Market Report on LiRil 2000

From

To

LAVANYA HATWALNE
DIV : A ROLL NO: 30
NMIMS FT-MBA CORE Ist YEAR
DATE: 17/08/2009
After reading the Liril story in Brand Equity dated 05 August 09, I could relate the
metamorphosis of Liril 2000 from Liril to a mythological bird called Phoenix. It is an immortal
bird that, when it dies, bursts into flames and is reborn from its own ashes to make a miraculous
comeback. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. This time Liril is living its
10th life per say and Hindustan Unilevers expects it to live its life to the fullest. But that’s a big
debate and a hot topic of discussion in the advertising & marketing community today. The last
attempt to revive the once-popular brand itself is under question here.

In a brief to recapitulate the events in the life of Liril, Hindustan Levers acted to the fact that the
brand’s market share was down to 1.2%, a far cry from the once 14% share. HUL’s Liril soap
was first popularized by the signature imagery of a bikini-clad girl under a waterfall and owned
the proposition of freshness in that category for a long time. However they decided to go through
sweeping change in their advertising strategy with a completely different setting, early morning
charm inside a home claiming to rejuvenate 2,000 body points with every use. Some say it’s a
terrible mistake on HUL’s part to have changed the idea of Liril altogether and some consider it
HUL might be focusing on the new age consumers, who are not very influenced by the earlier
brand imagery.

This leads us to answer two probable questions on the Liril 2000 fiasco.

1. Do you think Liril needs an overhaul? If so why?

In the Rs 4,000-crore Indian toilet soap market, Liril’s share of value has slipped from 3.5
per cent in 2000 to just 1.2 per cent at present. (Source: ACNielsen ORG-MARG). The
brand was lying low for a long time. And so, it was time the company built some excitement
around it. But instead of directly saying that the soap is about freshness, the latest TV
Commercial of Liril, focuses on a family, a married couple with a kid rather than on a female
model something most of us would not associate Liril with.
HLL’s earlier attempts to breathe new life into Liril haven’t been too successful. In the mid-
1990s, it launched variants like Liril Cologne Lime and Liril Active Shower Gel. Both were
soon withdrawn from the market and for some years after that, there was no excitement
around the brand.
In 1999, HLL launched yet another Liril variant, Rainfresh, in a blue-coloured pack — Liril’s
first extension since its inception to a “non-lime” variant. This was followed by Liril Icy
Cool Mint (variant containing menthol) in April 2002. Rainfresh and two shower gels
introduced in 2003 have also been withdrawn.
Then HUL introduced a highly hyped Orange Splash, which was a new variant in its
category, it showed good signs, but declined later on.
But why is a brand that created the lime category in the Indian soaps market facing such
slippery times? It’s not just the entry of new players — although there are plenty of those.
Cinthol launched its lime variant, Lime Fresh, Nirma followed soon with Nirma Lime, But it
is telling that apart from Liril, all the other lime soaps are being phased out — actually, the
“freshness” category is declining. The market of lime-based soaps was soaked, washing away
Liril’s lime hegemony.
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This led the HUL think tanks to create and develop an altogether different image of Liril in
the eyes of the consumer, not only did they introduce a totally different approach to the
advertising but also the entire product was changed. The brand packaging has been changed
to dark green and the shape of the soap is changed to rectangle. This overhauling of Liril was
inevitable, but only time can tell how the consumers will react to the new product.

2. Is the positioning of Liril 2000, a confused one? Is it appropriate for Lever to move
away from `freshness’ to `rejuvenate 2000 body parts’? Will this help Liril acquire new
customers and win back the lost market share?

As mentioned earlier, Liril was loosing its domination in the lime-based category, the
“freshness” category itself was declining in the market. This has left Liril is a state of
dilemma and confused like a proverbial drunkard who went to Himalayas to become a sadhu.
Neither he could become one, nor could he get back to his life of drunkenness!!!. But, I do
think that there has to have a strong reason behind the change where the finest brains in HUL
must have agreed to change Liril’s persona from “freshness” to “ rejuvenate 2000 body
parts”, but the attempt didn’t really click like the original and to the expectation of HUL.

The concept is flawed in a sense that as HUL obviously borrowed Liril 2000 idea from the
parent’s company’s Lever 2000 , also the larger issue is about the various failed attempts to
revive the brand. A set in the desert, under a different waterfall, in a car wash, in the rain,
amongst dolphins – did not really create the hype of the first ad . So is it about trying too
many things in ads and a failure of advertising. But the idea of `rejuvenate 2000 body parts’
is being strongly backed by HUL.

A HUL spokesperson, explains that while it is good to be iconic, it is critical to remain

relevant to the current consumers. He says with the changing social context, the key issue
being addressed by the Liril of 70s was no longer relevant to the consumers of today.
Changing a customer's mind is another matter since they are very difficult to change. With a
modicum of experience in a product category, consumers assume they're right. A perception
that exists in the mind is often interpreted as a universal truth. People are seldom, if ever,
wrong. At least in their own minds.

Nothing interesting ever happens unless we take risks. But when you realize you've made a
mistake, cut your losses. It's just so hard to admit a mistake. Denial is a wonderful thing.

I completely agree that it was appropriate for Lever to have gone through this much
needed change. We need to give ourselves the freedom to take risks and try a lot of different
things. But the obvious corollary here is that not all of those risks will work out. We need to
learn to quickly recognize the ones that don't and take the appropriate action.

Since decades anybody watching the advertisement for Liril soap could see only a girl
romancing with water which was considered to be a sign of

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 freshness. That was how Liril has being positioned since ages in the minds of the consumers.
The Fresh lime concept of Liril had made home in the minds of the consumers. More or less
everybody felt that this soap was mainly for the ladies and that too the working segment. The
main theme of the advertisement was freshness which revolved around lime.

HUL wanted to launch new disposition in Liril however it was very difficult for the company
to break this image in the minds of the consumers. The freshness concept of Liril was
strongly built in the minds of the consumers and changing this brand image was something
that was really changeling for HUL when it thought of venturing into other areas.

With all theses changes the company somehow had to change the commercial so that the
brand image also gets changed. Finally HUL with the help of Lintas has made this.

Gone are the days were one could just see a girl dancing. The company then decided to
introduce a family that cares and look for pleasure by the sense of touch of softer, cleaner
skin just to ensure that the brand image of lime or freshness for the Liril gets changed in the
minds of the consumers.

So will this new strategy work for HUL in time to come? The strategy might be negative in
the short-term but looks appealing in the long-term. The problem with not having a focus is
that your customers can only describe you in terms of your past. Liril's ‘Freshness’ tagline
even reinforces this. It's a fine tagline, but it doesn't say much to me about the future. The
New Liril is trying to choose ‘rejuvenate 2000 body parts’ as key benefit around which they
build their product message.

Frankly I liked the concept of rejuvenation and 2000 body points It is a celebration of their
20 years of history. It’s a new dawn for Liril, a totally new experience. That may be what
HUL also is hoping for.

A fact about Liril - How did Liril ad first came about?

In the 1970s HLL developed Indian campaigns for multinational type products. The most memorable brand till,
possibly, today was Liril soap. They studied the Indian housewife to find out what she thought about when she
got 10 minutes to herself. HLL’s research came up with an amazing answer — that she dreams of escape from
a life of drudgery and responsibility. Her thoughts begin to drift as she begins her bath. She hums a tune from a
popular Bollywood film and the most popular fantasy of all was Amitabh Bachchan riding on a white horse
and carrying her away from work…work…work. They then decided on a freshness soap based on these
findings. The soap would refresh the housewife as she escapes into her bath. On the basis of that was invented
the girl in the waterfall. The lala-la jingle became the theme song for young people ‘.in India. The ad was
partly inspired by Raj Kapoor’s movies and largely by Tarzan and Jane.

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