By SALONI DUTTA
Improving people’s lives through meaningful innovation has been the long term vision at Philips India. The company recently launched a new category of Bodygrooming solutions under their personal care portfolio, with brand ambassador Arjun Kapoor – called the Philips Bodygrooming range - which will help get rid of unwanted body hair. Philips believes in the trend of casual and DIY (Do It Yourself) styling, and the new Bodygroomers are intended to address the needs of contemporary Indian men.
Talking about the insights that went behind the launch of the category, Anurita Chopra, Director Marketing – PC, Philips India says, “It’s an altogether new category and that’s exactly where we smelt an opportunity because we do a lot of social listening, trying to understand what men are talking about... We stumbled upon the fact that men are talking to each other anonymously on different online forums asking how they are getting rid of body hair... this is something they will never talk about openly. But they don’t know how to take care of their body hair. Considering that appearance is key, they are using razors, creams... leading to cuts, burning and itching... So there’s a huge dissatisfaction and that for us is a huge business opportunity.”
The media mix
The media mix at Philips with a focus on innovation is very category specific. While the recently launched Bodygrooming category is using a digital-led approach to reach out to a very targeted set of audience, other categories use magazines and Print media extensively. Chopra says, “We use a mix of media from TV to Radio, etc. In the case of Beauty which is a category targeted more towards women, we use Print and lifestyle magazines like Cosmo, Elle, Verve, Femina, etc. We use a lot of magazine Print because that is where women are really keen to learn and understand about their personal care needs. Similarly we use opportunities of engaging through advertorials very well on daily supplements. Whenever we need to drive home a message on usage or about celebrity usage, we use Print advertorials. So we use Print very aptly.”
“Philips has used Print supplements in major metros and done advertorials or sponsored media stories as an opportunity because that helps us drive communication whenever we are launching a Television campaign. We do a lot of media interaction in lower tier cities like Jaipur, Lucknow and Patna. We interact with the local media and that gives us a lot of first round visibility in vernacular, because it’s very language sensitive and it has given us a huge share of visibility in these cities,” Chopra adds. “Some of the newspapers that we targeted and invited to our events in various Tier II markets, were Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Rajasthan Patrika, Rashtriya Sahara, Amar Ujala, Hindustan, Navbharat Times, Aaj, I Next, National Duniya, Nafa Nuksan, Dainik Navjyoti, Aaj Samaj, Deshbandhu, Vir Arjun, Rahat Times, Jan Sandesh, Punjab Kesari, Hindi Tribune and Sanmarg.”
Focus on North India
Talking very specifically about the brand’s presence in the Hindi heartland of India which is a major market for the personal care segment, Chopra says, “We have done activations and campaigns very recently in Bihar, Jharkhand and UP and even Rajasthan for that matter, the Hindi heartland, we have had Press and media interactions to announce our lower tier strategy but more importantly we reach out to them and engage through different mediums to make an impact in the lower tier cities.”
Even with Radio and Outdoor they do language customization because markets are language sensitive. “It is about making an impact in a language that is relevant to that particular market and we keep that in mind when we are rolling out campaigns or any communication,” she adds.
Moving beyond large cities
For Philips India, large cities still show a lot of potential and hence they are dividing efforts at reaching both metros and the smaller towns in an effective fashion. “At no point is a metro and Tier I penetration quite as capped because there’s a huge, huge potential still. Also online penetration in smaller cities is rising and is visible in the kind of sales, numbers we are already getting from lower tiers,” says Chopra.
They are also keeping in mind the affordability concerns that lower tiers have and targeting them with lower cost solutions like BT 1000 trimmer priced at Rs 1,000 and HP 8302 hair straightener priced at Rs 1,200. These are price-points for the lower tier market as Philips is very keen for lower tier consumers to also start adapting styling solutions in their daily needs with the brand.
Chopra elaborates by giving examples: “In lower tier cities in the smaller population range we have done Radio and on-ground activation where we actively tied up with the local radio stations there. Outdoor also plays a strong role in lower tier areas. We do use Print carefully and in a category which still needs a little bit of engagement and education, we believe more in two way communication because then we see the opportunity for the audience to interact.”
Talking about the coming 4-5 months, Chopra says that is is a packed schedule for them. “We’ve just wrapped up Q2 with a huge action on Female Grooming and on Bodygrooming but our mainstay is the new categories that have been opened up,” she says, adding that they are working on and lined up a lot of new campaigns, consumer engagement both offline and online.
Feedback: saloni.dutta@exchange4media.com
