Boro War

Friends, in this article I will continue the 'borowar' with the third product launched in the category of Boro antiseptic cream BoroSoft.

Background
BoroSoft Antiseptic Cream was launched in
1996 to compete in the ‘Boro’ Antiseptic Cream category. A category that was dominated by 2 strongly entrenched brands-BoroPlus & Boroline, both of which enjoyed a combine marketshare of more than 90%. Though categorised as ‘Antiseptic Creams’

– the Boro Antiseptic creams are used not so much for their antiseptic/medicinal properties (unlike Burnol, Dettol), but more as skin creams for winter dryness. The low price of these Boro creams makes them ideal value-for-money family products that find usage during winter.
Though used as skin creams, Boro creams were seen as purely functional – with low
cosmetic & aspirational appeal, even amongst their users. North & East India are the primary markets for Boro Antiseptic creams – accounting for more than 75% sales. Majority of the category sales come from medium-sized packs – Boroline 21g,
BoroPlus 20g, BoroSoft 25g. Non-users (users of cold creams & other higher order creams) had a very low opinion & image of Boro Antiseptic Creams & could not imagine using these
creams on the skin, especially on the face.
(The women were reluctant to use greasy cream on their face)

Launch

Attractive packaging (in a lami-tube) and

premium pricing differentiated the brand

from its competitors.

Pre-launch market research indicated that

BoroPlus & Boroline found usage primarily

as skin creams for the problem of dry skin

in winters, rather than for their antiseptic

properties.

xcessive stickiness of their Antiseptic

Cream (BoroPlus & Boroline) was the only

significant area of dissatisfaction among

their users.

With this insight from research BoroSoft

Antiseptic Cream was launched in

September 1996, as a non-sticky antiseptic

cream, against the market leaders BoroPlus

& Boroline.

Targetting women, the brand focussed its

usag as a face cream thereby creating

perceptions of a ‘cosmetic’ antiseptic cream,

unlike other antiseptic creams that were seen

as multi-purpose, family products.

In the very first season the brand achieved a

9% share of the Antiseptic Cream market

for dry & chapped skin.

Over the next three years, the brand strategy

was to reinforce the non-sticky positioning,

provide rational support for the use of a nonsticky

cream & create cosmetic associations

with the brand, thereby enhancing brand

imagery.

In addition, in 1999, BoroSoft introduced

a larger pack size - 40g. A consumer

promotion offer was given on this new pack

– D’Cold Open-Up Inhaler free with

BoroSoft 40g pack.

This consumer promotion offer was hugely

successful in getting trials for the brand –

not only from users of other Boro creams but

also from users of cold creams & fairness

creams.

The result being, that by the end of 1999

the market share of BoroSoft Antiseptic

Cream had moved up to 17% of the

Antiseptic Cream market.

The brand packaging was given a new

look in the year 2000 as the brand

communication focussed on positioning

it as a face cream.

By now BoroSoft was a well-established

brand with high brand salience among Boro

cream users with its clear positioning as a

non-sticky antiseptic cream with cosmetic

& grooming associations.

The task defined for the brand for the year

2000 was to further enhance the ‘cosmetic’

appeal of the brand & build in ‘face cream’

associations with the brand.

Boro cream users clearly saw a distinction

between their Boro brand (which was

perceived as a multi-purpose cream) and non

Boro brands (which they aspired to use - the

more expensive & cosmetic ‘face creams’ like

Pond’s Cold Cream, Fair & Lovely, Nivea).

A brand diagnostics study conducted at the

end of the season 2000-2001 indicated that

the imagery of BoroSoft was clearly in line

with the intended brand positioning.

Key Issue

The brand mapping exercise indicated that

while BoroSoft was clearly being perceived

to be high grooming, its associations with

the attribute of ‘protection’ was lacking.

And in a category that is largely functional,

it is important for a brand to be perceived

as providing the key category benefit –

‘protection from winter dryness’.

Communication Task

To strengthen the ‘protection’ association

of BoroSoft Antiseptic Cream for the

problem of skin dryness, while continuing

to maintain the cosmetic associations of the

brand.

Target Audience

• Females, 18-35 yrs., SEC A,B,C.

• Core Target Audience: Current users of

BoroPlus & Boroline.

Communication Strategy

To position BoroSoft as a ‘dry skin specialist’

by highlighting and drawing attention to the

ingredient ‘Glycerine’ – because of its ability

to make dry skin soft and supple.

The net takeout of the creative was that

BoroSoft is ideal for making dry skin soft

because it is Glycerine-enriched.

This would aid in anchoring the brand on

the core functional attribute of the category

& its higher cosmetic imagery would provide

a reason-to-buy.

Media Strategy

Being a seasonal product (for dry skin), the

majority of the brand’s sales occur in the

winter period from November to February.

Therefore, high decibel TV advertising in

these winter months has been the media

strategy, in order to achieve high top-ofmind

awareness in a short period.

The TA being women, the programme

selection primarily consists of popular family

soaps.

BoroSoft Today

• Today, BoroSoft is the 3rd largest brand in

its category (Boro Antiseptic Creams) with

a market share of 19%.

• It enjoys more than 93% brand awareness –

amongst all users of skin creams.

• By positioning it as a Dry Skin Specialist

the brand has now been made more relevant

to users of BoroPlus & Boroline.

• Its premium, cosmetic imagery has made it

possible to extend its equity into other skin

care products viz., BoroSoft Dry Skin Soap

and BoroSoft Thick Lotion for Dry Skin.

In next post I will try to write on 'Emotional Branding' in Pharma Industry in India.

Branding Vs. Quality

I beg your forgiveness for a little bit mis-leading title of this post.
But let me come straight to the point. Do you think the best quality product will survive only on the basis of its quality? If your ans is YES then you need to look at this case and if the ans is NO then you will find this post interesting to read.

Boroline - a 80 years old brand from kolkata based GD Phramaceutical Ltd. The name Boroline has been derived from its ingredients “Boric” and “Oline” as a variant of the latin word ‘oleam’ meaning oil. Boroline was a house hold name in Indiaespecially in the eastern part. Consumers use this brand for different purpose i.e. to cure cuts and stitches after operation and also as a cold cream during winter to protect skin.

Till mid eighties Boroline was an undisputed market leader with almost 100% market share in antiseptic cream market. Again there was no concept of specialised creams in the market at that time. Today this position is taken away by Boroplus which enjoys 60% market share in 220 cr. antiseptic cream market. The other products which are giving stiff competition are Borosoft and Boro Natural – both from the maverick marketer Paras Phrama - Today market share of Boroline has slipped below 20%.
In spite of being the best quality product in antiseptic cream category, the marketers of Boroline failed to upgrade its product to attract the new age customer. Today most of the users of this product are old aged people.

Some factors which went against the Brand - Boroline

First and the main factor which went against the Boroline was its oiliness.
Second factor was its fuddy-duddy package, the dark green colored package which was never changed since it was launched. So it was not appealing to the buyers and was not Pick-me up for consumers.

These factors were recognized by the Emami group and entered the market with the Boroplus. Boroplus was positioned with an Aurvedic touch, with a white and purple packing which was solely used as eye-catching pick-me up for consumers. When it comes to formulation as I said, Boroplus was positioned as Ayurvedic formulation where as Boroline was positioned as Perfumed anti-septic and were lip-bouned when it comes to formulation.
Then the name BoroPluse conveyed the message of Value addition. Boroplus people branded it with aggression where as Boroline people branded it only on the basis of Quality.

As a result, today Boroline has just remained a brand with higher brand awareness but lower convertibility. They also failed to understand importance of advertising in building a brand. Apart from “Khusbuwala Cream” radio jingle, I can not recall any other form of advertising of this brand. The case of Boroline clearly gives insight that in today’s age brand can not be made only on the quality factor. It requires the perfect blend of quality, packaging, pricing and most importantly management’s concern about brand management.

In the next Posst will probably continue the Boro-War with the third Brand Borosoft.

PS: As updated in sept, 2010, the BORPLUS brand enjoys the market share of 74% in 269 crore Boro antiseptic market. *

* Data from Sify.com