ByHina 23

Praggya 89Nihareika 91Gaurang 79

Isha 81

HLL’s Brand (now Unilever) Launched in 1975 Marketed by Unilever in 40 countries in

Asia, Africa and the Middle East, with India being the largest single market

Claims to offer dramatic whitening results in just six weeks

Has now also launched gels and soaps

Brand Structure Family of products Single product with line extension

Brand Extension Soaps

Brand Policy Renovation rather then innovation

Entire Asia Region where Fair skin amounts to a higher status in life

Fairness creams command a 48% share in the skin cream segment

All segments of women Now they have launched a product for

men as well

Volume share of 82 per cent of the fairness creams and lotions category in July 2003 as per the AC Nielsen retail audit.

By value also, Fair & Lovely's share was 82 per cent.

In terms of growth, Fair & Lovely recorded a volume growth of 16.7 per cent in July 2003 over July 2002.

Value growth for the brand was 10.4 per cent during the same period.

CavinKare’s brand Fairever Godrej’s FairGlow Combined market share of 16%

Saffron extracts Claims of using only Natural Products Countered by Fair and Lovely by

launching its new lines of Herbal and Ayurvedic Variants

Fairness Soap- claims to whiten the entire body as opposed to just the face

Contains OXY-G Fair and Lovely Launched its own soap

A package sold in market displays one face six times, in an ever-whitening progression, and includes before and after photos of a woman who presumably used the product

On its website the company calls its product “the miracle worker” which is proven to deliver one to three shades of change

Fair & Lovely’s heavily aired television commercials typically contain the message of a depressed woman with few prospects that gains a brighter future by either attaining a boyfriend/husband or a job after becoming markedly fairer, which is emphasized in the advertisements with a silhouette of her face lined up dark to light. It is interesting to note that in the print and TV advertisements, as the woman becomes ‘whiter’ she also becomes noticeably happier! Such advertisements have attracted much public criticism, especially from women’s groups at every place

Unilever has countered the criticism it has received for its Fair & Lovely advertisement by saying that complexion is one of the Asian standards of beauty and that it is a dimension of personal grooming: “A well-groomed person usually has an advantage in life”.

Sadly Indians do believe in the superiority of the fair skinned

Phase I : Launch of the product on the basic premise that

"younger women wanted to have fairer skin in order to attract a better looking husband."

Value preposition : "Get noticed by the man of your life.“

Phase II : the brand talked to a younger college going woman

who is self confident and more modern in her outlook and believes home remedies for facial care to be old fashioned.

Phase III : Brand laddering

Launch phase – building efficacy and safety as it was the first brand that was offering real, tangible fairness.

Romance phase – there were a series of films made on getting the man of one’s dreams. In addition, Fair & Lovely also spoke to the married women about keeping the spark in the marriage alive.

Destiny phase – this is the phase about achieving one’s dreams and desires. The key communications that epitomise this phase are the Airhostess ad, the Cricket ad and the Ayurveda ad.

‘Rescripting Destiny’ a brand that stands for “beauty that

empowers a woman to change her destiny”.

The brand’s commitment towards empowering women has inspired the initiation of Fair & Lovely Foundation.

Whiteness, even the packaging – pink and white, colours to promote a fair,

beautiful and spotless skin. Also by introducing a 5 Rs. Pack, they are also targeting the lower

segment, leading to further market penetration.

The personality of this brand essentially is Feminism and beauty.

The brand projects sophistication, feminism and beauty in each of its marketing and positioning efforts.

Ironically though, if we may call them the spill-over effects, the perceived advantage of fairer skin have attracted the male segment as well.

In fact, they constituted a major chunk of the product users. And this is what led to the development of similar male-oriented products.

Fair and Lovely stands for fair skin Attracts women with a wheatish and dark

complexion, who want to become fair and beautiful and fulfil their aspirations in life i.e. to find a handsome match or a desired career e.g. a fair and lovely

Commercial shows a girl achieving the ambition of being a cricket commentator.

The brand primarily targets the middle class woman

not had many avenues to materialize her aspirations in terms of career plans etc.

by spending a paltry amount, as little as Rs 5 strives to add on her to self-esteem & raise her social status by acquiring a beautiful, fair skin and thus an advantage in all that she ventures into.

Complexion is one of the Indian standards of beauty beauty has always been equated with fairness. Indian culture has always heralded a fair beautiful

woman as one who is much sought after and one who usually has an advantage in life.

Fair and Lovely advertisements leveraged this aspect by initially showcasing how within a span of six weeks of using Fair n Lovely, a dark complexioned, not-so-happy girl acquires fairer skinand gets a respectable match and thus a happy life.

Eventually, the focus shifted towards the more career-oriented woman. They too were shown to have an advantage in life pan fair skin.

Relationship: A credible brand which promises beautiful skin to the consumer.

The company was forced to withdraw television advertisements for the product in 2007.

Time to time there have been complaints in ASCI

Garnier light matte Olay total effects The uproar over `demeaning' fairness

creams advertisements which had erupted does not seem to have blemished brand sales in any way.

Strengths Distribution network Brand Awareness & Recognition 1st movers advantage Positioning and Pricing Aggressive Marketing

Weaknesses No innovation Same Products with some Variation

Opportunities Face Wash and other Personal Care segments Growing Indian Economy

Threats Many new players Loss of premium placed on fair skin Flak from Human Rights Activists

Face Washes Body Washes Project their Social Initiatives Move Focus of Advertisements from

Fairness Leading to Success