Rural Marketing Non-Durable New Product Launch

Submitted By Group 9
Amber Yadav 15/68
3/20/2013

SUBHRA BATH POWDER

Arnab Guha Malik 15/74 Hersh Kenkare 15/91 Abhisek Paul 15/197 Ankur Dey Tarafdar 15/204 Sumanto Das 15/256
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RM COMMUNICATION | SUBHRA BATH POWDER | IIM KOZHIKODE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to Prof. Guda Sridhar for having helped us out with the concept and information on the product. A lot of insights that we derived were augmented by the extensive work that he had done on the company before. We would also like to thank Mr. Pinaki Sen, Group product manager and Mr. Vijaya Sarathy from Aswini Homeo Ltd. for sharing the data and insights on Subhra Bath Powder and Aswini company. They were generous enough to devote a lot of time clearing our doubts regarding various aspects of the companys strategy.

3/20/2013

RM COMMUNICATION | SUBHRA BATH POWDER | IIM KOZHIKODE

SUBHRA BATH POWDER THE GROWTH STORY

Sunnipindi- Locals used flour and other herbs to prepare bath-pack Frequency Used on Friday(once a week) due to the inconvenience of preparing it Bath Powder Category did not exist. No competition. Product launched in 1994

Niche Segment Benefit segmentation with age as a surrogate New born babies, Women above 15 years In year 2003 differentiated both segments

Mass launch in Andhra Pradesh (no pilot run) SKU - Sprinkler 200gm., Refill Pouches 200gms & 500gms Price Rs 15- 30

Innovation Idea

Target Population

Launch of Bath Powder

Television Ads, Print Ads, Wall paintings and pamphlets Sampling Bath powder given free with established hair oil to promote sampling

1994-99 -Transportation damage, rat bites Large tins were given to retailers and wholesalers(majorly) to prevent product spoilage

Competition Chanti and Sundari bath powder Market leader in this segment Around 5% market share across all body cleansing products in Andhra Coastal areas of AP contributed maximum to the sales

Promotions

Supply Chain issues

Current Market situation

IDENTIFICATION OF LATENT DEMAND

Sunni Pindi , a natural product is a traditional body wash powder widely used in villages in South India. It gives freshness, increases body colour, removes unwanted body hair in babies. Used by adults as well as it was helpful for solving skin problems.

The main problem : It takes a lot of time to prepared. Tedious process They identified the latent demand of the consumers requiring traditional values in the products and also consumers who do not prefer chemicals, which are used in soaps

POSITIONING

Subhra Bath Powder is prepared especially from herbal ingredients and used instead of body soap while bathing. It keeps the skin soft, smooth and prevents skin allergies, rashes and fungal infections.

POSITIONING STRATEGIES
Positioned with respect to the attribute and the use of the products. Positioned as an herbal product with traditional values, The Positioning message , clear and consistent throughout. The message used in promotion, packaging has been consistent. In order to add credibility , they used doctors to spread the benefits of the product. Also used the village head to create awareness.
Innovative Product

difficult to copy for the major players selling soap due to economies of scales and localized preferences. the threat of competition is minimized to a great extent

MESSAGE EFFECTIVENESS
Language
Telugu used as the medium of communication in the ads TVCs aired in regional language channels Subhra- Whiteness in Telugu language, easy to pronounce

Pictorial Representation
Color of packaging White for Purity & Pink for Glow Pictures used Image of Bakuchi, Kutuha & madga herbs on the packaging that helped the consumer visually relate to the product For urban markets they used more sophisticated packaging and richer imagery of a pretty- up scale woman

Form
Utilitarian Initial ads specifically portrayed how to use the product The ads changed to portray the benefits of the product

Source
An Expert Source They depicted a model dressed as a doctor to be portrayed as an opinion leader. Rural customers give more importance to credibility than attractiveness of source

Context
The product replaced a traditional product that was part of the tradition. In that respect with Subhra bath powder people could relate very highly with the product message that stressed on the herbal aspect of the product

THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS MODEL

Communication Strategy: By communicating and changing quality perception Substituted local product with better packaging and improved quality incorporating VFM By proper communication in Indian language (telugu) By providing what customer want (conducted market survey) - Rural specific product Point of purchase promotions specially in haats & melas (also Free sample distributed with already established hair oil) Roadbloacks Execution Standard of living Low cost advantage of product Low literacy levels Poster, Wall Painting in vernacular language (Telugu) Low per capita income Regular use product across coastal Andhra- Constant demand Transportation and Warehouse - Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore C & F Kerala, Export warehousing Agent Kerala Ineffective distribution channels Used existing distribution channel Many languages and diversity in Launched in local language culture Coverage of unconventional channels like Radio, Local TV channels (DD Saptagiri), Locally circulated publications, (Eenadu, Prajasakti Lack of communication system Newspaper) Point of purchase promotions. Wall paintings, pamphlets and other rural promotions. Substituted local product and moreover no competitors at the Spurious brands inception stage Seasonal demand Regular use product hence, Constant demand Dispersed markets Mainly concentrated on coastal Andhra Pradesh

COMMUNICATING USING NON-CONVENTIONAL MEDIA

Wall paintings was used to reach the rural consumers Village doctor were used to promote/pres cribe the product Pamphlets were distributed Vans like Tata Ace with flex posters used for villages without media reach
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Brand Knowledge

RM COMMUNICATION | SUBHRA BATH POWDER | IIM KOZHIKODE

Education

Interest

Re a c h

Product exhibition in village girls high school Innovative packaging with powder sprinkler

Leveraged the brand name in hair oil business Sampling by giving free with hair-oil Strong local brand image used to bargain with retailers to talk about Subhra Participation in MelasGangasagar Mela, Rath Yatra etc.

Pamphlets on how to use the product Word of mouth publicity Product stalls in haats ASWINI CHARITABLE TRUST is supported by a group of 3000 dedicated volunteers who distributes free medicines in over 10000 villages in Andhra Pradesh.

PACKAGING

Urban

Rural

Packaged as a premium herbal product with variantssandal wood, Rose

Compared to the natural herbal product: Madga smoothens the skin and keeps it soft and tender Kutuha is an essential dirt remover, removes dirt right from the roots of skin pores. Bakuchi prevents the powder from moisturizing. Nimbapathra prevents any kind of fungal and bacterial infections on the surface of the skin. Bavancbalu nourishes and maintains healthy skin.

DISTRIBUTION SETUP
Hyderabad Hyderabad

200 distributors

Warehouse Hyderabad Warehouse

Subhra Bath products present only in Andhra Pradesh Manufacturing unit is in Hyderabad All the distributors served by the Hyderabad Warehouse Currently follow the same model for all their products. Warehouses are managed by the organization themselves The other warehouses are in Chennai and Bangalore Presence of a CFA and an export agent in Kerala

Pricing
SKU 200gm Sprinkler 200gm refill pouch 500 gm Refill Pouch Distributor Wholesaler Retailers Manufacturer Consumer (Margin) (7%) (Margin) (3%) (Margin) (10%) (RS) (RS) (RS) (RS) (RS) 15.9 9.5 19 20.6 12.4 24.7 22.1 13.2 26.5 22.7 13.6 27.3 25 15 30

Urban Targeting-Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4u62JpoHLs

Thank You!!!
Reference Sridhar, G. (2004), Aswini Homeo Hair Oil, unpublished case
3/20/2013 RM COMMUNICATION | SUBHRA BATH POWDER | IIM KOZHIKODE 10