The word Dettol has been synonymous with germ protection for many decades now, proven by the 80%- plus market-share that it enjoys in the antiseptic liquid category. With the ‘Banega Swachh India’ campaign, the brand has managed to take hygiene to the interiors of India. Arjun Purkayastha, Marketing Director – Dettol, Developing Markets, Reckitt Benckiser, tells us about the recent initiative of reaching out to a gathering of an estimated five crore pilgrims at the Simhasth Kumbh to educate them about hygiene
By NEETA NAIR
Q] Last year, you partnered with the Nashik Kumbh and this time around, the Simhasth Kumbh in Ujjain. How important is Kumbh Mela as a platform of advertising for Dettol?
We don’t see Kumbh Mela as a promotional activity for our brand. It is important to understand that an event of such magnitude creates a huge demand for water and poses a serious health risk due to unhygienic conditions and lack of proper sanitation. As a part of our core company purpose and our nationwide campaign ‘Banega Swachh India’, we aim to educate millions of pilgrims about the importance of hygiene and sanitation. In this endeavour, we partner with NGOs and local authorities to understand the on-ground challenges and implement solutions which cater to them. For instance, at Nashik Kumbh last year we imparted hygiene education to 30 million pilgrims and at the same time saved 3.3 million litres of water for the residents of the city.
Q] What are some of the brand’s activities to increase consumer engagement around the Simhasth Kumbh?
Dettol and Harpic have now joined hands with Simhastha Kumbh to take the message of hygiene and sanitation to millions of pilgrims. On-ground volunteers with an efficient water sprayer and sanitizers were deployed at strategic locations such as food centres, bath areas, eateries and toilets to ensure people wash their hands before eating their meals and after using a toilet. In addition, there were almost 100 toilets maintained by Harpic to provide a solution to open defecation. Our volunteers were also distributing informative and educative material through flyers to pilgrims and sadhugrams for raising awareness around healthy hand-washing habits.
Q] Did you use any other medium in addition to the on-ground activities to spread Dettol’s message?
Yes, we tapped Print, TV, Radio and Digital. We used Mobile and Radio marketing extensively to reiterate the importance of hygiene through jingles, which have been successful in building healthy handwashing habits.
Q] How are you using the Digital medium to promote your products like the recently launched Dettol Gold range?
As part of our Digital marketing initiative, we set up a Digital hub in May 2014 and since the launch, have stepped up our focus on Digital across our key brands. We have deployed the best in class analytic
tools, which help us monitor conversations real time and evaluate the sentiments around the brand on a daily basis. While the tools provide the insights, our learning comes from the approach we take towards contextually engaging with our consumers in the digital medium. We need to adapt our conversation to a language that the consumer understands. Beyond Digital, we are witnessing a revolution in e-commerce too. We are betting on e-commerce for enhanced sales in India.
Q] You are the No.1 brand as far as antiseptic liquids are concerned. However, you lag behind in the soaps category. Why?
Consumers who have been using Dettol over the years have many emotions attached to the product and now Dettol has become the gold standard in germ protection and a leader in the segment. However, when it comes to the soap category, we are relatively new compared to the current market leaders. Becoming No. 1 is a journey and we continue to grow our share year on year.
Q] The health and hygiene soap segment is growing at double digit rates, ahead of the overall soap market. Has Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Mission given the sector a boost?
The launch of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan by the PM has united the entire nation towards a common cause of making the country cleaner and more hygienic by 2019. While we had been working on such initiatives since 2006, this gave us an opportunity to scale up our programmes in support of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. We launched ‘Dettol - Banega Swachh India’ with a commitment to invest Rs 100 crore towards this initiative until 2019. We haven’t launched the campaign to drive our sales, but to multiply our on-going efforts in this direction and support the national focus on hygiene and sanitation. In the long term, as more and more people adopt healthy hygiene practices, our products like Dettol, Harpic, Lizol and Mortein will become relevant for them and potentially impact penetration and sales.
Q] To what level has Dettol’s ‘Banega Swachh India’ managed to take the product to the villages, where hygiene is still not a priority?
As the global leader in health and hygiene, we have been consistently working towards creating awareness for healthy hygiene and sanitation practices. Since 2006, through various awareness programmes, we have reached out to over 10 million mothers and children and educated them about the importance of hand hygiene and sanitation.
Q] What are the specific programmes you have launched in rural areas?
We have initiated several programmes across the country like Behaviour Change at Community Level - launched in partnership with Jagran Pehel and State Governments of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The project aims to stop open defecation in 200 villages of UP and Bihar. We are working closely with 500 Panchayati Raj institution members, 500 faith-based leaders, 500 accredited social health activists and Aanganwadi workers, and 2 lakh mothers to drive positive behaviour towards sanitation practices. There are other programmes like hygiene curriculum for schools - in partnership with XSEED and Butterfly EduFields, where we developed a hygiene curriculum for children in primary schools across the country. In the first year, this curriculum will be used in 10,000 schools across Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Bihar and Tamil Nadu. It aims to educate 2.5 million children. The first kit of the curriculum was presented to PM Narendra Modi last year.
Q] Which markets have been contributing greatly to the growth of the brand?
Our growth is broad-based and across markets in India. We believe there is a lot of opportunity when it comes to penetration. We have a portfolio of brands for all categories of consumers in India - right from small packaging products designed for the rural markets at only Rs 10 up to the newly launched Dettol Air Pollution mask priced at Rs 699 for urban consumers bothered by rising pollution levels.
Q] How has the association with actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Vidya Balan benefited the brand?
Amitabh Bachchan and Vidya Balan have come onboard to promote our initiatives under ‘Dettol Banega Swachh India’ and not for endorsing the brand. We are proud to have one of the most respected Indians and legendary Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan as the face of the campaign. He has been very supportive in promoting causes like pulse polio vaccination, save our tigers, anti-tobacco and brings his credibility and compassion to the cause. Moreover, he has a fan following like none other and appeals to all sections of society. Vidya Balan, on the other hand, has been at the forefront of a nationwide campaign to curb open defecation. For a mass awareness campaign like ours, having passionate and supportive figures as campaign ambassadors helps in taking our message to a larger audience.
Q] What are the challenges for the brand in the market?
The challenge as we define it is more about driving behaviour change to make the country cleaner and hygienic.
@ FEEDBACK neeta.nair@exchange4media.com
