1. Santoor soap was launched in 1986 as an affordable soap containing sandal and turmeric. 2. It initially attracted value-oriented customers but growth stopped after the second year as it failed to attract new users. 3. The brand conducted research on the skin care benefits of sandal and turmeric and changed its advertising approach in 1989 to focus on these benefits rather than just the ingredients.

2.  Launched as a ‘Sandal + Turmeric’ soap by Wipro in 1986
 Attractively priced and a good product offering
 Conceived as an affordable soap with the goodness of
Sandal
 Till then sandal seen as a high value ingredient only
available in Mysore Sandal soap
 Vicco making a success of sandal + turmeric cream

3.  Advertised as a ‘sandal + turmeric’ soap
 Offering “age old beauty secrets of India”
 Price flagged off at the end
 Traditional imagery of woman in sari,
temple, sandal paste

4.  Brand attracted decent volumes : 2,500
tonnes
 Got a core group of ‘Value oriented’
consumers to try and remain with the brand
 But growth stopped in Year 2
 No new users coming into brand !

5.  Need to retain the traditional users
 Need to rapidly attract new users
 Need to provide image values that will build
the brand for future growth

6.  Sandal and turmeric traditional beauty aids in
India
 What are their roles in skin care?
 Searched literature for finding how sandal and
turmeric are useful for beauty care
 The Secret: Skin Care
 Both are great skin care aids
 In fact help reduce wrinkles and impart a
youthful glow

7.  Santoor selling ingredients to a set of believers
 But not many knew of the benefits the brand and its
ingredients offered
 Why not move away from ‘ingredient’ based
advertising to ‘benefit’ based advertising?
 What if the core users moved away thinking the
brand has changed?

8.  New advertising needed to present the brand in a
new light to attract new users
 But old users should not get alienated either!
 The answer : Benefit based advertising rooted in
the ingredients
 “Santoor cares for your skin because it contains
the goodness of sandal and turmeric”

9.  Skin care, too broad an offer
 Narrowed down to younger looking skin
 Based on product interrogation
 Delivering the younger looking skin story
 “Mistaken identity”
 A common occurrence
 Based on a consumer insight

10.  New advertising broke in 1989 - the brand sales have
climbed consistently over the last 12 years
 Santoor has outperformed the market constantly
 Built a brand without
 Mega media budgets
 High-power sales force
 Major technological innovations