Lifebuoy Launches Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna

Hindustan Lever Limited’s Lifebuoy,today announced the launch of LIFEBUOY SWASTHYA CHETNA, the first single largest rural health and hygiene educational program. Lifebuoy will make multiple repeat contacts in nearly15,000 villages in 8 states across rural India. The campaign aims to educate children and the community about the threat ofunseen germs and basic hygiene practices. Lifebuoy has alreadysuccessfully conducted pilot studies in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar. This campaign teaches people about maintaining good health through practice of basic hygienic habits including the handwash habit.Announcing the Swasthya Chetna Movement, Mr. Ashok Ganapathy, Marketing Manager - Mass Market Business, Hindustan Lever Limited said, “This program has been developed around the insight that people believe “visible clean is safe clean”. Swasthya Chetna aims to establish the existence of “invisible germs” and the associated risk of infection. Lifebuoy SwasthyaChetna is a movement aimed at creating awareness about hygienepractices including handwashing, among the rural community. Webelieve that this campaign will change the underlying behaviorand attitude of the village folk towards health and hygiene.”Mr. Ganapathy added, “ In India especially, diarrhoea is the second largest cause of death among children below the age of 5. A study conducted by WHO reflects that deaths due to diarrhoea may be reduced by as much as 42.1% if villagers are induced to wash their hands with soap before partaking meals the campaign therefore endeavors to inculcate good health and hygiene practices highlighting the importance of regular habitof handwash.

Phases of the Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna campaignThe Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna campaign has been divided into various phases. In the initial phase the Health Development Facilitator (HDF) and his assistant will initiate contact and

interact with students and the influencers of the community like the Sarpanch, medical practitioners, Panchayat members, etc. A number of tools like a pictorial story in a flip chart format, the Glo-germ demonstration and a quiz with attractive prizes to reinforce the message will be used to make the module interactive and gain involvement from school children.

Glo-Germ demonstrationThe Glo-Germ demonstration is a unique tool to make unseen germs visible and emphasize the need to use soap to wash handsand kill germs. Through this interaction children will be sensitized about germs, their harmful effects on health and simple methods to observe personal hygiene.

This interaction will then be replicated with the rest of the community and the key messages on hygiene and health will be reinforced through subsequent contacts, thus preparing the community to sustain and internalize the messages. In subsequent interactions the village children with the help of the Health Development Facilitator (HDF) will expose parents to the health and hygiene communication. The purpose is to present the activity as the villagers’ self initiative, wherein the Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna HDF will be a facilitatorand an influential personality from the village the chief guest. This will bring about an ownership of the program from the village community.

Reinforcing the importance of health in rural India“The objective of this program is to bring about a change in the underlying behaviours and attitudes of the village folk and in our experience one visit will not be sufficient for thesame. There is a need for a sustained communication which keeps reinforcing the health message and hence we have devisedmultiple visits by the Health Development Facilitators (HDF) to each village.” Mr. Ganapathy added.

By the end of these multiple interactions, it is envisaged that the villages will have understood and internalized the importance of handwashing among observing other hygiene practices. Since health awareness is an ongoing process, the initiatives of the village residents will evolve the program and keep ‘Swasthya Chetna’ alive.

This campaign will be supervised and coordinated by Ogilvy & Mather’s Rural Outreach division. Health Development Officers (HDOs) from the target regions have already been appointed.

About Lifebuoy:Lifebuoy is among HLL’s power brands, which the company is focussing on, selected on the basis of their absolute size, brand strength, brand relevance, competitive advantage and potential for growth. The new Lifebuoy range now includes Lifebuoy Active Red (125gm, 100 gm and 60 gm) and Lifebuoy Active Orange (100gm). Lifebuoy Active Orange offers the consumer a differentiated health perfume while offering the health benefit of Lifebuoy. At the upper end of the market, Lifebuoy offers specific health benefits through Lifebuoy International (Plus and Gold). Lifebuoy International Plus offers protection against germs which cause body odour, while Lifebuoy International Gold helps protect against germs which cause skin blemishes.

In 2001, HLL’s soaps & detergents turnover was Rs.4295 crores,which is approximately 39% of the company’s net turnover of Rs.10972 crores. HLL has been significantly increasing investment behind its power brands, in innovation, quality improvement and marketing. These have been backed by major sales initiatives. In rural India, the focus is to further extend reach, which has resulted in direct coverage of about 46% of the rural population as of now. In urban markets, the objective is to improve customer service. Dedicated sales teams have been formed to service key accounts and wholesalersin larger towns and cities. A cell has been set up to attend to the modern trade, comprising chain stores.

HUL Targets Rural Market: “Lifebuoy Se Haath Dhoye Kya?”A bit of background: An estimated 2 million children in developing countries die every year of diseases related to poor hygiene. Since its founding, Unilever has had a strong commitment to hygiene and public  health . Hindustan Unilever believes the simple act of hand-washing with soap could cut down on that tragic rate of infant mortality.At the Kumbh  Mela  2013 where all big players were trying to sell their respective products, some way or the other, Hindustan Unilever Limited promoted Lifebuoy Soap through Rotis in an innovative manner.

Allahabad where Kumbh Mela 2013 took place – is a dusty and dirty place during the festival, and maintaining hygiene was something which was not on the top, in their list. Rather than displaying the Kumbh with banners and outdoor advertising, HUL preferred a new medium to  carry  the anti diarrhea messages.Hindustan Unilever Limited had an idea: What better way of reminding people to washtheir hands than just as they are about to eat? The company along with the creativeagency, Ogilvy had  partnered  with more than 100 Dhabas and Hotels at the mela siteand used heat-stamped device to print a message on 2.5 million fresh pieces of rotis. The message said, simply, “Lifebuoy Se Haath Dhoye Kya?” (Have you washed your hands with Lifebuoy?)

This stamped message gets the consumer’s attention at the exact time when hand washing is critical – “Right when the person sits down to eat roti with his hand”.

Roti being the staple food, and the only way to eat it is with your hands. The message on roti was impossible to miss or ignore. It’s sensible to expect that somewill remember the message every time they sit down to eat.

As the objective of this campaign was to reach the unreachable, what better way to reach a mass? This Kumbh Mela provided HUL a unique opportunity to communicate their message to large, predominantly rural population.

Lifebuoy – the over Hundred Year brand – Positioning Strategy

 Lifebuoy, the strong-smelling, dull red soap came to lifethrough the energetic  advertisements  in  the cinema hallswith the tune of “Tandurusti ki raksha karta hai Lifebuoy …” 

First introduced in India in early 1895 Lifebuoy spans nearly130 years, Lifebuoy moved from being a men's soap to a familysoap. Over the years Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) moved awayfrom the strong carbolic scent, it also modified theaesthetics of the outer packaging. The result is acontemporary-looking and fresher smelling soap which promised‘continuous protection from germs' for the entire family.  

1. Initial Positioning Strategy (from 1894 to 2002): Since1894 Lifebuoy had largely remained the ultimatemens' bathing bar.

2. Positioning shift (in 2002): The challenge for Lifebuoy wasto effect the change, while retaining the core – itsdisinfectant properties. So the core positioning strategy wasmoved from men battling grime and dirt to mothers chasinga  healthy  soap to ensure their children don't get infected

3. Reinvesting positioning strategy (2004):  In 2004,Lifebuoy was re-launched with four variants and all thevariants came under one ‘umbrella' look. The variantswere Lifebuoy Strong, Lifebuoy Fresh, Lifebuoy Gold andLifebuoy Naturals

4: Seasonal Positioning strategy(2011): Lifebuoy started being sold on a ‘seasonal'platform with the communication proposition being‘Protection from 10 infection causing germs'.   The tengerms being are flu, sore throat, respiratory infection,dysentery, diarrhoea, rash, skin infection, sore eyes,pimples and ear infection.

5. Positioning Problem in the urban markets: AlthoughLifebuoy has stuck to its base proposition over the years;analysts say it has not been able to keep many of its urban

audiences interested. Given the category and thecompetitiveness therein, it's not surprising that Lifebuoyhas attempted to refresh itself every few years. Over theyears, there are many campaigns from the brand that arefresh in public memory, right from the sweaty players on thefootball field to the Little Gandhi advertisements. 

Rural Market strategy: Lifebuoy has a pan-India presence andthe rural markets make up more than half of its overall sales.There are a lot of challenges that the soap faces in thesemarkets.

In rural markets Lifebuoy has to build a relevance of germs.In the case of urban markets a lot of people understand thatgerms cause illness. In rural markets Lifebuoy has to explainto people that there are things called germs and if they don’twash their hands the germs will cause illness.

Although the product quality is the same, the company doeshave cheaper variants of Lifebuoy in rural areas. Lifebuoy isavailable in 38-gm stock keeping units that cost Rs 5, inrural areas. This aids easy product penetration. 

The Hindustan Unilever owned soap brand has been an active proponent of handwashing with soap and instilling a hygienic handwashing behaviour since many years. In an endeavour towards this, the brand aims to change the handwashing behaviour of a billion people by 2015, through a set of social mission programmes to educate about hygiene. This year Lifebuoy has adopted Thesgora, an Indian village with one of the highest ratesof diarrhoea to spread the message of hygienic handwashing. And, Lifebuoy has been asking for our pledge to help promote

handwashing education. So far, the campaign has received more than 5K pledges. Lifebuoy’s new social campaign is an ad of more than three minutes featuring a father walking upto the Temple on his hands, as a sign of devotion, as his son has reached the age of 5. The ad conveys the message that, in rural areas of India, the death limits of children under the age of 5 are higher and we should be socially aware to save them. This ad is to promote Lifebuoy’s Hand-washing program andto pledge support from Indian government and people. Lifebuoy has been working on teaching healthy habits to children from decades and this new ad is purposely to targeted to the same cause.Lifebuoy’s Global Vice-President Samir Singh says “Lifebuoy’s goal is to change the hand-washing behavior of a billion people by 2015 in order to help save lives and reduce disease. On top of the work we havebeen doing on-ground for the last ten years, we needed people to support our cause in huge numbers to reach our goal. We wanted to tell the world the Lifebuoy story in a deeply emotional way. Our brief to Lowe was to translate the statistic of “2 million children still die inthe world before the age of 5 due to preventable infections like diarrhea and pneumonia” into something real, personal and powerful. Andthrough this film, they have done just that.”As per his words, the word is meant to attract customers for Lifebuoy; rather it wants to aware people about the truth and adopt to simple habits which can lead for a healthy life. Even Samir Singh wanted & stressed that people shouldn’t take it a beautiful and forget; we wouldsay the ad is well  conceptualized and will aware people.