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Purvita Chatterjee

MUMBAI, June 4

HINDUSTAN Lever Ltd (HLL) is considering pruning its deodorants portfolio by phasing out its oldest brand, Rexona.

Considering the market share of its male deodorant brand, Axe, recently exceeded that of its largest selling brand of Rexona, the company is considering withdrawing the Rexona brand of deodorants from the market, thereby making room for just two brands - Axe and the recently-relaunched Ponds.

According to figures quoted by ORG-MARG, Axe registered a volume share of 35 per cent compared with Rexona's 22 per cent for the first quarter of 2002. Fa from Henkel has 13 per cent volume share in the Rs 100-crore deodorant market.

According to an HLL official, "After having re-introduced the premium brand of Ponds deodorants in the market recently, the company is looking at having simply two deodorant brands in its portfolio and focusing on the premium end of the deodorant market."

In fact, after the failure of the Impulse brand of deodorants, HLL decided to resurrect the Ponds portfolio of deodorants comprising Ponds Dreamflower and Ponds Magic. At present, the company has pegged all its brands (Ponds and Rexona) at Rs 75 for 75 ml, while Axe stands at Rs 120 for 150 ml.

The Ponds deodorant account has also shifted from HTA Mumbai to O&M post-relaunch with a new baseline `Made for you. Made like you'. According to company officials, the new perfumed Ponds deodorants now use `gentle' moisturisers with change in the perfume.

Adds the HLL official, "Rexona has no role to play now. It has been doing badly and the company is thinking of withdrawing it from the market. Today Ponds enjoys a stronger equity in the market."

In the light of these developments, HLL's other languishing deodorant brand, Denim, is likely to be merged with Axe. Adds the HLL official, "We will possibly look at migrating Denim to Axe and call the brand Axe Denim." Besides, its Elle brand of deodorants from the Lakme Lever portfolio has also flopped and was withdrawn from the market.

Worldwide, Unilever has always used the Rexona brand to build the category, positioning itself on the efficacy platform. This has been followed by its other fragrance-led brands such as Impulse and Axe, to graduate markets into the fragrance platform for deodorants.

According to Mr Biju Joseph Dominic, General Manager, Mudra Advertising, "Rexona was used to build the category in India. By withdrawing it, HLL is adopting a completely revolutionary strategy in the Indian market. India would be the first country not to have a functional brand of deodorant from the Unilever portfolio."

The Rs 100-crore deodorant market has been registering a measly growth rate of four per cent, according to ORG-MARG. The unisex deodorant brand of Rexona was launched in 1995 and stretched its franchise from an aerosol to a deostic and a roll-on. Subsequently, the feminine fragrance-led deodorant brand of Ponds Dreamflower (by stretching the equity of its talc) was introduced as a product specific to the Indian market followed by Ponds Magic, a slightly more premium offering.

The Ponds portfolio was withdrawn from the market in 1999 with the launch of Impulse, another premium offering from Unilever's portfolio (pegged at Rs 80 for 75 ml). Axe also was launched in 1999.

According to an analyst tracking HLL, "The strategy to focus on premium fragrance-based deodorants is basically to help the company's bottomlines and will not help the category grow as such."

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