Lifebuoy and Dettol

Lifebuoy soap and handwash Lifebuoy is one of Unilever's oldest brands, a brand that was truly 'global' before the term 'global brand' was invented. Lifebuoy Royal Disinfectant Soap was originally launched in 1894 as an affordable new product in the UK. Soon after launch, Lifebuoy soap traveled across the world, reaching consumers in the Middle East in their quest for better hygiene. Lifebuoy, an undisputed market leader for 117 years, has a compelling vision to make 5 billion people across the world, feel safe and secure by meeting their personal care hygiene & health needs. Consistent in Lifebuoy's 110+ year history has been its championing of health through hygiene. The brand's core promise of protection and a commitment to support life through unbeatable protection is at the heart of the brand name itself Lifebuoy, the guarantee of protection when you are threatened. Lifebuoy has journeyed from humble beginnings of being a chunky red bar of soap to an evolved range of general and specialized products across formats, offering solutions in the health and hygiene space.

Lifebouy has a strong social mission, promoted through its rural hygiene programme, Khushiyon Ki Doli, which propagates the practice of hand washing with soap to reduce diarrheal deaths. Lifebuoy is available in bar soaps, liquid handwash, hand sanitizer and talc.

Innovation Since 2000, major changes have been made to the classic Lifebuoy soap bar to ensure that it provides improved hygiene protection and a more enjoyable healthy washing experience for its billions of consumers. Lifebuoy soap's classic hard red brick shape has been replaced with a new signature Lifebuoy shape. The new shape makes the bar easier to grip and use .The

Lifebuoy Brand team have developed a new formulation providing even better germ protection which creates a rich lather on the skin. Lifebuoy soap's characteristic medicated, carbolic smell has been replaced with a more enjoyable and contemporary 'health' fragrance Lifebuoy has become more than just a red bar of soap today the brand provides hygiene and health solutions for families, including a range of bar soaps, hand wash liquids and liquid shower gels. Key facts:

Today Lifebuoy is sold in Asia and parts of Africa. It is market leader in every Asian market where it is sold

Lifebuoy soap has been proven in laboratories to provide 100% more effective germ protection than ordinary soaps

To date, 70 million people in rural India alone have experienced Lifebuoy's pioneering Health Education programme the single largest private hygiene education programme in the world

In 2005, Lifebuoy was awarded a 'Citizen Brand' accolade in Indonesia in recognition of the work the brand has undertaken in hand wash education

Nearly half of the Lifebuoy brand's consumption is in rural Asia, where most of the population live on less than US$1 per day Dettol soap and handwash Dettol is the trade name for a line of hygiene products manufactured by Reckitt Benckiser. As a brand, it is ranked the 48th most-trusted one in India by The Brand Trust Report 2011. Soaps have been the biggest growth driver for the 76-year old brand. The brands revenues were pegged at Rs 900 crore in July 2009, according to A C Nielsen data. Dettol has been able to command a premium because of the consumers preference for a brand that has never deviated from its health platform. There are multiple reasons for Dettols growth consistent positioning, stable pricing, careful brand extensions and smaller packs. It is amazing

to see how brand Dettol has been built over the last so many years with a message that is relevant even today. They have almost become a generic category in health. The packaging of all its products is distinct in their own way. The green and white colours and the sword have become symbols for fighting germs and infections, reinforcing the brands positioning as a bodyguard which protects people from the unhygienic world outside. Dettol has successfully extended germ protection -- the USP of its flagship product, the antiseptic liquid -- to soaps, hand washes and shaving cream, too. It has been able to guard the brand message and not let the brand occupy any other position in the consumer's mind .Soaps, launched in 1981, have been the biggest growth driver accounting for around 75 per cent of the total revenue. Soaps have seen a growth of 100basis points in less than a year (from a market share of 6.5 per cent, it has inched up to 7.7 per cent) in a Rs 7,500 crore market that is growing 8 to 9 per cent in value and 2 to 3 per cent in volumes. It also helped that the two market leaders from HUL's stables Lifebuoy and Lux have been steadily losing market share over the last year, according to AC Nielsen's April-May, 2009report.Up next could be herbal soaps from Dettol, which it is testing in Tamil Nadu. Its range of body washes, which is presently retailed through modern trade and large format stores, could also undergo a rejig and launched on a larger scale. The health platform has worked in other brand extensions as well. For example, liquid hand wash. Despite retailing at a higher price than competitors such as Fem and Lifebuoy, Dettol has maintained a lead in this segment with a 60 per cent market share in the Rs 100 crore market.

Analyze the two brands and answer the following questions: 1) Evaluate the positioning of each brand 2) Who are their target markets 3) What are their main points of parity and points of difference? 4) Have they defined their positioning correctly? How might it be improved?