Unilever Countryside Raiders

Beside the intersection of two unnamed dirt roads in a small town near Bangalore, India, in the local market known as haat, vendors are clamoring for more and more. This is at the forefront of globalization, where the most advanced marketing is already on the side of dirt roads where the smoke billows and the air is foul.

"More washable!" "More foam!" shouted a vendor who sells products from Hindustan Lever Ltd. The hawker holds a microphone, and the truck behind him is laden with detergent, soap and toothpaste. And his competitors stood a few steps away, blaring loud horns to sell cheap knockoffs of Lever's products: "Cheap!" "Cleaner!"

Hindustan Hua is an Indian subsidiary of Unilever, the world's largest daily necessities manufacturer. In this small town near Bangalore, the average household income is only $103 a year. Most people wash their clothes and bathe in nearby ponds or by public taps. Even when they use soap, they usually choose the cheapest brand. They like soaps that can be used for bathing as well as for shampooing and laundry. In this country, brand focus and brand loyalty are fleeting at best.

But with creative genius, perseverance and cultural sensitivity, Hindustan Lever is changing that. Over the past two decades, the company has built a proven distribution system to deliver products such as soaps and detergents to every corner of India. Now, they are starting to build on that again, targeting a huge but neglected consumer group: the rural poor.

Keki Dadiseth, director of Hindustan Lever, said: "Everyone needs a brand. There are far more poor people than rich people in the world. To be a global company and gain global market share, you must Actively enter every market."

How can a large company understand the psychology of poor customers in far-flung markets? How can business sales be guaranteed to be profitable in the face of hundreds of millions of widely distributed, isolated people with little to no disposable income? In such an environment, generations of people, even if they have the money to buy things, just pick the cheapest or overstocked items. How can we cultivate brand loyalty in such a market? Hindustan Lever has carved out a market where others see it as daunting.

Change in Sales

On November 28, 2000, in a conference room in the southern Indian city of Nalgonda, Hindustan Lever gathered about 150 women. They come from 50 villages with a population of less than 2,000. Most of them are peasant women who don't know a word. Now they have to study hard to promote Lever's products.

Lever's suggestion: If they buy Lever's products, they will have the opportunity to learn how to sell these products to friends and villagers and profit from it. Amway and Avon have already implemented similar programs among the urban middle class in India. But Lever's direct-selling model is a far cry from traditional distribution channels and well-trained sales representatives.

Such a program is a huge cultural challenge in India. In many places, Pota has encountered resistance. In the village of Pochampally, a local leader bluntly said it was difficult to sell the products to villagers, pointing to bags of soap and shampoo piling up in the corner of the main room.

But in the neighbouring village of Ravenpalli, Pota noticed things were getting better. A group of weavers used their spare time to sell soap and washing products to their neighbors. Team leader Maheshwari said: "I think our products are cheaper than the store's price, and we can still make money." Although she had no previous sales experience and was only in the second grade of primary school, she still remembers the ledger clearly. .

Pota sat cross-legged on the floor of her house, looking very happy. "We're certainly not doing philanthropy," Pota said. "However, if we can make money and make some contribution to society at the same time, why not do it?"

Transformation of sales promotion

Twilight falls in Bihar ) at a country fair. Shippers gathered their goods and gathered in front of a stage. An actor lit a small fire on a plate, illuminating the stage. Start performing fairy tale plays. Then, jugglers, singers and dancers take to the stage to tell some local news and woo audiences in the surrounding villages.

Next, the actors began to perform again, this time as farmers. A person is worried that he is not in good health and cannot do farm work. Another said to him, "If your body is covered in dirt, your body can't breathe." What he means is that if you don't keep your body clean, your body won't be strong and you won't be able to support your family. They sing this kind of stuff in melodious tunes. In the background of the stage was an advertising slogan promoting Unilever's Lifebuoy brand, a soap brand that has been in India for 106 years.

Educating poor consumers is often a complex and long-term task, and its advocacy effect is difficult to predict. Hindustan Lever has put on 7,000 such shows in rural India, promoting Lifebuoy and five other brands, and still isn't sure the best way to do it. However, in the face of complex situations, it is necessary to actively try various ideas.

One way is to rely on science. Salespeople of soap products found that people thought their hands were clean when they couldn't see the dirt on their hands. Largely for this reason, people never wash their hands after washing their clothes by the river or feeding their cows, thus contributing to the spread of disease. The truth is obvious to salespeople, but they need to connect consumers with the same urgency and emotional connection to soap.

What better place to bring awareness to the importance of regular soap use than in a place where 70 million people bathe together? Hindustan Lever participated in the 12th annual Kumbh Mela religious pilgrimage in Allahabad. Salespeople illuminate people's palms with UV scanners to show people where bacteria and dust live. These pilgrims come to bathe at the confluence of the holy river, hoping to cleanse their souls, while they also learn to rid their hands of disease-causing bacteria.

Village roadside theater is another, more emotionally charged method of publicity. Lever and Ogilvy & Mather's out-of-the-ordinary Ogilvy marketing team draws on a number of local magicians, dancers and singers who know exactly what's going on in every market and village the company targets. . A total of 50 publicity teams consisting of 13 actors acted as the link between the brand and the local residents. The script of the performance is adapted to local conditions, using various dialects, and adapting to the requirements of audiences with different educational levels and religious beliefs. In 6 months, a total of 2005 fairs have staged two-hour performances organized by Ogilvy Design.

These performances are impressive. According to a company spokesperson, brand awareness of the cheap and practical Breeze soap rose from 22% to 30% during the six months of the show. The popularity of Rin Shakti, a mid-priced soap and laundry detergent brand, rose from 28% to 36%. In the first half of 2000, sales of premium detergent brand Surf Excel increased substantially in all five states compared to 1999. At the same time, sales of the Rin brand have also increased significantly in the four states.

Changes in Product Development

Most large corporations generally agree that developing products for poor consumers is less important for strategic flexibility, market inspiration, and R&D costs than products for wealthy consumers requirements can be lower. Hindustan Lever found that the opposite is actually the case. Only the most imaginative product developers and the most innovative companies can be favored by the poorest consumer groups.

Take the example of Indian women and their hair. India's population accounts for 16% of the world's total population, and because many Indian women do not cut their hair all their lives, Indians account for 28% of the world's total hair. In Indian culture, grooming and maintenance of hair is the only luxury most women have. Even in their faded old sarees, they don't have any jewelry, and they never go out unkempt.

This means that women don't miss any opportunity to maintain their hair. In response to this mentality, two product development strategies have emerged: one targeting the widespread habit of shampooing hair and body among consumers; the other targeting women who are not accustomed to shampooing.

According to a survey by Lever, more than half of consumers, especially low-income consumers, wash their hair and bodies with soap every day. Instead of trying to change this habit, the salesperson decided to use it as a business opportunity. Hence the idea of cheap soaps that can be used to both cleanse the body and wash the hair. It took product developers a year in the lab to find the right formula.

At the time, marketers already had a good image of Breeze as a cheap soap brand. Now, they can take the brand one step further. The new soap, named Breeze 2-in-1, is targeted at small cities and rural areas. "This is a typical example of a product salesperson's analysis and innovation," said Mukul Deoras, manager of the personal washing business unit.

Another product development strategy is aimed at women who are not used to shampooing. I feel uncomfortable using the shampoo. Salespeople go head-to-head with this view. The advert compares dry, tangled hair after soap to soft, shampooed hair.

In parallel with the campaign, the company also launched Lux shampoo in sachets. The product draws on the off-the-shelf Lux soap brand and is priced well below other sachets of shampoos. A typical sachet of shampoo costs two rupees, while the Lux shampoo costs half rupees. The visuals of the ad and the affordability of the shampoo in the sachet are so enticing that in a pilot sale in Andhra Pradesh, overall shampoo sales jumped 50% in just three months.

Dr. VM Naik, Deputy Director of Research Laboratories at Hindustan Lever said: "We need to apply the highest level of science and technology to solve simple problems and enable consumers to buy quality products at low prices." Dr. Naik, who spends 70% of his time in the laboratory, is not only dedicated to improving high-efficiency shampoos, he also presides over the development of the latest popular products such as cheap ice cream and cheap soap.

He said: "Technologies that were previously beneficial to consumers may now become barriers to innovation. New products require new norms." The same can be said for strategies that succeed in other markets as innovations hindrance, Hindustan Lever said: New markets require new norms.

Originally reprinted with permission from Fast Company Magazine, Strategic Innovation: Hindustan Lever Ltd. Copyright 2001 by Rekha Balu. Translated by Zhu Xiaofan.