Black magic: Lux strategy gets powerful facelift  ( May '29,2001, FE)

IN order to create a significant differentiation from the rest of the market, Hindustan Lever Ltd has introduced a new range of Lux soaps in the popular segment. The new Lux Rich and Nourishing comes in three variants of honey, milk cream and almond oil. The relaunch is being supported by an advertising campaign created by HTA, which features film stars Karisma Kapoor and Rani Mukherjee.

The base line of the advertisement has been changed from “Lux, aur kya?” to “Lux, koi shakk?”—which goes a step ahead to flaunt an attitude. “The objective behind the relaunch of Lux is to mark a significant change between Lux and the other brands. To achieve this, we have for the first time introduced a black pack for the honey variant that stands out completely in a clutter,” says Mr Mukul Deoras, category head of personal wash, HLL. This assumption is based on the fact that a clutter-bursting packaging will ultimately lead to growth, concur city-based retailers.

The earlier range of blue, pink and white has been discontinued. The company expects the black variant to become a strong number two in the popular Lux portfolio. Pink is the number one selling variant in the Lux portfolio, contributing nearly 70 per cent of the total franchise. “While the pink variant will continue to be an all-time favourite among consumers, we expect the black variant to contribute as much as 20 per cent, as research reveals a good consumer acceptance for this variant,” explains Mr Deoras. The drive to relaunch it is aimed at a complete revamp of the brand by not interfering with the core position of a beauty soap. “The consumer knows that Lux is a beauty soap. Now we are substantiating this fact by stating why it is beneficial. Earlier it was Pure & Mild, now it is Rich & Nourishing — which strongly elaborates on the proposition,” says Mr Deoras. The goal thus is to highlight the strong benefits supported by reason. This has been based on deep consumer insight and understanding, claims Mr Deoras.

The relaunch comes even as the brand is at its best performance, with the aim to improve the proposition of the brand. Usually brands are given a face lift when they undergo static growth. The extension of this initiative — to relaunch a product even when it is doing fine — to other soap brands in Lever’s fold, is not ruled out, says Mr Deoras.

This trend could gather momentum considering the marked slowdown in the toilet soaps industry, point out industry observers. The last time the popular Lux was relaunched was in 1993. This was supported by an advertising campaign and for market activation a Gold Star campaign was kicked off to attract consumers. “Research was conducted on all elements of product, pricing, packaging, perfume, etc. These were tested and verified before going in for the relaunch,” Mr Deoras adds. The new Lux has been priced at Rs 11, which is a 50 paise mark-up on the previous range. The company justifies that no price increase was undertaken on the range in the last 2.5 years. The popular Lux range has a marketshare of 33 per cent in January-March 2001, as per ORG-Marg. The share stood at 32.1 per cent in April-June 2000. A static trend was witnessed in the early part of 2000.

The premium variants under Lux include, Lux with Sunscreen and Lux International. The market share of Lux International stood at 7.5 per cent in volume in January-March 2001. Coming back to the new campaign that will accompany the relaunch, Mr Deoras elaborates: “We chose Rani Mukherjee for the black commercial, as her persona rightly captures the mood. The campaign displays an attitude, which was earlier not being touted for Lux.” “Lux has to pull it out of the crowd,” claims Mr Deoras, further justifying the relaunc