Will Lever Surf The P & G Tide?

Will Tide wash away Surf? Or will Surf clean out Tide? The questions may be rhetorical, but the fact remains that the battle between the two giant detergent brands promises to whip up a big lather in the Indian detergents market. Proctor & Gamble launched its biggest international detergent brand Tide in India earlier this month. In anticipation, Hindustan Lever Ltd, almost simultaneously, launched its Surf Excel Liquid as well as re-launched the Surf Excelmatic for the washing machine users.

An HLL spokesman, however, denies that the two launches were in anticipation of Tide. He says, "Our brand strategy focuses on consumers and all initiatives are based on consumer needs." P&G makes a similar claim for the timing of its Tide launch in India. "We study markets carefully before deciding on which products to bring in at what time. Our research in India shows that the premium segment of the laundry category is growing at a healthy 16 per cent annually," says a P&G official.

 

The company official says the Indian consumers are increasingly appreciating high quality products. "It is this change in consumer behavior which prompted us to launch yet another high quality product in India," he says.

P&G claims that its existing premium washing powder, Ariel, already enjoys a healthy 8 per cent market-share in the category overall and a 45 per cent share in the compact powder segment. The detergent market is basically split 50:50 between bars and powders. Liquids, however, have a negligible market share.

Instead of cannabalising the sales of its Ariel brand, P&G hopes that Tide will strengthen its presence in the premium washing powder category. Officials say while Ariel will continue to innovate and provide impeccable cleaning, Tide will deliver great whiteness. It apparently uses a leading edge global technology to deliver superior whiteness to clothes. It has unique anti re-deposition technology which prevents dirt from settling on the fabric in the wash itself.

However, in India, the whiteness platform is already occupied by HLL's Rin. Small wonder the HLL spokesman insists that the Tide launch does not affect brand Surf. "If at all, it is competition in the Rin category where we are the market leaders," he says. "Also, Rin is a very dynamic brand which is constantly being spruced up. We will not let competition gain ground in any category we are present," he adds.

Yet, industry watchers admit that Tide is in the same category as Surf Excel and Ariel. But it is difficult to predict whether the `whiteness' proposition is relevant enough to make the Indian consumers switch to a new brand. That is not all. Experts are also keeping a close eye on Tide to see where it generates its volumes from. Research in the past has shown that compact powders such as Ariel and Surf Excel have not grown at the expense of, say, a brand like Surf. Instead the volumes have come from consumers using the low end washing powders like Wheel and Nirma. Such households use compact powders like Ariel and Surf Excel for select washing and the low cost powders for daily wash.

Meanwhile, it will be critical for brand Surf to keep up its tempo it built with the successful "Surf Excel Hai Na" campaign. HLL and Surf's advertising agency Lintas are busy chalking out new promotions and campaigns which the company spokesman, predictably, dismisses as being routine activity and not a reaction to the Tide launch.