Brand Positioning

Hindustan Unilever Ltd developed the world’s first fairness cream named Fair & Lovely in 1975.India is such a country where people believe beautiful skin reflects in fair skin. But in India, every girl is not born with fair skin. In this situation ‘Fair & lovely’, the magical beauty cream entered into their life just like an Aladdin’s lamp. It was marketed nationally in 1978 and this beauty cream got attention of a huge level of customer in the Indian market. In 1988 this brand stepped into the international market and now it is available in 30 countries across Asia, Middle East and Africa. Fair and Lovely is such a magical cream that promises fairness naturally. The brand claims that this is not just a beauty cream instead it’s a beauty treatment. It contains Vitamin B3 (Niacinamide), UVA and UVB sunscreen. All those elements work together to protect the skin from getting tanned and also helps to lighten the skin gently. This brand contains no harmful elements like bleach, steroids, mercury; hydroquinone etc which can make someone fair overnight but as a result it can lead to permanent damage of skin or even skin cancer.

Fair & lovely is a brand which is only focused on fairness related products unlike other brands. This cream is well positioned in the consumer’s mind because of its entire product line comprises of only fairness related products. So Fair & Lovely is always stick to only one strategy, and did not diversify its product category. This strategy helped to create a strong position in the consumer’s mind. Fair & lovely targets the mass people who lacks self confidence for not having their desired skin tone. This promises those women not only fair skin but also brings their self confidence by transforming them from a normal girl to a desirable diva. Fair & Lovely has also altered its positioning with changing times but mainly they positioned by product benefits and attributes.In the very beginning this brand claimed that regular usage of it will give permanent fairness whereas bleach and other harmful chemical will only damage the skin with temporary result. So fair & lovely is a safe and effective beauty cream which doesn't contain any harmful element. After establishing this image in the consumer’s mind, this brand shifted to emotional appeal. The new strategy they used was achieving ones ambition and aspiration. That time most of the women in India were homely and their only objective was to have a good life partner. So they said using this cream will help them to get man of their dreams. Later on when women started focusing on their career, Fair & Lovely emerged with a new positioning strategy. In this new positioning technique they showed women who are hard worker and chasing after their dreams, Fair and Lovely will help them to stand out and give their self confidence a boost. By using fair & lovely they will be easily recognized and can have an extraordinary career life. By launching Fair & Lovely foundation in 2003, this brand took part in CSR activity. It offers scholarship for young girls to complete their education and to fulfill their dreams. This re positioning tremendously increased their sales.

Fair & Lovely is a very successful brand and has a lot of success stories. Though it creates a strong positioning in the consumer’s mind but it has become restricted into only one product category .Fair and Lovely has one product for men which is Fair and Lovely Menz Active. But this product lags behind because this brand has positioned itself strongly as feminine beauty facilitator. So in modern times they can also expand their product category by remaining stick to their theme ‘Fairness’. They can launch a series of fairness products like Fair & Lovely fairness cleanser, toner, moisturizer sun block with high SPF etc and at the same time they can stay true to its name.

Reference:

1. Challapalli, Sravanthi, "All's fair in this market", The Hindu Business Line,http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2002/09/05/stories/2002090500040300.htm, September 2002, last accessed on: 6th October, 2009
2. "Fair & Lovely", http://www.fairandlovely.in, last accessed on: 6th October, 2002
3. Aaker, David, 1991, "Managing Brand Equity", Simon & Schuster, pp: 15
4. Keller, Kevin Lane and Moorthi, YLR, 2002, "Karma cola- Coke in India", Working paper no. 186, IIM Bangalore