1. ~~~~
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CASE
STUDY
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LUX-Symbolizing eauty*
B
Luxisanestablishedrand
b
ofHindustan nilever imited
U
L
(HUL),renowned be one of the giantplayersin the
to
fastmoving
consumer
goods(FMCG) egment.
s
Overthe
courseof time,HULhasdiversified portfolio has
its
and
marked presence
its
acrosstwentydifferent ategories,
c
suchas food brands(Annapurna,
Knorr,Taaza,etc.),
homecare
brands(Vim,SurfExcel,ActiveWheel,etc.),
personal are brands(Axe,Ponds,Sunsilk,etc.),qnd
c
Pure-it aterpurifiero reach
w
t
thpninn""I...f ~..-:.-"
Luxcontinues
tobeastarperformer
inUnilever'srand
b
portfolio
andthiscaseexplores owLuxhassuccessfully
h
overcome challenge appealing all consumers,
the
of
to
young
andold,fromSeeAto SeeEacross
thelength
and
breadth hugecountry
ofa
likeIndia.
-
Thl!productglitteratiof the soaps
Luxwas launched a toiletsoaDbv Iinilo"o.'"I -. ._as
2. itwasintroduced
intheUKmarket sa productoffering
a
'
people chance pamperthemselvesor a modest
a
to
f
price'. theyear1929,Luxexpanded international
In
its
customer
baseby introducing
itselfin India.The brand
name, hasbeen
'Lux',
derived
fromtheword'luxury', ut
b
the
word
inLatin
symbolizes
'light'.Unilever lended
b
both
these
elementsndportrayed
a
Luxin syncwithstardom
and
theluxurious
lifestyle Bollywood
of
celebrities,
wellknownmongheIndian
a
t
audiences.
Itsjourney
continued
toenlighten
women
aboutthepower beauty
of
bestowed
them. hevariousvariantsin its portfolio,end Lux a
T
l
certainharm
c
(seeTable
2.3).
Table2.3 Luxvariants
SoftKiss
Madefromstrawberries ndmoisturizing
a
whipped
creamfor softandkissable
skin.
Velvet
Touch
Madewithpeachandmoisturizing hipped
w
creamfor velvetyandkissableskin.
Silk
Caress Madewithrichmacadamia nd
a
moisturizing hipped
w
creamfor nourished
andkissable
skin.
White
Forfair andadmiredskinwithvitamin83,
Glamour Roseoil, andwhitetea oxidant.
Wake eUp Forrecharged
M
andfreshskinwithrefreshing
mineral altsandseaweed.
s
Magic
Spell
Forsoftandfragranced
skinwithfine
aromatic
oilsandlotusessence.
Source: UL-Reveal Your Star Appeal, 2010.
H
Apartfromthese,in its eightyyearsof experience
in themarket,Lux has also launched
othervariants,
which
includeLux Strawberry Cream,Lux Peach
and
andCream, ux FestiveGlowwith Honey,Lux Cream
L
White,
Chocolate eduction,
S
Sandalwood+Honey,
Purple
Aromatic
Glow, tc.All thesevariations
e
havemadeit a
sensuous
brand, hichfocuses
w
oncaressing woman's
a
body ithgentleness giveit a glowandalsodevelop
w
to
a
fragrance mesmerize
to
herpartner.
Brand
strategy
Sollywoodeautiesthroughtheages
b
(Srinivasan
and Shashidhar 007),and followingthis
2
tradition
wasMadhubala theeraof the50s;Waheeda
in
Rehman, airaBanu,Parveen
S
Babi,and Simi Grewal
duringthe60sand70s;andHemaMalini, eenat man,
Z
A
Poonam
Dhillon, atiAgnihotri
R
heading
thegenerationf
o
the80s(Mitra2010).Marking
thechange generations
in
andto maintain market ynamics,
the
d
Sridevi ndorsed
e
it in the 80s, and the 90swereruledby JuhiChawla
(Chatterjee 005),Karisma
2
Kapoor, aniMukherji,
R
and
MadhuriDixit (Mitra 2010).The other leadingladies
associated
withthe brandhavebeenKareena
Kapoor,
Priyanka
Chopra, ndAishwarya ai,thelatest dditions
a
R
a
to this bandwagon eingKatrinaKaif(Chatterjee
b
2010)
andAsin.(Image
2.4showsKatrina
Kaifendorsingux.)
L
All these beautiesfrom Bollywood
joinedthe Lux
fraternity theverypeakof theircareers,
at
which
resulted
in the beliefthat by joiningthe Luxfraternity, staris
a
born.Jayalalitha hoendorsedhebrand
w
t
during
the70s,
hasdistinguished
herselfnthefieldof politics
i
along
with
mastering
thekeyto success cinema
in
(Mitra
2010). ll
A
thishashelped
thebrand
inmountingtrong
s
relationships
withcustomers
fromall sections,anging
r
fromSECA to
E(Chatte~ee
2005). uxcashed
L
inontheconsumer's
secret
desireofbeing a Bollywood
celebrity
someday
andthe
aspiration be at the top spotin whicheverieldthey
to
f
chooseto enter.Thishelpedin establishingn assured
a
linkage
between
theconsumers
andthebrand.
Thebeauty
soap
manufacturer
hascontinued
toestablish
itsrelationship
with every generation, nd continues innovateits
a
to
product
andpackagingyusing
b
young
andvibrant olours
c
andcelebrities hoareinsyncwiththelatest tyles.
w
s
On the eveof its 75thplatinum
jubilee,therewasa
complete
transformation its branding
in
strategywhen
reigning
superstar hahRukhKhanwasseenpromoting
S
the brandalongwith the Bollywood
beauties
who had
endorsed
thebrandinthepast.He'portrayed
themetrosexualmalewitha softtouch'and'a softguywhois in
touch with his emotions'. his uniquetransitionwas
T
adopted hehasbeen. greatfavourite
as
a
withwomen
of
all ages(Chatterjee005)and 'the usageof the brand
2
actually
showed gender plit'(Mitra
a
s
2010).
Promotional ffers
o
Right
fromits launch 1929,Luxhasropedin reigning
in
beauties the silverscreento endorse brand.The A promotional
of
the
offerof Lux that has enjoyedimmense
istheLuxGoldStaroffer,inwhichconsumers
'
foremost
beauty
brandambassador
beingLeeiaChitnis; popularity
3. -""-"'---""''''''''''''-
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Sool,jo!",n
"ire"", ,,"",
"
JobIOftIo
,-"< -s.Jo..,
~
"Aj,"""i~, A.'
Ny.n.. (hop<a
e..O!y.
St;if"f"- ..,.;GIo"""-J.,d...
--
___,ShumaII.ond-Khon
""" SIy!O-I>y
'-",,_lib
Source: http://www.lux.com.pklbrandjnfo.html.
sign;i<...
-."'
-Ijiotooy
Lu. SlylotI DonIya "" l... C,
"
accessed
22August2010.
Image
2.4 LuxandKatrina
Kaif;alsoseePlate
3
had the chance findinga goldcoin insidetheirLux
of
soap'. hiswasinitially
T
offered
intheyear2000andinthe
succeedingearit wasthemed
y
'Chance
Hai',wherethe
winnerof the goldcoinhadan additional
opportunity
to
winanextrathirtygrams
ofgoldbycalling
theadvertised
telephone
number.
Thefirsttencallerseachweekwere
giventheadditional
30grams
ofgold.'Theofferwasvalid
on100grams
(pink, hite, ndblack) nd150grams
w
a
a
(pink
andblack) uxtoiletsoaps, earing
L
b
thespecially esigned
d
goldstarlogoonthewrapper. 100gramssoapbar
The
contained 3grams
a
goldcoinandthe150grams
soapbar
contained 5 grams
a
goldcoin.' ctress
A
Raveena
Tandon
whowas ropedin for the 2001endorsement
travelled
'acrossselectcitiesand madesurprise
visitsto several
homes, ewarding
r
thosehavingLuxgoldstarwrappers
withmoregoldstars'.
Theyear2009sawa declinein salesof the brand,
especiallyin small towns where the housewife
was
fallingoutof lovewithLux.'Postresearch, keyinsight
a
emerged-the
smallownhousewife
t
wants
tolook
beautiful
forherhusband ndwishes recapture
a
to
themagic her
of
earlydaysof marriage, ut withoutbeingtoo obvious
b
about her 'seducing'efforts,as societal ressures nol
p
did
permither to be too bold.'Tomeetthisneed,Bollywood's
'
real-life star couple,AbhishekBachchan
andAishwarya
Rai Bachchan'were roped in. (Image2.5 shows stiH
a
from theAbhi-Aishad campaign Lux.)'Aishwarya,
for
had
beena longstanding
brandendorserorLux(for than
f
more
a decade)and roping in her husband
seemed the
tobe
logicalthingto do', to portraycoupleplay. his helped
T was
by the fact that there was a lot of curiosity
sUITOunding
Bollywood'sideal romantic coupleposttheirmarriage,
'The commercialshowedAishwarya
enjoying luxurious
a
bath usingthe new Lux with beautyoils,anddeciding
10
springa surpriseon her husband. hen
W Abhishek
comes
homefromwork,sheblindfolds
himandhehas
tofind
her
by her new-foundscent.A play(ulsensual
game
of'catch
me if you can' ensues,withAbhishek
unable
tocatch is
h
wife as his handsglideoff her smoothskin.Finally,
when
he thinks he hasher,he removeshisblindfold, tosee
only
that he is hugginghis cleaningladyinstead,
asAishwarya
laughs on. A music track composedby trio Shankar.
Ehsaan-Loy lent a rustic, Sufi-esquefeel to thefilm.
The ad was unveiledon a realityshowabout arriage,
m
4. Source:httpllwww.luxindia.in/. accessed 23 August 2010.
Image
2.5 Luxpromotion;
alsoseePlate3
called
LuxPerfect ride(onStarPlus),withan in-serial
B
placement
forthebrand's
skinsoftening lements,
e
aswell
asa blindfold ameakinto the one in the commercial
g
being
played
outbythecontestants.
Thecampaign
was
extended another uickpromotional
to
q
onefeaturing
the
couple
talkingabout'good news'-a doublemeaning
quip-aboutheLuxgoldcoinoffer. heSufi-esque
t
T
track,
Saneebhisona
s
lagey, ecame popular ownload
b
a
d
item
(asringtones
andothers)withthousands downloads
of
overheInternet'
t
(Joshi 010).
2
Thecouple
endorsed 'Luxsoaprichwithbeauty
the
oilsfor soft skin like neverbefore'.The new variant,
along
withofferinga lavishbathingexperience
offers
'softer ~inanda newyou' (Lad2009).Abhishek's
s
ad
wasmuchappreciated, it had a woman'sbeauty
as
being
cherished.
Further, ux capitalized portraying
L
by
Aishwarya 'noticeablyofterskintodisarm
Rai's
s
eventhe
most nflappable men'(Lad2009).Thisreflects
u
of
Lux's
oldtraditionf remaining beautifyingymbol or Indian
o
a
s
f
women
(Kashyup
2009).
Events
andcontests
suchas '22caratgoldstaroffer'
werehosted relate
to
tocustomers'
feelings
ofbecoming
a
star.Inanother ampaign,
c
Luxalsopromisedustomers
c
a
chance meetbrand
to
endorsers-Abhi-Ash-inLondon
(Chatterjee010).
2
Thisactivity
helped
thebrandgelwiththeconsumer.
The consumer ot an opportunity rubshoulders ith
g
to
w
real-life
starsin London, ndthecompany
a
managed
to
showcase
thefactthatwhenit saysLuxis a soapforthe
stars,it means
it!
Allthatglitters
didturnoutto begoldforLux
In morethan eightdecades its existence, ux has
of
L
consistently
proved tobethebeauty oap
itself
s forthestars.
Lux during its existencehas remainedpersistent
in grabbingthe numberone slot in the personal are
c
segment(2010).Following line of success,it won
its
thetitleof the 'mosttrustedbrand'by grabbing
thethird
position(2010a).Lux has gainedimmense
popularity
amongst
different
stratam
ofcustomersuringitsjourney,
d
5. beit thehousewife,
theyoungmale,or theadultfemale
(Brand
Equity, 010b). hestarendorsersvertheyears
2
T
o
have
feltthatendorsinguxhasadded
L
totheirstature
as
well. ccording Hema
A
to
Malini,Oneoftheturning
'
points
ofmycareer aswhenI wassigned
w
upbyLux.Itwasthen
thatI knewthat I hadmademy markin Indiancinema.
Tobe a Luxstar is a muchsought-after
honour mong
a
leading
ladies
andit trulymeans lotto me.'JuhiChawla
a
hadoncesaid,'I do believe
thata significant
recognition
I received
otherthanwinning MissIndiacrownwas
the
beingnamed Luxstar.'Thus,it is notonlyLuxthathas
a
gained
fromtheendorsers,
butbeinganendorser
forthe
brand matter f honour nda stamp
isa
o
a
ofachievement.
in thefootsteps theleading
of
ladiesof thesilverscreen
of theirtimes.Lux has continued romance
its
withthe
consumers
overtheyears(Shukla
2008). heperspective
T
of havingcustomers
relateto theirfavouriteBollywood
starfromgeneration
togeneration toughnuttocrack.
isa
This reflectsthe brand'scompetitive
edge,evenas it
continues link itselfto the 'beauty','style','fashion',
to
and 'glamour' f the Bollywood
o
beauties
endorsing
the
product. hebrandhasgrownfromstrength strength
T
to
and with the helpof a longstar-studded
heritage
has
sustained
customers'
interestand its reputation the
in
market.
DiscussionQuestions
1. Using
theKapferer odel, laboratehelongandstarm
e
t
studded
journey Lux.
of
thestrategy usingfilmstarsto promote
of
the
Luxhassuccessfully
forgeda linkbetween
theusageof 2. Discuss
product.
thebrandandconsumers ecoming
b
starsandfollowing
Conclusion
f'~~ft
Dftl.................