Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers.

Marketing might sometimes be interpreted as the art of selling products, but selling is only a small fraction of marketing. As the term "Marketing" may replace "Advertising" it is the overall strategy and function of promoting a product or service to the customer. The American Marketing Association defines marketing as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large." From a societal point of view, marketing is the link between a societys material requirements and its economic patterns of response. Marketing satisfies these needs and wants through exchange processes and building long term relationships. The process of communicating the value of a product or service through positioning to customers. Marketing can be looked at as an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, delivering and communicating value to customers, and managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its shareholders. Marketing is the science of choosing target markets through market analysis and market segmentation, as well as understanding consumer buying behavior and providing superior customer value.

There are five competing concepts under which organizations can choose to operate their business; the production concept, the product concept, the selling concept, the marketing concept, and the holistic marketing concept. The four components of holistic marketing are relationship marketing, internal marketing, integrated marketing, and socially responsive marketing. The set of engagements necessary for successful marketing management includes, capturing marketing insights, connecting with customers, building strong brands, shaping the market offerings, delivering and communicating value, creating long-term growth, and developing marketing strategies and plans.

A firm in the market economy survives by producing goods that persons are willing and able to buy. Consequently, ascertaining consumer demand is vital for a firm's future viability and even existence as a going concern. Many companies today have a customer focus (or market orientation). This implies that the company focuses its activities and products on consumer

demands. Generally, there are three ways of doing this: the customer-driven approach, the market change identification approach and the product innovation approach.

In the consumer-driven approach, consumer wants are the drivers of all strategic marketing decisions. No strategy is pursued until it passes the test of consumer research. Every aspect of a market offering, including the nature of the product itself, is driven by the needs of potential consumers. The starting point is always the consumer. The rationale for this approach is that there is no reason to spend R&D funds developing products that people will not buy. History attests to many products that were commercial failures in spite of being technological breakthroughs.

A formal approach to this customer-focused marketing is known as SIVA (Solution, Information, Value, Access). This system is basically the four Ps renamed and reworded to provide a customer focus. The SIVA Model provides a demand/customer-centric alternative to the wellknown 4Ps supply side model (product, price, placement, promotion) of marketing management.

Product Promotion Price Place

Solution Information Values Access

Marketing strategy

The field of marketing strategy considers the total marketing environment and its impacts on a company or product or service. The emphasis is on "an in depth understanding of the market environment, particularly the competitors and customers."

A given firm may offer numerous products or services to a marketplace, spanning numerous and sometimes wholly unrelated industries. Accordingly, a plan is required in order to effectively manage such products. Evidently, a company needs to weigh up and ascertain how to utilize its finite resources. For example, a start-up car manufacturing firm would face little success should it attempt to rival Toyota, Ford, Nissan, Chevrolet, or any other large global car maker. Moreover, a product may be reaching the end of its life-cycle. Thus, the issue of divest, or a ceasing of production, may be made. Each scenario requires a unique marketing strategy. Listed below are some prominent marketing strategy models.

A marketing strategy differs from a marketing tactic in that a strategy looks at the longer term view of the products, goods, or services being marketed. A tactic refers to a shorter term view. Therefore, the mailing of a postcard or sales letter would be a tactic, but a campaign of several postcards, sales letters, or telephone calls would be a strategy.

HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED (HUL)

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest consumer goods company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is owned by the British-Dutch company Unilever which controls 52% majority stake in HUL. Its products include foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products.

HUL was formed in 1933 as Lever Brothers India Limited and came into being in 1956 as Hindustan Lever Limited through a merger of Lever Brothers, Hindustan Vanaspati Mfg. Co. Ltd. and United Traders Ltd. It is headquartered in Mumbai, India and has an employee strength of over 16,500 employees [2] and contributes to indirect employment of over 65,000 people. The company was renamed in June 2007 as Hindustan Unilever Limited.

Lever Brothers started its actual operations in India in the summer of 1888, when crates full of Sunlight soap bars, embossed with the words "Made in England by Lever Brothers" were shipped to the Kolkata harbour and it began an era of marketing branded Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG).

Hindustan Unilever's distribution covers over 2 million retail outlets across India directly and its products are available in over 6.4 million outlets in the country. As per Nielsen market research data, two out of three Indians use HUL products.

HUL is the market leader in Indian consumer products with presence in over 20 consumer categories such as soaps, tea, detergents and shampoos amongst others with over 700 million Indian consumers using its products. Eighteen of HULs brands featured in the ACNielsen Brand Equity list of 100 Most Trusted Brands Annual Survey (2012).The company has a distribution channel of 6.3 million outlets and owns 35 major Indian brands.

HUL has produced many business leaders for corporate India, including Harish Manwani, the non-executive chairman of HUL and currently the Chief Operating Officer of Unilever. He is also a member of Unilever Leadership Executive team (ULE), which comprises the companys top management and is responsible for managing Unilevers profit and loss, and delivering growth across its regions, categories and functions. NitinParanjpe has been the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company since April 2008. He is also Executive Vice President, South Asia, Unilever and is also the executive head of the South Asia cluster for Unilever.

HUL's leadership-building potential was recognized when it was ranked 4th in the Hewitt Global Leadership Survey 2007 with only GE, P&G and Nokia ranking ahead of HUL in the ability to produce leaders with such regularity. A study conducted by Aon Hewitt, The RBL Group and Fortune in 2011, ranked the company number six in the list of Top Companies for Leaders 2011 Study Results. The company was awarded the CII- Prize for Leadership in HR Excellence at the 2nd CII National HR Conclave 2011 held on October 2011.

7 Ps of Marketing

PRODUCT
HUL can go with their existing range of detergents are they are doing well in termsof sales volumes. Their market share although has decreased, with the reduction in prices.An effort is there to get the production cost down by having pared down the color paletteused for printing across many products. The system has been used to reduce printed packaging costs. Some non performing brands like Breeze should be shelved out.According to the survey results (Refer Appendix F) Surf excel is the most widelyused detergent in its segment. The need to have a good fragrance in the detergents isemphasized. An Insta- whitener and liquid detergent market can be entered as per thefeedback got from the survey.

PRICE
The prices of all the detergents of HUL have been reduced considerably to competewith the competitors. For e.g. 30% Price reduction in Rin and 20% price reduction in Surf excel they hope to get back that market share. If the production cost is reduced then the price of the detergents will come down. An effort to reduce the cost has to be a top priority.Zero inventory and Go to the market initiative to reduce cost and increaseefficiency. The distribution network of HUL is one of the best in this industry. Efforts must be taken touse technology like SAP which help in managing the distribution effectively. Some of the benefits of SAP are Streamlined business operations Improved information sharing with partners even if they are not using SAPssolutions Increased supply chain efficiency through process-centric collaboration across TheEnterpriseinternally and externally Enhanced value of legacy system

Introduction of Exclusive shelves of HUL products in Supermarkets wherein only HUL products are displayed together. This will enhance the shopping experience of the consumer and there will be no conflicts of brands.

PLACE
First company in India to introduced shampoo sachet forrural population. Covers both Mass & Niche Markets. Also uses Direct Selling Channels, i.e franchisee to entirepopulation, Eg:Aviance&Ayush. Focuses on short supply chain distribution. Sales takes place through retail, & wholesale distribution. Builds & strengthens the market where already presence of HUL exists. Conducting survey about the products & their preferences Covers intensive distribution.

PROMOTIONS
Great advertising is inspired by insights about brands, consumers, and how the two interact.It starts with a problem from the client and ends with a solution to the customers.As seen from the survey, many people do not identify HUL products and are notaware of the features of specific products, so an effort to educate the customer through promotions must be taken. Creativity defined Creative ads make a relevant connection between the brand and its target audience and present a selling idea in an unexpected way. Creative ads present a selling idea. Media When and where a message runs can be as creative as the words and visuals. Everydayitems have become media vehicles. HUL can promote its line of detergents on dresshangers in trains and buses frequented by women. The hangers can come with a messageWant your dress to be bright and clean use Surf Excel/ Rin/ Wheel*.

PEOPLE

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
Physical Evidence:- As HUL produces FMCG goods it has used differentenvironment to make different products. Eg:- To make tea the company requires open tea fields whereas tomake soaps & detergents a fully equipped laboratory with properfacilities of chemicals & temperature is required.

PROCESS
The process to produce any product is very systematic at HUL. Eg:- From producing tea to delivering it to end consumer.

PICKING

WITHERING

ROLLING

FERMENTING

DRYING

FINISHED PRODUCT:GREEN TEA GRADING

4 AS OF MARKETING
Assets
In the form of Intellectual assets, who have vast experience in the FMCG industry, which has lead to such a high growth of the company.

Attitude
Company has always being positive towards its product& people & always strives to improvise themselves by educating their consumers about the product, as well as maintaining long term relationship with their consumers.

Acceptance
The quality & safety of the products have made it highly acceptable in the market & also the positive response they get about their products, which in turn has made them market leaders in the FMCG Space.

Alignment
The entire functioning of company is properly aligned& planned to that there is no problem in supply chain, distribution etc.

PROJECT SHAKTI
HUL believes that an organisation's worth is also in the service itrenders to the community. HUL is focusing on health & hygiene education, women empowerment, and water management. It is also involved in education and rehabilitation of special or under privileged children, care for the destitute and HIV-positive,and rural development. HUL has also responded in case of national calamities / adversities and contributes through various welfare measures, most recent being the village built by HUL in earthquake affected Gujarat, and relief & rehabilitation after the Tsunami caused devastation in South India. In 2001, the company embarked on an ambitious programme,Shakti. Through Shakti, HUL is creating micro-enterprise opportunities for rural women, thereby improving their livelihood and the standard of living in rural communities. Shakti also includes health and hygiene education through the Shakti Vani Programme, and creating access to relevant information throughtheiShakti community portal. The program now covers 15 states in India and has over 31,000 women entrepreneurs in its fold, reaching out to 100,000 villages and directly reaching to 150million rural consumers. By the end of 2010, Shakti aims to have100,000 Shakti entrepreneurs covering 500,000 villages, touchingthe lives of over 600 millionpeople.HUL is also running a rural health programme Lifebuoy SwasthyaChetana. The programme endeavours to induce adoption of hygienic

practices among rural Indians and aims to bring down theincidence of diarrhoea. It has already touched 70 million people inapproximately 15000 villages of 8 states. The vision is to make abillion Indians feel safe and secure.

If Hindustan Unilever straddles the Indian corporate world, it isbecause of being singleminded in identifying itself with Indianaspirations and needs in every walk of life.

HUL COMPETITORS & THEIR PRODUCTS

P&G
Tide Washing Powder , Head & Shoulders shampooReduces the share of Surf Excel washing powder &Sunsilk shampoo Nirma Nirma Washing Powder Affects the share on Wheel Active washing powder Colgate Colgate toothpaste Affects the sale of Pepsodent Toothpaste

Godrej
Godrej Group is one of the largest conglomerates based in Mumbai, India, involved in various industries that include appliances, precision equipment, machine tools, furniture, healthcare, interior solutions, office equipment, food-processing, security, materials handling and industrial storage solutions, construction and information technology. Its products include Locks, access control systems, security systems and safes, typewriters and word processors, rocket launchers, refrigerators and furniture, outsourcing services, machine tools and process equipment, cosmetics and detergents, engineering workstations, medical diagnostics and aerospace equipment, edible oils and chemical, mosquito repellents, car perfumes, chicken and agriproducts, material handling equipment like FORKLIFT trucks, stackers, tyre handlers, sweeping machines, access equipment etc. The Group is headed by Adi Godrej and Jamshyd Godrej. Cinthol Soaps & Cinthol deodorants Affects the sales of Lifebuoy, Dove, Hamam, Rexona in soapsegment & Axe deodorant in deodorant segment.

PROCTOL N GAMBLE
P&G is one of the largest and amongst the fastest growing consumer goods companies in India. Established in 1964, P&G India now serves over 650 million consumers across India. Its presence pans across the Beauty & Grooming segment, the Household Care segment as well as the Health & Well Being segment, with trusted brands that are household names across India. These include Vicks, Ariel, Tide, Whisper, Olay, Gillette, Ambipur, Pampers, Pantene, Oral-B, Head & Shoulders, Wella and Duracell. Superior product propositions and technological innovations have enabled P&G to achieve market leadership in a majority of categories it is present in. P&G India is committed to sustainable growth in India, and is currently invested in the country via its five plants and over nine contract manufacturing sites, as well as through the 26,000 jobs it creates directly and indirectly. Our sustainability efforts focus on Environmental Protection as well as Social Responsibility to help develop the communities we operate in.

P&G operates under three entities in India - two listed entities Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Limited and Gillette India Limited, as well as one 100% subsidiary of the parent company in the U.S. called Procter & Gamble Home Products.

MARKETING STRATERGIES OF PROCTOL N GAMBLE

PROMOTION STRATEGY P&G insists on a pull strategy . Heavy advertising and media pioneer . Advertising creativity. P&G-a click mortar company. coupon. BUSINESS STRATEGY Efforts to build competitive advantage collaborative partnership and strategic alliance distribution channel.

FUNCTIONAL LEVEL STRATEGY Human resource strategy. R&d technology strategy. Marketing and sales strategy. PRINCING STRATEGY Understand how companies find a set of prices that maximizes the profits from the total product mix. Learn how companies adjust their prices to take into account different types of customers and situations. Know the key issues related to initiating and responding to price changes. DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY The distribution is of three types, which are being followed: Intensive distribution. Extensive distribution. Specialty distribution.

The general distribution channel followed by almost all fmcg companies are: Manufacturers Marketing Agents Retailers, Wholesalers / Distributors Chemist Shops, Provision Stores, Retail Outlets, Big Markets, etc

HUL V/S PnG

Criticizing a rival's products is a high-risk, but increasingly popular marketing strategy. Consumers have historically reacted negatively to direct comparisons between competitors and tended to sympathize with the underdog. Recent debate on the comparative advertising between Rin and Tide has focused on its ethical rather than its effectiveness dimension. The article is an attempt to highlight the importance of the phrase `compare with care'.

The amount of criticism you receive may correlate somewhat to the amount of publicity you receive. -- Donald Rumsfeld

Business markets are today as uncompromising and aggressive as they can be. Every brand tries to prove it's superiority over the rival. Sigmund Freud once said, "Humans are born screaming for attention." Indeed, it is from this very basic survival instinct that competitiveness is born. Success at every stage of life is judged by how one can weigh up to competition and to deny competitiveness in advertising is both duplicitous as well as impractical. Hence to outdo the competition and prove oneself as the best, marketers often resort to comparative advertisements. Theoretically, comparative advertisements are a form of little aggressive promotional strategies adopted by a company. They aim to establish competitive supremacy by attacking the rival brand/brands directly or indirectly. The comparative claims done by different advertisers are of variable nature. They may range from being explicit about the name or feature of the competitor's product or may give subtle implicit reference of the same. Comparative advertising thus aims to objectively and truthfully inform the consumer, and promotes market transparency, keeping down prices and improving products by stimulating competition. However, most of the times, comparative advertising leads to confusion, misleads or discredit a competitor.

The early years of glorified television commercials saw the attractive and appealing housewife extol the benefits of her favorite product rather than the infamous competitor's brand. The viewer would often try to guess the real identity of the compared brand. Today, advertisers are no longer shy to highlight on air or in print their leading competitors. They celebrate the merits of their products, explaining why they are better than the competitors' products'. Globally, comparative ads have been around for decades. The model ads of Penn Tennis Balls from Fallon McElligot, the "Get a Mac" for Apple are some of the prominent examples of the same. The battles between brands are now growing intense in India also which is evident from the most famous cola wars in the past decade to the recent Onida vs. Nokia advertisement war. The latest provoking commercial from Rinclaiming to be better than Tide has opened the doors by frontal attacks, a so-called offensive marketing strategy. The punch line in the advertisement "Tide se kahin behtar safedi de Rin (Rin gives more whiteness than Tide)" says it all direct on the face, it not just names but shows the competitive product, bringing the debate on comparative advertising back in spotlight.

Early Show to Latest Shock

The two powerful detergent brands of HUL and P&G, Rin and Tide respectively carry a strong heritage and a rich background story.

During 1990s

Rin was the first national detergent bar in India; however, the market saw the launch of Rin Powder White in the year 1994. Tide, on the other hand, paved its entry in the year 1998. The 1990s was a period of continuous innovations and product improvements for Rin where it tried to position the product in the minds of the customers through memorable campaigns like Uski saari, meri saari se safed kaise to Safedi ka Shehanshah. During the same period, Tide was launched as the premium detergent in the market. The launching price of the product was Rs.

120 per kg. According to the analysts, Tide could not catch up in the market mainly because of its launching price that acted a deterrent and the existence of the other brand, i.e., Ariel of Procter & Gamble that was doing quite well in the market during this period. Thus, Tide was slow on growth in the Indian market; it could not manage more than 0.3% share in the total detergents market in the 1990s. 1

Expect the Unexpected: Price War Begins

January 2004 saw the advent of New Rin Powder with a unique double whiteness proposition. Also, it maintained that unlike the other detergents available in the market, the new Rin dissolved in water completely leaving no mud like residue behind, the product also promised enhanced fragrance. The product was priced at Rs. 42 for a one kg pack. Rs. 80 for a 2 kg pack, Rs. 20 for 500 grams, Rs. 10 for the 250 gram pack and Rs. 1 for the 25 gram sachet. This was a bold and a confident move from HUL.

All these years, Tide had been pitted against Rin on the `whitening' platform. Even P&G did not seem to be too aggressive for the brand, however realizing that pricing being one reason for not being accepted by the market, it slashed the prices and the product entered into the midmarket segment rather than the premium segment. The price slashing exercise was seen to bring in tremendous improvement in the volumes of sales and the market share. The price was brought down to Rs. 23 for 500 grams as against the previous price of Rs. 43, Rs. 50 for 750 grams as against Rs. 70 at which it was available earlier. Therefore, the market saw a slash from 20 to 50% in case of the Procter & Gamble product Tide. Thus, with these price slashes, the market observed the two armies on the battlefield, being desirous to fight.

Get Off MY Planet: The Era of 2007-09

Since 2007, Tide has been steadily gaining share with Rin close behind it. Tide had set the standards in delivering whiteness and cleansing benefits unmatched by other detergents. The

point of difference that it suggested was that the powder would prevent dirt molecules from setting on the clothes, thereby giving better cleanliness and whiteness to the clothes. An additional augmentation was the pleasant lemon flavor added to the powder to enhance the fragrance component. This led to Rin losing out its leadership position in the market ground in terms of whiteness also. The year 2009 saw a substantial gap in the value share, where Tide was capturing 8% of the market share and Rin only had 5.1% of the market share.

Tide Naturals enters the Market - December 2009

The cold war of the two brands turned into an aggressive war when P&G came out with a new product called Tide Naturals. Tide Naturals was an attempt by the organization to enter into the mid-market segment, which the parent product, Tide was not catering to, and at the same time, to give the benefit of line extension to Tide Naturals. The notable fact was that Tide Naturals was priced lower than Rin. There was an approximate difference of Rs. 20 in the prices for a one kilo gram pack. The reason behind this strategy of P&G was to cater to the rural markets. This move from P&G posed an immediate threat to HUL. Rin faced a share fall of 2.5% in December 2009 so the only available option was to react by cutting the prices. The price was cut down by 30% to Rs. 50.

The Year 2010 - Attaining the Supreme

February 25, 2010HUL challenged the Tide Natural's claim in the Madras High Court. Hindustan Unilever challenged P&G in the court that Tide Naturals did not contain lemon and chandan and convinced the court that P&G should drop the word `Naturals' from the name and merely displaying a disclaimer"It does not contain lemon and chandan" was not enough. The advertisement was considered to mislead the customers at large as it promoted Tide Naturals as a natural detergent, whereas it was actually a synthetic detergent. P&G admitted in the court that Tide Natural used only the fragrance of lemon and chandan. Thus, P&G was instructed by the court to clarify to the customers the fact that its product did not contain the

ingredients as claimed by it. Finally, on February 26, 2010the Indian market saw the very bold comparative advertising on the television screens that took comparative advertising to new heights in the Indian history.

Legal Nuts and Bolts

Alyque Padamsee, the famous ad filmmaker once said, "Bad publicity is better than no publicity." Sounds so true. No doubt from marketing angle, deliberate or not, it's an extended publicity to both the brands, Rin and Tide. Yet the main controversial issue is whether HUL's explicit TV commercial of Rin being superior to P&G's Tide amounts to denigration or is a permitted form of free speech protected under `commercial speech' as part of freedom of speech under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. If we look at the advertisement very carefully, there are few areas of concern. First is that the advertisement clearly shows the packet of Tide Naturals, the premium brand of P&G, whereas the voiceover mentions only Tide. Now does this amount to misleading claims as per Indian Law?

Second issue is that at the end of the advertisement, a line is displayed stating that "this claim is based on laboratory tests done through globally accepted protocols in independent third-party laboratories' and schematic representation of superior whiteness is based on Whiteness Index test of Rin vs. Tide Naturals as tested by Independent lab." The challenge is whether the statement(s) can be substantiated by way of evidence.

Though P&G has sought a legal remedy, HUL definitely has gained on its strategic move of launching the commercial over the long colorful Holi and enjoying the splash of attention. HUL has subsequently challenged Tide's claim in the Chennai High Court. On March 1, the court asked P&G to modify the ad since they were not really able to substantiate the claim. A written judgment is still awaited on this matter. If the case does wind up in litigation, it would be rather interesting to watch how Indian courts react to this form of advertising.

Janta ki Adalat

Debates and endless discussions over different advertisement strategies have become a common phenomenon of the day; however when an advertisement can generate a responsewhich may either be negative or positive, surprising or shocking or is capable of evoking any other emotion among the masses, the advertiser's job is done. Similar was the response to the famous Rin-Tide controversy that was seen by the viewers all over the country on February 26, 2010 which generated huge buzz in the market.

Two Sides of the Same Coin

The advertisement saw mixed reflections from the customers across the media. While one set of customers saw this move of HUL as an unethical practice, the others took it as awareness and educative step from HUL.

Heads - Chunk Gaye

The first set of people is of those who were shocked to see the advertisement for the first time. The surprising element of the ad was the appearance of two different brands in the same ad.

The very first response generated by the advertisement was both the products are from the same company otherwise this kind of advertisement is not possible. According to the supporters of this view, it was an unnecessary move from HUL to prove its superiority, primarily because, out of the 30 seconds ad, the first 22 seconds are solely devoted to Tide which means more than 75% of the expenditure on the ad was spent on your competitor's product. This would only lead to sympathies of customers to tied to the competitor's product. The advertisement was also viewed illegal, because the ad voice says "Rin is better than Tide" whereas the visual shows Tide Naturals, which means defaming a brand over which you do not have superiority.

Also, the advertisement was considered unethical because it deliberately took the advantage of the break in the court due to a long weekend. HUL was well-equipped with the fact that the courts decision would take at least three days to be announced and hence it continuously showed the ad during the period so as to do maximum damage to the competitor's product.

Hence, the customers supporting the Heads side of the coin did not see it as a long-term objective and rather considered it bad on part of global player like HUL to adopt this kind of competitive strategy which conveys how desperate the company was to increase sales and in the process lose out on the brand equity and respect. Last but not the least, now that Rin has publicly declared Tide as its competitor the market would see more aggressive responses from P&G.

Tails - Bold and Brash

The other set had a view that was opposite of the first one. The blogs were flooded with comments with supporters of the tails side. The tails side believed that HUL by no means did cross the lane, and did not consider the advertisement illegal. They were of the opinion that rather than misleading, it was an educative step from HUL to educate customers. Tide is giving the impression to the customers that the product is available to them at a lower price while what actually is available to the customers is the other version of the Tide which is Tide Naturals. The lady in the advertisement portrays that she is getting Tide at a very low price, which is not factually true. All that HUL attempts to do is to educate customers that it is not Tide but Tide Naturals that is available at lower price. And also that if the comparison has to be made it should be between Rin and Tide, not Rin and Tide Naturals.

Also as per the legal affects, HUL has played it safe with small disclaimers below and at the end of the ad, "As tested by Independent Lab" and "Issued in the interest of Rin Users". Therefore, it doesn't come under any disparagement.

Hence, supporters of this approach view this ad as an eye opener for the customers, marketers and the other ad agencies. This is definitely seen to bring new reforms to the advertising industry. The ad has given a new dimension to the marketers, a different angle of communicating to the advertising agencies and a factual comparative methodology to the customers. After all at the end of the day, it's the customers who spend money for value of the product. The responses from this category of Indian customers shows that the Indian customers are now modern and educated enough to understand and appreciate the concept of comparative advertising.

Expert's Opinions: Let's see what Marketers and Ad Makers have to say

The opinions of marketers differ from each other. Harish Bijoor, CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults feel that all this is being done by HUL just to create an unnecessary noise in the market. According to him, the chances that Rin being able to prove the facts are very less. On these lines, Prahlad Kakkar, MD, Genesis Film Productions also feels that what Rin is actually indulging into is comparing the product with the variant of tide.

Conclusion

The rule of caveat emptor wonderfully fits into today's marketing environment. Advertisements, more specifically comparative advertisements are the brainchild of our creative advertisers. These advertisements are just the tools in the hands of people who are designing them, so any complaints or criticisms need to be addressed to and against their makers and not against the tools (comparative advertisements). Marketers and advertisers must remember that it's easy to look at a competitor and find gaps in his product or services. It's harder, but definitely more valuable, to fill these gaps in one's own offering and build real competitive advantages with which you can offer delight to the customer rather than just satisfying them.

HUL vs. P&G Critical Evaluation.

The war between HUL and P&G is over the advertisement featuring RIN and TIDE Natural. HUL(through its latest advertisement launch in last week of Feb.) openly challenges the superiority of its product RIN provide more brightness in comparison to TIDE Natural, which is the new product the P&G launched a couple of months ago in the mass segment positioning it against RIN as well as Wheel. The rivalry between FMCG majors Hindustan Unilever and Proctor & Gamble isnt a mystery. And for their new shampoo campaigns the writing is already on the wall. While P&G is re-launching Pantene next week claiming to be the number onebrand, HUL has already taken a pre-emptive action by placing ads that say Dove isthe No.1 shampoo. Comparative advertising is always fun even in the case of the earlier colawars. However, I personally dont expect this campaign to work as this campaignis more to do with research and is self indulgent, said Piyush Pandey, executivechairman of Ogilvy & Mather, South Asia.

The reason for the self indulgence is because the market worth Rs 2000 croreis now increasingly getting competitive. In the last one year, Pantenes market share has gone down by 60 basispoints, and HULs Dove has gained over 130 basis points during the same period.So, P&G is now trying to regain the lost ground and market leader HUL is not inthe mood to give away any of their market share. Thus comes out an aggressivemarketing campaign. To support our innovations to drive new categories for the future and tomake sure we are competitive in the share of voice, I mentioned earlier that thecompetitive intensity has certainly gone up and now we are seeing it acrosscategories. Our strategy is that we dont see it ground and we defend ourleadership, said R Sridhar, CFO of HUL. The last two launches from P&G have seen very aggressive comparativeadvertising from HUL especially during the Tide-Rin face off which even went tothe court. And now with P&G planning to launch and re-launch many more products inthe next two years, many of them in categories where HUL is the market leader,we can expect both the companies to whip up some more lather.