The first phase of the relaunch of Mediker, an anti-lice treatment shampoo brand which Marico Industries acquired from Procter & Gamble (P&G), has been kicked off with a new communication that attempts to spur volumes by creating awareness among consumers.The move is prompted by market research conducted by the company which reveals that the medical usage of Mediker is not very high. This is so as housewives, the target consumer, often tend to ignore the problem. The company has created live characters of the problem-causing pest in the new advertisement for an effective recall.
According to Marico Industries CEO (Nature Care Division) Mr Shreekant Gupte: ``It is a classical ad which directly highlights the problem in a much more salient manner. It is an interesting way of showing live characters of lice by giving them a personality. This is to familiarise the consumer of the problem caused by these terrible things.''
The company, however, has retained the ad line "Sunday ke Sunday" in the new Mediker ad as it had a reasonably good recall among consumers. ``The idea is to tell the consumer to eliminate the root cause of the problem. Research divulged that the problem is not being taken seriously and consumers often resort to using combs rather than Mediker. The concept of the new ad is to get people to using Mediker,'' says Mr Gupte.
The company has not brought about any changes in the pricing of Mediker. But, according to Mr Gupte, the company may change the package graphics to include the live characters onto the Mediker bottle. ``We will first ascertain the response to the new ad among consumers. If the ad is well received with consumers getting familiarised with the characters shown in the film and start associating these with the brand, we would take the next step and emboss these characters onto the graphic designs on the product,'' says Mr Gupte.
Similar changes would be brought about for POPs, displays at the retail end and danglers etc. to promote Mediker. Marico had bought Mediker for a consideration of Rs 10 crore from P&G with effect from June 30, 1999.
The company commenced sales of Mediker towards the end of July 1999. Focus provided by Marico resulted in a sales spurt and during the nine-months of operation till March 2000, Mediker sales exceeded the annual turnover of Rs 8 crore achieved during the entire fiscal 1998-99.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.