GODREJ

            It had been a long time since I had come across an ad campaign that was aimed at creating awareness about the product, rather than hard selling it by highlighting its USP. So it was interesting to see a Times of India cover page ad for the launch of Godrej Protekt hand sanitizers. Although the product was launched a couple of months ago by model/actress Mugdha Ghodse, the promotion of Protekt is being implemented now.

            Hand Sanitizers, in spite of existing on store shelves since a few years, are the new thing in the minds of Indian consumers. Before the launch of Protekt, Himalaya Healthcare was the only organized player in this category with its brand Pure Hands. With the launch of Godrej Protekt, the FMCG giant Godrej has added the element of Personal Care and Hygiene to the width of its product mix.

The hand sanitizer market in India, currently estimated to be worth around 10 crore INR (around 10% of the total HandWash category), has the potential to become a sizeable category in the near future, especially after the outbreak of epidemics like Swine Flu. Even Himalaya Healthcare, that has been selling hand sanitizers in the Indian market since 2004, saw its sales leapfrog during the H1N1 panic, due to which it started retailing the 500 ml pump packs, which were erstwhile only meant for hospitals and clinics. Godrej, however, denies that the launch of Protekt is an opportunistic move, as hand sanitizers under the Godrej brands Cinthol and Cuticura are already available in the UK and the Middle-East.

“Whatever stock we sold in the last five years or so ever since the launch is the exact stock we sold in the last three to four months”, says Saket Gore, Business Head – Consumer Products of the Himalaya Drug Company.

The strategy, however, that Himalaya was using all the while was to push their product to the consumers through beauty advisors around the country and through doctors. Advertising, so far, for Pure Hands has been nil.

Even Wipro, that launched Hand Sanitizers under its ayurvedic brand Chandrika in August 2009, claimed 15 – 20 lakhs sales within a week of its launch, thanks to the chemists, and the radio and outdoor campaigns.

Godrej had not too long ago repositioned itself, with new colors in its logo, for the next generation. With the launch of Protekt, it has targeted the same audience for whom it had revamped its identity, viz. the youth, the young adults, and the urban crowd.

Following is the front and back of the cover page ad, made by R. K. Swamy BBDO Pvt. Ltd., in the Times of India issue dated February 24, 2010:

LOOK: The look of the ad is decent enough on the front, but the back of the half-page ad gives the impression of an ad for a medical product and not a daily use FMCG product at first sight. This, however, can be overlooked since the front is what every reader will see first.

The visual shows a carefree girl (careless in case of this ad) enjoying pani-puri from a roadside vendor, whereas her hygiene conscious friend is carrying a wash basin.

CONTENT: The copy of the ad is again pretty decent, nothing that I can go gung-ho about. The ad claims to kill 99.99% germs in 15 seconds. The front and the back together display the directions for using the product, and the features of the product like killing germs, fragrance, etc. In the end, it also additionally promotes the Hand Wash and Hand Wipes under the same brand.

The visual used in the ad, that of two girls eating at the roadside, seemed an average idea to me. They could have rather shown a girl playing with a street dog, or even the clichéd bus handles and train doors would have looked better. And moreover, if a girl is hygiene conscious like the one in this ad, then she won’t have any roadside item in the first place, leave aside bothering about cleaning her hands after eating.

CASTING: Again in the casting, the model chosen as carefree and the one chosen to be the hygiene freak wash basin carrier should have been interchanged. I say this because the carefree girl looks fresher, and the hygienic girl’s skin in the ad looks somewhat oily, which is normally not the case in such girls as they keep wiping it off regularly. (My apologies to that model in case she’s reading this!)

CONNECT: One thing I really liked in the ad is the fact that it tried to strike a chord with girls and not boys. This shows that the company and the agency understand their target market, as girls are generally seen to be more finicky about such stuff than guys.

OVERALL RATING: 2.5/5

Changing the consumer mindset and imbibing the habit of hand sanitizer will be the major challenge, not only for Godrej, but for all the players in this category. From Chandrika of Wipro to Handys of Aditya Birla, and now Protekt of Godrej, everyone is trying to place itself on the top shelf inside the new rack of hand sanitizers created in the consumers mind. How many bruises will Protekt give to the other brands in the war for market share is something we will have to sit back and watch.

(P. S.: I am unaware of the term used to refer to such ads that are placed on an additional half cover of the newspaper like a prompter. I request anyone who is aware of this terminology to kindly let me know what it is called in the comments. Thank you.)