It’s a classic case of the creator falling in love with his own creation! And refusing to understand that the market may not be infatuated with their product on the same level as they are.
The adage that everything is fair in love (and war!) seems to be truer than we think.
Indeed, everything is fair in love! Even packaging one of the most repulsive smells as a commodity (in a segment dominated chiefly by the idea of beauty and fragrance). That’s precisely what Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd, marketers of Dettol, have done by introducing Dettol soap.
The peculiar odour of Dettol is one of the most omnipresent smells in dispensaries, clinics and hospitals. And as an antiseptic germ-killer and a potent disinfectant, Dettol must be unparalleled in medical history.
But to have that smell in your bathroom?
Well, who needs an antiseptic bath?
The makers and marketers of Dettol Soap have fallen into the trap of what, in advertising jargon, is called ’’line extension’’ of a phenomenally successful product. What they don’t realize is that such extension, if not found suitable by the consumer, could end up weakening the star parent brand.
The famous marketing gurus, Al Ries and Jack Trout, have given some solid evidence of this fact in their trend-setting book titled Positioning. Perhaps Dettol’s makers are banking on the fact that their star brand, Dettol antiseptic liquid, enjoys such a monopoly, and is entrenched so firmly in the Indian market, that they would be lucky enough to be exception to the rule and get away with it.
As an ex-advertising man (I spent three years brain-storming in advertising) I think there is a basic fault with this strategy. There are some odours that people appreciate, but only in certain places or only at certain times-and perhaps only for fleeting moments: like phenyl in homes when the floor is being mopped; Dettol in clinics or hospitals; why-some people even like the smell of petrol at times! But give it to them all the time, or let them be forced to inhale it when they are caught in a traffic jam, and half of them will get giddy.
Coming back to the product itself, Dettol soap sells for Rs 14 for a bar of 75 gms. That is almost at par with other premium bath soaps like Lux, Palmolive, etc. So there is no strong incentive in purchase price.
The packaging not only uses the same colours-dark green and white-to ensure that the customer is directly or subliminally reminded of Dettol, but also uses the mnemonic of a sword that is strongly ensconced in public memory as associated with the parent product.
This association, as also Dettol’s positioning as a ’’hygiene soap’’, ignores the fact that most people subconsciously treat bath as an activity that not only assures cleanliness and hygiene for the body, but along with it also evokes feelings of freshness and fragrance that, in a way, pamper the body. Dettol’s peculiar smell is subconsciously associated with sickness, injury and medical treatment. This is a very big hurdle for the brand as negative subconscious associations can sometimes prove enormously strong to overcome.
The most annoying part of the packaging is a sentence ’’Good health begins with hygiene’’, supposedly a slogan by Indian Medical Association that raises more questions than it answers. What is Indian Medical Association? Does this outfit really exist? If so, where is their office? What is the guarantee that it is not a dummy organisation promoted by the makers of Dettol?
And the slogan is all fine, but does this association endorse Dettol Soap to possess that quality? Or is the soap just using their logo (you bet it is there!) and this slogan and expects it to work to its advantage?
On the plus side, the bar lasts longer than most other bath soaps in its price category, and may be an ideal replacement for regular wash basin soap especially in factories, restaurants-and yes, clinics and hospitals where it actually belongs.