Power(less) Brand Strategy

HUL is at it again. They have decided to launch a new brand called ‘Sure’ - a deodorant at a price that is affordable.

Nothing wrong with that. Only that the new brand is being launched at the expense of Rexona deodorant. Looks like HUL is planning to phase out Rexona – eventually. Though the phasing out would initially be restricted onlyto advertising support being withdrawn for Rexona. (Source: News item in Business Line dated May 13th)

Why? Though the news item doesn’t mention I am assuming it is a fall-out of the Power Brand Strategy HUL unleashed a few years ago. Phase out smaller or one-off brands and merge them with a big brand from their own stable so they could have a smaller yet a more focused portfolio of brands.

I might not have the brilliance of the collective minds of Levers, or even be able to match the individual minds of the organization, but I wonder what’s been the hidden logic, if there were ever one in the first place, behind these mergers? Isn’t marketing about creating different brands for different segments? Isn’t why we have concepts like Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning.

By merging brands aren’t they weakening the brands by making it stand for many things. For instance, Denim meant talc at one point of time and was reflected in a fairly strong presence the brand enjoyed in the talc category prior to its merger with Axe. Now that it has been merged, what’s Axe’s market share in talc? Zilch. Don’t believe me? Take this simple test. When I say Axe, what comes to your mind? Deo, women, sex……. But I bet talc is not one that props out, does it? Denim died and along with it a strong talc presence.

Rin, the undisputed leader in ‘whites’, lost it to Tide – not just because of Tide’s brilliant campaign but also, in its own way, because of its merger with Surf Excel. Rin meant ‘whites’; Surf Excel meant ‘dirt removal’. Two different things in the consumer’s mind. When merged, ‘Rin Surf Excel’ didn’t mean a thing - neither ‘whites’ nor ‘dirt removal’. The ‘whites’ segment of the category lost a name and was promptly filled by P&G with Tide. Are you surprised Tide today has twice the market share of Rin? You should be surprised Rin still exists!

Merging Rexona soap with Hamam was another master move to kill one, or worse, both brands. A master move if the competitors had done it to HUL. Pity, it was HUL doing it to themselves. Where is Rexona soap now? Last heard the brand managers at HUL were cleaning the shelves of any remaining vestiges of the brand.

This summer they have merged Pond’s Magic talc with Pond’s Dreamflower talc. Pond’s Magic had not seen advertising support since 2003 summer. What seems to have happened, I surmise, is another exhibition of extreme stupidity in the name of Power Brand Strategy. Pond’s Magic stood for ‘Attraction’ and Pond’s Dreamflower talc stood for ‘Confidence’ and then moved to ‘Beauty’. Post the merger of the two brands the combined entity seems to stand for ‘?’. You see the TV ad and try and figure out, if you can. By the way, both brands are now declining in the market. They are getting powdered by competition, allow me to pun!

I guess, it’s now deodorant time - merge Rexona with Sure so they could do to the brand what they had already done to their other brands so far. Never mind if Rexona is strong now. By the end of the year, if not early, Rexona deodorant would start to stink.

Ladies and gentlemen, that’s the infamous Power Brand Strategy conceived, created and caressed at the citadels of India’s foremost marketing company – Hindustan Unilever.

I am ‘Sure’ you get the picture. Damn my pun again!