there is also a layer of celebrity power in the form of bollywood actor Kajol as an additional punch .

VS

Horlicks has been a popular brand in India since 1930. The Horlicks available has been scientifically developed and specifically caters to the nutritional needs of the Indian diet. Horlicks alone enjoys 50% of the Health Food Drinks market. Complan was launched in India in 1964. Complan the Complete Planned Food in a Drink is formulated as per the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines suggested for growing children.

Horlicks initially positioned itself as food for convalescing and a nutrient supplement for kids only. Later on it introduced other variants to reposition itself from children segment to other segments. Its brand image too have changed from a boring health drink to something that is nourishing& enjoyable.

Complan proclaims itself as a Complete Planned Food for growthwith 23 nutrients.

Later it gave up its comparative positioning & tried to match the product claim & the customer needs.

Horlicks

Earlier Horlicks believed, white drinks are

for the entire family in contrast to the

browns, whose prime target audience is children.

It targets mothers for its nourishment and kids for its great taste and variety.

Complan

Complan

mainly

target

growing

children

because children need adequate and balanced

nutrition to help them achieve their maximum

growth potential.

Complan is also ideal for busy adults (especially housewives and rushed office-goers), expectant and nursing athletes. mother, elderly people and

Both Complan & Horlicks are

available in different flavors in

different package sizes with different price points.

BRAND

MANUFACT TARGET -URER

MARKET SHARE

PRODUCT AVAILABILITY

CLAIM

GSK

Children, women, pregnant women & elderly people

50%

>5lac retail outlets

"Children have become taller, stronger and sharper. The Horlicks challenge now proven. Grow faster with Complan.

HEINZ CADBURY

Growing children,athle tes,busy adults

17%

>7lac retail outlets

Horlicks

Initially, horlicks was just a nutritional drink positioned only for the sick patients and mal nutritioned. But later it repositioned itself as complete nutritional

drink.

With the slogan HAPPONG , OPPANG , CHAPPONG . It again improved itself to TALLER, STRONGER, SHARPER.

It soon came up with Junior Horlicks , Mothers Horlicks and Horlicks Lite thereby pulling in new customers.

Complan

Milk has a unique position in the consumers psyche.

It positioned itself directly against milk. The ad said, YOUR BODY NEEDS 23 VITAL FOOD, MILK GIVES 9 COMPLAN GIVES ALL 23 NUTRIENTS. The strategy went through a radical change. It was now decided to position it-not by competitor-but by target user and usage occasion. COMPLAN is complete with 23 vital foods for the body. It repositioned itself as a drink fulfilling the nourishment needs of people who cannot or do not eat enough.

The Complan boy goes on to say, Mine makes me Taller' with

the show of measuring up the height on one's shoulder at the

Complan ads, the Horlicks boy replies, MINE MAKES ME TALLER, STRONGER & SHARPER.

The Complan boy then says, MINE COSTS RS. 170 and the Horlicks boy replies, MINE COSTS ONLY RS. 131.

Horlicks thus highlighted the nutritional content and price gap between the two brands, and showed Horlicks as a better and more inexpensive health drink.

As you all know that Every coin has two sides Similarly comparative advertisements are important and beneficial from the consumers and producers point of view only to the extent it is providing information about the product and making them aware. On the other hand comparative advertisements are not beneficial if advertisers comparisons are false & misleading.