Brand History:

In 1885 William Hesketh Lever and his brother James began a small factory in Warington, England, where they used palm and vegetable oils instead of tallow to produce soap. The first soap they produced was called Sunlight Soap, which was used primarily for household cleaning.

As the Lever Brothers' business grew, they expanded their company and built a larger factory as well as an employee village for workers on the Wirral Peninsula (eventually called Port Sunlight) across from Liverpool. While in Port Sunlight, the company began to experiment with creating different types of soap and Lifebuoy was born. It was the first to use carbolic acid or phenol as an ingredient in their cleaning products. This gave the soap its signature red coloring and a distinct medicinal odor. Carbolic was previously only used by people in medical professions, mostly surgeons, for disinfecting purposes. The addition of this ingredient to consumer products was considered a breakthrough in the early 1900s. 

The brand went global in 1911 and began distributing to countries such as the United States, Germany, Switzerland and Canada. In 1914, during WWI the brand encouraged those not fighting on the front to send Lifebuoy soap to soldiers to help keep them healthy, hygienic and best able to serve. Through the role it played in safeguarding the health of soldiers Lifebuoy became something of a national hero.

It launched in India in 1935 and has been an essential part of the daily Indian bathing experience for millions across the nation. The ruby red colour soap, with its distinct odour, has carried the Lifebuoy message of health across the length and breadth of the country, making it the largest selling soap brand, not only in India, but all across the world. It’s now marketed by Hindustan Unilever Ltd. which is is the country’s largest marketer of soaps, detergents, and home care products.

Evolution and Changes

· Lifebuoy went through several changes and incarnations throughout the brand's history. A white version of the soap was introduced in 1962 and contained a light perfume scent. Pink and aqua versions were released soon after. Each package of Lifebuoy soap contained the phrase "Knocks out B.O."and the brand is credited with coining the long-standing abbreviation for body odour.

· The original Lifebuoy soap was manufactured in the UK until 1987 when the production and distribution was halted. The brand was shortly taken over by Unilever and is still in production today---albeit with several key differences.

· Due to regulations put forth by the European Union, the soap can no longer contain carbolic because it is potentially toxic and linked to skin irritation and respiratory tract problems with prolonged exposure. The substance is also considered a possible carcinogen.

· Lifebuoy soap is still the leading brand of soap in several countries worldwide, specifically in India and parts of Southern Asia.

Unilever produces a wide range of products under the Lifebuoy umbrella such as body wash, liquid soaps and acne-fighting solutions. Lifebuoy's goal is to provide affordable and accessible hygiene and health solutions that enable people to lead a life without fear of hygiene anxieties and health consequences.

Lifebuoy Portfolio

Today, the Lifebuoy brand is more than the quintessential bar of red soap, and provides hygiene and health for the entire family through a range of products like liquid hand wash and specially designed body wash. Beyond ensuring daily hygiene and freshness, Lifebuoy products also address special needs like anti-acne and skin fortification for an all-around cleansing experience.

Hand Sanitizer

Lifebuoy Hand Sanitizer effectively disrupts bacteria’s cell membrane & virus’s outer coat thereby kills germs & viruses on your hands. Proven to kill H1N1 virus Dries quickly, is nonsticky and has soothing fragrance. Has Moisturizer and Vitamin E to keep your hands soft and smooth.

Bar Soap

Lifebuoy bar soaps support children’s health and growth by providing extended germ protection for up to 12 hours after a bath thanks to enhanced ingredients. Lifebuoy Body Wash provides deep cleansing of pores, protecting against the three root causes of skin health problems – clogged pores, over-drying, and infection- causing germs.

Hand Soap

Clean, germ-free hands are the key to good health, as ingestion of germs from unhygienic hands at mealtimes is the most likely cause for diseases. Lifebuoy Hand Soaps offer hospital-strength germ protection, with a unique formulation that generates a rich lather. This provides an effective and hygienic wash in every corner of the hands and nails, at the same time leaving your hands pleasantly fragrant.

Lifebuoy Men's Body wash

Male skin is more oily and sweaty, making it more prone to attacks from germs that cause skin problems and body odour. Lifebuoy Men's Body Washes are specially formulated to wash away excess oil and sweat, protecting against body odour and other problems caused by germs. Two variants provide the most important benefits to men's skin.

Clear Skin

Lifebuoy Clear Skin provides specialist protection from acne, which results from oil and dirt coming together. Mineral clay or "multani mitti" absorbs the oil from your skin, while washing away germs and dirt to greatly reduce the incidence of acne. In fact, Lifebuoy Clear Skin has been shown to reduce acne up to70 per cent in six weeks, guaranteeing visibly clearer skin.

 Line Extensions

When HLL introduced Lifebuoy in the Indian market in 1895(more than 100 years ago!), it was positioned as the soap that would destroy germs and keep the body healthy.

The brand found the going tough, especially in rural markets where most people were accustomed to bathing without any soap. HLL then decided to project Lifebuoy as soap for hand wash.

The approach seemed to pay off. By 1900, Lifebuoy had established itself as soap for hand wash.

At this stage, the brands inherent properties were expanded and Lifebuoy was repositioned as bath soap. Health remained the benefit proposition. ‘Where there is Lifebuoy, there is health became a very popular jingle in rural India. The brand was also projected on the plank of economy.

Much later, in 1964, the brand was re-launched with a slight change in its shape and wrapper design. The re-launch was also backed by promotion campaigns highlighting the health benefit. Lifebuoy started associating with sports events, seeking the image of a champions soap and the health and body fitness campaign got reinforced at this stage.

By the 1970s, competitors entered challenging Lifebuoys supremacy. The benefit-propositions in soaps were also changing from healthcare to aspects such as freshness, beauty, nature-care and deodorant-quality.

HLL now had many requirements to meet; it had to tap some of these emerging market needs, it had to play down the image of Lifebuoy as a mere villagers soap and it had to enhance the earnings from the Lifebuoy brand in the long term.

HLL decided to meet these needs by enlarging the scope of the Lifebuoy brand through line extensions.

Lifebuoy personal:

HLL now launched Lifebuoy Personal, in pink color, with a new perfume. But the brand suffered because it did not carry the benefit proposition of health and body care. HLL subsequently mended these drawbacks through an appropriate promotion campaign.

Lifebuoy Plus:

In the 1980s, HLL made special attempts to expand the reach of Lifebuoy to urban consumers. To quote HLL, Lifebuoy was considered down market especially in the urban areas. So, we had to instill a sense of pride in the user; he should not be ashamed of using Lifebuoy. So Lifebuoy Plus came; it basically was the old Lifebuoy with a different perfume. Backed by high budget advertisement, HLL managed to popularize Lifebuoy Plus. Says HLL,With Lifebuoy Plus we could widen the appeal to new, urban consumers.

Lifebuoy Gold:

One more extension appeared for the urban consumers, Lifebuoy Gold; it broke away from all traditional red color of lifebuoy; it was pure white, had different fragrance and was higher priced.

Liquid Lifebuoy:

By this time, Liquid Lifebuoy also staged its entry to strengthen the brands presence in the urban market. It was a modern product form.

In the rural markets, Lifebuoy continued its dominance in spite of competition; there was the stubborn Lifebuoy user in the rural areas, who continued to patronize the brand. The line extensions— Lifebuoy Personal, Life buoy Plus, and the campaigns around them helped strengthen the brand name Lifebuoy to a great extent.

Lifebuoy Active:

But by the late 1990s, Lifebuoy was again under pressure. To quote HLL: Lifebuoy has been facing pressure; carbolic soaps are being challenged by cheap fatty- matter based soaps. We are taking a series of measures to counter it. HLL then came out another extension, Lifebuoy Active, to take on the challenge posed by non-carbolic soaps.

While Lifebuoy continues its fight into the next century of its growth, HLL is endeavouring to keep Lifebuoy young and novel. The parent brand and the extensions together enhance the competitiveness of HLLs soaps line. Lifebuoy remains the largest selling soap brand in India and a big revenue/profit earner for HLL.

Design and communication strategy for Lifebuoy’s re-launch

Rural India has ample of opportunities all waiting to be harnessed for the much-needed volumes. Not astonishingly, it has become the latest marketing catchword for most FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) majors. Some of the requisites for making an impression in the rural market include:

1) Strong distribution channel2) Minimum profit margin3) Simple marketing message4) Lesser-priced packs to increase affordability5) Packaging in smaller units and localised design that attracts consumers6) Convenience of storage while use7) Thorough knowledge of the village psycheIn brief, the strategy revolves around what attracts rural consumers to a product.

Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HLL) is one of the few FMCG’s to be highly successful in rural India. It has been a pioneer in reaching out to the smallest of villages with innovative products. HLL is also open to the idea of building rural-specific brands since it will only dispel the marketing media effort for the brands. Today, HLL’s brands have become household names. No one knows

Indian consumers better than HLL. The company has access to both global and local research, technology and development teams. It is fully supported by its nation-wide manufacturing and distribution network.

HLL is India's largest marketer of home & personal care products, foods & beverages. Recently, it launched “Pureit”, which is an in-home water purification system that gives water ‘as safe as boiled water’. It is also the largest exporter of branded FMCGs, marine products, basmati rice and one of the global players in castor.

When we speak about HLL, the first name that comes to our mind is Lifebuoy. It was sold in India as early as 1895, but was officially launched and marketed from 1935. For over 100 years, Lifebuoy with its distinct perfume and catchy jingle was associated with health and well-being, making it the world’s largest selling soap brand. Its ads carried the message that Lifebuoy washed away germs and kept one protected and healthy.

Lifebuoy is among HLL's power brands which contributed to nearly 30% of the company’s detergent turnover and was a leader in the carbolic segment with almost 95% market share. It went through a major re-launch for the first time in 1964 with a change in product formulation, shape and packaging. In mid 2001, HLL then launched Lifebuoy Active and Lifebuoy Extra Strong. However, these launches led to a minimal turnaround. For nearly 107 years, the brand hadn't undergone a major restructuring and repositioning. The sales were declining since consumers were shifting from carbolic based soaps to beauty soaps with better fragrance and lather.

The decline of the brand, prompted HUL to re-think its marketing strategy. Lifebuoy underwent a major turning point in its history with the re-launch in 2002, 2004 and again in 2006. The re-launch was done to beat the slow-moving sales. To register positive preference among consumers, HLL challenged everything that Lifebuoy stood for.

Lifebuoy is now an entirely new mix with a superior formulation, fragrance, lather profile and a contemporary shape. It offers an improved bathing experience and skin feel. The new Lifebuoy is targeted at today’s astute housewives who seek family health protection. It made a thoughtful shift in positioning from being a male soap, champ of health to a family soap with a more reliable health protection against germs for the entire family.

The new range includes Lifebuoy total, Lifebuoy deofresh, Lifebuoy nature, Lifebuoy care, Lifebuoy activ fresh, Lifebuoy International Plus, Lifebuoy International Gold, etc. Apart from this, Lifebuoy also offers specialised products like Lifebuoy HandWash and Lifebuoy Clearskin, which provides treatment and protection against acne.

HLL did huge rural campaigning using the idea of hygiene as a podium to reposition its brand. The company devised a strategy to ensure its focus on family health themes via TV and print campaigns in the rural markets. They conducted consumer education exercise using "Germ tests" through multimedia. They also explored the opportunity to spread message during World Health Day. HLL also launched Lifebuoy Swashthya Chetana, the first single largest rural health and hygiene educational program. The campaign aimed at educating children and community about the threat of unseen germs and maintaining good health through practice of basic hygiene.

HLL used innovative communication tools at melas, festivals, haats, etc. to spread awareness about hygiene and health by product demonstrations. These techniques were used in order to change the hand-washing and bathing habits in rural India. For example, people in mela were asked to put their hands below a special camera where they could see the germs on their hands and were asked to wash their hands with Lifebuoy and see the difference. Hand-carts were also displayed at the company’s stall for attracting more people.

Ideas like putting stickers on hand pumps, walls of the wells, putting tin plates on trees surrounding the pond were some of the innovative media utilised by Lifebuoy. The idea was to market the product not only at the point of purchase but also at the time of consumption. Other media techniques used were shop-fronts and cinema van operations having films and audio cassettes with songs and dance sequences from popular films that comprised ads of HLL products during breaks. The reach of conventional media is not that effective in rural markets. Moreover, it is not always viable to cover all these markets due to high costs involved. Yet, these markets are vital since the growth potential is high. Operation Harvest served as a medium to augment the role of conventional media in rural India and in the process built relations and loyalty with consumers.

HLL has always been at the front line of trying out with innovative schemes to reach rural consumers. It deliberately introduced small-sized packs of Lifebuoy targeted at rural markets. Cross company product mixes were also offered to lure consumers. To induce growth, HLL dropped the prices of its products and has been also trying to upgrade its consumers by cannibalising its own brands.

Rural retailers and quick product availability influence the purchase decision of rural consumers. HLL therefore undertook projects to enhance the rural supply chain by a network of sub-stockists and 'Project Shakti' in partnership with the Self-Help Groups of rural women. These Self-Help Groups acted as direct-to-home dealers. In rural India, women are the catalyst of change and that is why Project Shakti kept women in focus. It is they who give Shakti its strength. Project Shakti has proved to be a great marketing venture for HLL since it works in both terms which is promotion as well as a distribution network with social welfare benefits. The model created a win-win partnership between HLL and its consumers, some of whom depended on the organisation for their livelihood and helped building a self-sustaining virtuous cycle of growth for all. Another good initiative taken by HLL under Project Shakti is `I-Shakti', an IT-based rural information facility that provides solutions to major rural needs such as agriculture, education, vocational training, health and hygiene.

Rural markets are still evolving and there is no fixed layout to understand consumer behaviour. Lot of research is yet to be conducted for understanding rural consumers.

Brand Building

Lifebuoy has always been marketed as ‘a tough cleaning soap for a tough man. The 2002 re-launch, however, targeted Lifebuoy as a soap that brought good health to the entire family. Lifebuoy has been seen as a value for money product, a soap that is long-lasting. In a very smart TV ad campaign, children are shown cleaning a street. The message put across is that since these children are secure from ailments that are caused by a lack of proper sanitation and hygiene, thanks to the fact that they use Lifebuoy, they are in a position to ensure cleanliness and hygiene for the entire community. Thus, Lifebuoy not only ensures good health and cleanliness for individuals, but healthy and productive communities as well. The ‘Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetana’ programme uses a ‘direct consumer contact’ methodology, and touches the lives of 70 million people in 18,000 villages. A unique feature of this campaign is that it utilizes multiple contacts, as opposed to other programmes which are ‘single contact’ in nature. According to a HLL spokesman, “This programme aims to educate people about the benefits of hand wash with soap, and how hand wash can help kill invisible, disease causing germs. It is thus a marketing programme with a strong social cause of improving the health and hygiene of rural India. The brand USP is, ‘Lifebuoy provides 100% better protection from germs as compared to ordinary soaps.’

Advertising Media-MixIn addition to its TV campaign, HLL also uses other methods and media, such as direct consumer contact, radio, statics, and point of sale, in order to reach consumers who do not have access to a television set. The Lifebuoy account is currently being handled by the ad agency Lowe. In the Lifebuoy ad by Lowe, a school-going kid is shown, who, on a holiday, decides to clean up the garbage-strewn streets of his neighbourhood. He wakes up from bed, wears his spectacles, fetches a broom, and ties a piece of cloth around his forehead. He then starts cleaning the streets, dumping the garbage into a cardboard box. He sets an example, as other children in the neighbourhood soon join him. A lady in the neighbourhood expresses her concern for the well-being and hygiene of the children, and another lady, a confident mother, reassures her with the words, “Koi Dar Nahi.” This concerted effort by the children transforms the dirty neighbourhood into a spanking clean area. Now, to express their gratitude, all the parents give their children an open-air bath with Lifebuoy. The line ‘Koi Dar Nahi’ implies that a well-protected family has no reason to fear hygiene related illnesses or problems. According to the HLL spokesman, “Even for the TV-viewing consumer, in today’s cluttered world, we do feel the need to bring our brand alive to consumers in multiple ways at multiple touch points, to remain visible.”