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Ujala
- Vibha Iyer
Read on ................................... and the family happy and proud. The company was very clear of its target consumer; the average homemaker with a monthly household income within the Rs. 1500 bracket. Elaborating target customer characteristics, Dasgupta adds, She is a small town dweller, homely, one who cares for her family. She washes the clothes at home and is thrifty with the household budget. Hence, value for money is paramount for her and since she buys in small quantities, per unit price also acquires significance. She considers her neighbours and the dealers recommendations vital and constantly seeks her husbands appreciation which adds a fillip to her existence. R. Ravi, Sr. Vice President, Marketing, Jyothy Laboratories adds, Economy of use was our platform and the conveniently packed product was available in different sizes ranging from 30 ml to 250 ml. As the jingle suggested, only four drops were required to whiten clothes post wash.
Brand History
The origin of Jyothy Laboratories lies in a proprietary concern founded by the current Chairman and Managing DirectorMr.M.P.Ramachandran in 1983. Jyothy Laboratories has originally been engaged in the production and marketing of a liquid fabric whitener product called Ujala since 1983. Mr. Ramachandran, with an added interest in Chemistry was dissatisfied with the fabric whiteners available in the market then. Hence, he came up with the formula for Ujala as a fabric whitener to compete with the existing brands. He launched it first in Kerala in 1982 and then extended it to the national market.
ith its catchy Aaya naya Ujala..chaar boondon wala ad jingle, the product created such a rage in the late nineties, that even today, seven years after its national launch (in October 1997), Ujala is able to whitewash the sheen off other brands in the whitener segment. Ujalas success is a story of smart marketing and pricing coupled with a prudent understanding of the market. Its success has helped the relatively small Jyothy Laboratories to effectively create a category for a liquid fabric whitener and successfully pull customers away from bigger competitors. Ujala has not only stood up to multinational market leader Robin Blue, but has in fact changed the colour of white!
Brand Positioning
As Arindam Dasgupta, Situations Advertising, Jyothy Labs ad agency expounds, Ujala was positioned as the Value For Money liquid optical fabric whitener with Insta-Whitening S y s t e m technology that makes everyday wear clothes spotlessly bright
Difficulties .aced
Before Ujala was launched, the common perception was, whiteners had to be blue in colour and powder in form. So, the challenge before Jyothy Laboratories was to break this mindset, as Ujala was a purple liquid. The challenge was successfully surmounted through the tagline Safedi ka naya rang. In order to drive home the message better to its target audience they used the mother-in-law in their ad as the symbol of a blocked mindset. The conversion of the mother inlaw to Ujala was seen as the triumph of the modern over the traditional product. The value for money aspect, which was promoted as a brand differentiator, was also cleverly used through the jingle chaar boondon wala. Dasgupta mentions about another misconception that had to be cleared, We had to circumvent the problem of the misconception that like neel, the colour purple too would remain on the clothes. We also had to establish the key benefit of the perceptible difference in
reminder medium. These were supplemented with the use of dispensers, direct mailers, promo ads, outdoors - all carrying the basic four Violet drops, InstaWhitening SystemTM , and slogan line.
whitener market has gone up from 26.6 percent in September 1998 to over 65 percent in February 2001 onwards.
Convincing Results
To quote the Economic Times dt.30th Jan, 2001 Ujala has
Expansion strategies
Jyothy Laboratories has not rested on the laurels it has won. The company has leveraged on the understanding it has gained about the mindset of lower income consumers to expand its product categories. Today, Jyothy Laboratories Limited is a multi-product public limited company well on its way to becoming a diversified, national-level FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) company. The products it offers include:
Fabric care- Ujala Detergent Washing Powder Mosquito Repellent and Household Insecticides- Maxo Cyclothrin mosquito Repellent Air Care Incense sticks / Aroma sticks- Maya Incense and Aroma Sticks Surface Cleaning Preparations- Exo Dishwash Bar Ayurvedic (Herbal) personal Care Products Jeeva Ayurvedic (Herbal) Soap.