Holding Its Own

Nine years after it was launched, Whisper, has grown like no other brand in P&G's domestic portfolio. According to the December 1997 ORG retail audit data, Whisper's volume share is only slightly lower than all three J&J brands, while its 53 per cent value share is higher than J&J's 42 per cent. Since its entry in 1989 the sanpro market has more than doubled. It is currently valued at around Rs 150 crore.

True to its behaviour in several other categories, P&G has not jumped onto the low-priced bandwagon. It plans to retain its positioning as a premium player and gain from the projected growth in the market due to this heightened market activity.

Says Vijay Santhanam, marketing manager, P&G India, "Kotex and Stayfree Secure could expand the market and drive up growth rates. But ultimately, consumers will only prefer the brand that offers the best value for money."

P&G's thinking is based on its experience and learnings it has gleaned from the market so far. When Whisper was launched in 1989, J&J was the sole player in a market struggling to grow beyond three per cent. It was a difficult market and the task was compounded by the taboos and prejudices surrounding product usage.

Over 90 per cent of Indian women used cloth for sanitary protection. Pads were considered expensive. Their purchase was often an awkward affair as most retailers hid it from view and sold it wrapped in brown paper bags under the counter.

Plus, there was also the issue of habit. Most young women used cloth because that is what their mothers and grandmothers used. The whole issue was shrouded in secrecy and awkwardness leaving the girl little choice but to follow maternal advice. Television commercials had little impact.The extent of strong-rooted nature of habit is still visible today. Despite doubling in market size, urban penetration levels for pads are an abysmal 10 per cent.

When P&G decided on Whisper in the late 1980s, the category seemed difficult to break. J&J had most of the market to themselves. Growth rates were low and trying to convert people from cloth to pads was proving to be a Herculean task.

However, consumer research threw up some interesting insights into usage. It also revealed some gaps in J&J's armoury, which P&G learnt to exploit.

For example, J&J as the market leader was grappling with the problem of conversion and taboo among consumers. Cloth usage was strong and J&J focused a lot on trying to prove the efficacy of pads over cloth. Its ad campaign talked of macro issues like freedom and convenience for the pad user and how even shopping has become less awkward with sanitary pads.

P&G discovered that J&J's ads never focused on the product or its actual performance. While urging consumers about convenience and freedom was important, the ad did not talk about how the product performed during menstruation and nor how consumers reacted to it.

There was also the issue of innovation. J&J's largest selling brand Carefree was a belted variety, while Stayfree was beltless. Consumers generally preferred the convenience of the beltless.

Extensive research showed there was a need for a product that provided better and drier protection. At that time, there were three kinds of product available. Basic cloth, used by a majority of Indian women; sanitary pads made by local and regional players which were ad hoc preparations with cotton stuffing; and sanitary pads by J&J.

Whether it was the cloth user or a pad user, many women found the menstruation period a painful and embarrassing experience. It interfered with work, socialising was curtailed and there was the constant dread of staining.

Consumers felt the products, even by J&J did not take care of issues like dryness and staining properly. Though Carefree and Stayfree were more hygienic, wetness continued to be a problem.

P&G launched Whisper with a campaign that promised cleaner, drier and hygienic protection. The ad emphasised dryness and the film showed a demonstration of how Whisper absorbs more than other pads.

The results were immediate. Whisper sales soared and soon J&J upped spends on its beltless variety, Stayfree and launched another product Silky Dry to counter P&G's campaign on dryness.

Feedback from consumers showed general satisfaction over the product but also threw up other needs overlooked earlier. For instance, side staining was still a problem. The regular Whisper launched in 1989 also could not address the problem of heavy flows.

To tackle this, P&G launched Whisper Extra Large in February 1992, Whisper with Wings in August 1994 and Whisper Extra Dry in July 1997.

Consumer research showed two trends. One, brand loyalty in linked to a woman's first experience in school. If a women discovers a brand that gives her protection in those early traumatic days, she sticks to it for life.

Secondly, gynaecologists play an important role in a woman's hygiene related issues. Most women, P&G researchers talked to believed implicitly in their doctor's recommendations.

P&G tackled this in two ways. One, school promotions were started with teams fanning out to different schools to talk on hygiene issues. In October 1996, the Whisper ad campaign was modified to reflect the findings about the role of gynaecologists.

Today, P&G is readying to launch a new variants, Whisper Extra Light, which has already been successfully rolled out in other parts of Asia.