Wheel detergent- Of Salman, songs and some smell !!!

Ad agency: Lowe Lintas Mumbai.
Production House: Chrome Pictures.
Actors: Salman Khan, Prachi desai
Singers: Mohit chauhan and Mahalaxmi iyer

Salman Khan has always been my favourite, not only for his acting, or I must say in spite of his acting (?) but for his style and stickiness and the naughtiness that he seems to be made of, from top to bottom.. he is like the proverbial wine, getting better with age,,, and even at the risk of repeating a cliché I must say, he is the one who made every other hero run to the gym and hit the machines to develop a bulge here and a muscle there… he is also known for his women (the numbers are quite arguable) and when seen with a small time actress Prachi Desai it is quite amusing…. They are in a relation here albeit to sell a detergent powder though…

The fans of Sallu ( as salman is called) is going aha-oho over the actors chemistry with small screen diva Prachi Desai (who is just half his age and who had done a semi hit film with noted actor Tushar Kapoor in ‘Life Partner 2’ sequel) ….

For the first time we will be seeing the mega star in detergent ad… for that matter if my memory is serving me right, it’s the first time ever that a star of his stature has come down to endorse a detergent powder, the closest was when SRK sat in the bath tub, which by now and by every ones acceptance, was a mistake. Well what he has to do with a detergent? Apart from accompanying her as a partner and running around with his HAII’s that he delivers well… ( “Hum dil de chuke hai sanam” – the class movie is where again I am reminded of his romantic HAII’s which women loved..) He is not
(Thankful are his male fans) seen washing clothes which if he did, women would have said, If Sallu can why not you?

Fearless to appear in a detergent ad, Salman even felt proud to be associated with the brand, the actor stated and I quote “I am extremely proud to be associated with one of India's oldest and most respectable brands. Wheel has become a household name, and has a glorious history of many years.”* (* as seen in the net )

Except for the unexpected pairing,( most startling pairing I must say), and an even unexpected voice over by Salman himself this ad is nothing great to write a review about.. I don’t call it another lazy ad- where they thought that ‘the lack of creative brains can be hided by an out of the blue celebrity’… Salman is not seen endorsing too many stuff- vis-à-vis an SRK and hence that can be a differentiator..(if at all he has come for- Thumbs up ,Red tape and the likes, it was to harp on his macho man image)… Wheel once stood for strong washing (remember the old ads where a muscular pair of arms squeezes and squeezes a poor piece of cloth? And Sallu being a strong guy ( the strongest of all macho men) makes a strong connect but then when one see the ad, it is not the factor that the ad makers are wanting to capitalize…Then what is it?

The laundry market in India is estimated at approximately 2.5 million tons in volume terms and at about Rs. 55 billion in value terms. The category, comprising of detergent bars and powders and laundry soaps, has near widespread penetration. Statistics show that more than a million washes are carried out in India everyday, which is approximately between six and seven washes per household per week (Source: Habits & Attitudes Study) The laundry market can be broadly classified into three segments on the basis of price per kilogram and also the benefit they promise.------The low-priced segment, the mid –priced and the premium segment..

The low priced one comprises of detergent powders that are priced at an average of Rs. 19 per kg and offer a basic clean. It is the largest segment in the laundry market and a lot of dynamics happened there in the last few years.. Frankly I have got amused when brands cut price and move up and down the segmentation ladder.. As recently as March, P&G increased the grammage of Tide there by again starting the price war and segmentation confusion….Wheel started off as a cheap stuff (read as “cost effective or value for money”) then later on started talking about “being hand and cloth friendly” ( attacking Nirma) and then to “giving stronger wash” to scuttle the perception that its just too soft and then the ‘energy and power factor” and then the “Khushboo or smell factor”, and now a lot of romance as well…Now he among the Khans is the one who stands closest to the masses and that seems to be the only rationale behind the choice….

Sallu would have been a right choice if the endorse’rs personality and the brands personality match wasn’t a factor, but then having said that I am sure that the ad will be seen , noted and hopefully people will buy more of Wheel because their hero seems to be suggesting so.. Till the results come lets take a break…..

NB:- Sweet heart Kathrina, left Dyna and now is with Lux , in its big chain of stars, and Sallu bhai selling a detergent powder..... one is climbing the ladder and the other one?

Daz-Out of the Box

This 2003 American ad is finding a place here in Adformula not because it is the best ad in my archive... For that matter, I haven’t yet seen the best ad, as my archive is getting bigger with every passing day.....

This ad awed me for sure for the fun in it. But more than that, it has overwhelmed me for taking the formula out and doing something new... Procter & Gamble and many other makers of detergents has used the "doorstep challenge" method (formula) in which a B or C rate celebrity encounters and persuade a "surprised housewife" that the powder really does work better than other washing powders.. a dirty bucket and some unbelievably dirty clothes which when dipped on the said bucket will prove the point…..Some places and in some situations the formula slightly varies where the celebrity is replaced by a jealous neighbor or even a mother- in- law or daughter -in -law who teaches and the other one gets taught…

As an advertising device, however, it has been living on borrowed time. While it may have proved to be a tried-and-tested way of demonstrating the powders qualities, a whole new generation of housewives (and husbands too) found the idea a bit too out dated and cheesy to be accepted just like that…

Out of the box stuff when the ad introduces to us to Mummy Maureen and son Sean. Maureen finds an off-white bra in Sean's bedroom.Sean's girlfriend is not using Daz, she concedes, but the bra is not her’s either……. Sean looks bashful and the barmaid looks shifty..... TheAd is made by Leo Burnett and was extended into different forms and ideas of which I have one more to show and it is here...

Hitherto, I use this ads to teach “out of the box” concept… but as the saying goes” to think out of the box, one first have to have the box”………

Scene 1.. Take 1 ( Part II)

Continued from Part I

Tril was supposedly a path breaker with Endura007 which cleaned the clothes, killed germs and gave sparkle like no one else did… It still wasn’t sinking into the jug head Indian buyers mind set that India and its dirty clothes needed German help to sparkle… The Indian detergent market was not the same like Europe from where Tril came from if it was P&G ‘s Ariel which ruled the charts , in US it was Tide and no Ariel would be available… definitions of premium varied and so did the varieties of Tide or Ariel that one got in their respective markets

The Rs.5,700 crore detergent market in India which is segmented into two product categories - powder and cake was one tough nut for Tril to crack….. Sub categories like concentrates/compact (variants of Surf, Henko, Ariel), premium (variants of Surf, Henko, Ariel), mass premium/mid price (Rin, Mr.White, Tide and regional brands) and popular (Nirma, Wheel, Chek) made it difficult for the brand managers and the advertising agency to decide where to enter and where exactly to position. Tril after careful analysis decided to take the mass premium category and that is why this actor from the south was chosen to come all the way and dip dirty clothes, take them out and show ho it sparkles…research said she had the appeal… she was loved by the mass and yet had a premium appeal… she looked premium and yet was mass like material…

The first Tril advertising (launch ad) which Ram and co had made with no famous star in it had shown the offer of this unnamed product for maximum whiteness effect…. The sparkle and the clean which no one else did gave,….. The house wife tries the product and lo and behold, she gets the promised whiteness. After which the product's brand name appears from heaven as Tril….

The competitor was not to be left behind…. He had to prove that this unnamed detergent powder that is offered for trial does not provide that super whiteness and even if they do the unnamed new fellows cannot be trusted…. And they showed a lead female actor who wore cotton saree to look like an ordinary bharathiya nari waxing about the super whiteness of the time tested age old brand while unnamed detergent gets pushed to the background by a group of women talking about the excellent performance of the old brand…

What could Tril do but get another star to counter propaganda..? And the research luckily agreed to the very obvious… get the competing star to kill the other one….

The phone rang again….

Hello … said Ram….

Hey Ram…. We are on the way… said Guru….is everything ready?

Ram didn’t say YES… it was understood that when the unit was there since early morning they would be ready and tired of waiting….

Ram let out a huge sigh of relief … he had his plans for the ad shoot and release… had to rush back to Chennai after the post shoot works… had other brands in his kitty competing for his attention… The life of a client service director was in soup… the more clients in his kitty the more was the confusion… the bigger ones got the better attention and the smaller ones were never happy with that fact of life… the bigger ones weren’t happy either with the divided attention that they got… after all they paid through their noses for listening to them at least ,full time…

The phone rang again….

Hey Ram ..said some one… this time it was not Guru…

Khurana here… I have sad news for you and Tril…..

What is that? Asked Ram

The other guy is reducing its price by half… said Khurana who was head of the research team back in the Chennai agency office…

That means?… asked Ram visibly annoyed

That means now Kite detergent powder will be available at 23 Rs and not 43… said Khurana…. They call it as the biggest ever consumer advantage transfer…

My foot …..said Ram…..

He knew what it meant to his brand… Tril…. It was a price war that was launched… and quite un expectedly,,, the whole shoot now became futile an effort.. after all the strategy was to talk about value for the mass premium segment…

A car came and the whole unit stood up….

Like a dream which came true, the star descended from it…