Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Rin vs Tide
Recently Unilever launched a new TVC for one its detergent brands called Rin. This TVC is now commonly being addressed as the Rin VS Tide ad(because of obvious reasons). Now being part of this crazy industry called advertising, the first question that people ask me is... "Is it right? Can they actually do that". well this question based on moral and ethical ground still doesn't bother me as much as to WHY would they do that.
Well, there is something that we all are forgetting over here, that this kind of a brand war is not new. Don't we still adore the great Pepsi - Coke ad war. Or the Apple - Windows ad stints.
Moreover we all know that Unilever is actually one of the oldest, biggest and smartest entity, where some of the most appreciated and intellectual marketeers breed.
Questions: Then why would such a company do what it did. Spending a decent amount on the creative, and then a mammoth chunk on the media buying. Taking such a high risk, as if "all in" and that too on a blind fold.
Reasoning: If we compare the Brand DNA of both Tide and Rin, Tide has always overshadowed Rin with its international look and feel, which further suggests that Tide being and international brand (as compared to Rin) offers better results on usage (whiteness/ fragrance / cleanliness/ etc). Now this is merely a perception (as the end consumer himself lacks the measurement tools to scale the above mentioned results) strongly embedded in the consumers mind. And one of the best proven methods to do break such a strong perception (not a belief) is to take it down head on.And this is where Rin choose to attack via shock.
Results: Everyone's talking about it. People are discussing it in their peers, thinkers are blogging about it, marketeers are debating on different forums about it. Bottom line... people are actually comparing Rin and Tide on the same grounds, where its no longer like comparing apples with oranges.
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4 comments:
With all due respect, people wouldn't think much about whether a brand of washing powder is international or Indian. Most ordinary buyers may not even know that Tide is international and Rin is Indian.
Looks do matter while buying the powder, but the most important thing out here is price.
Seduce the consumer with a lower price and you got him. This ad was shocking no doubt, but it was more of a desperate attempt by Unilever. Please, guys, do something better the next time.
I disagree. People are very much concerned with the origin of the product that they are using. Moreover the typical Indian consumer has always had this notion that "imported hai to acha he hoga", " Bahar ki company hai sahab" and what not. And as for the pricing, I am with you, but only till a certain extent. Indians don't compromise much on the snob value.
And as for expecting better or worse from these marketeers, I guess all bets are off for now.
There are different class of people and there buying criteria is also different. Tide always targeted the mddle class buyers, for whom price and the amount of labour required matters. Thus the share of Tide grown from 2% to 9% in last 4 years. Where is the price of rin was always high compare to Tide. Thus Rin is trying to come back to the Middle class group again.
But still the ad won't go in right way by directly targeting the competitor. It is like you can't win the race on your own so pull winners leg and win the game. Not expected by HCL
HUL
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