Liril’s repositioning failed because of a host of factors.
Gap in brand perception and brand identity
The girl in the waterfall, the laa-lala jingle and the lemon slices all exude exuberance, a free spirit, vivacity and fun.
Liril 2000 was repositioned as a soap for soft and healthy skin. The imagery of freshness that was at the top of people’s minds for 25 years got lost and resulted in a total disconnect between the brand perception and identity.
Lack of differentiation and relevance to the customer
The brand persona has always been centred on freshness and the concept of lime. With time, the consumers’ preferences changed and the appeal of freshness got generic. There were several soaps in the market which had unique points of differentiation, like skincare, medical, anti-ageing, glow and so on.
Poor brand communication
The brand idea of Liril, freshness, was poorly communicated in the new ads or jingles. The later ads failed to create a bathing experience in the viewer’s mind. Once Liril commanded a 14 per cent market share but a string of failed strategies has eroded its leadership in recent years.
The accompanying matrix shows that Liril has a high brand stature but low relevance and differentiation, leading to waning market share. Liril has struggled to overcome what consumers already know about and expect from it.
Saurabh Kumar and Sameer Gupta
What we would recommend are:
Brand positioning
Liril should be repositioned upholding its USP of freshness combined with a strong message of being gentle on the skin, and only for women. Axe is the popular male grooming product line of HUL which thrives on attributes like freshness, fragrance and virility. HUL doesn’t have any female-focused products with these attributes, suggesting a need for a similar female-centric product line. The mismatch between brand perception and brand identity needs to be fixed as Liril 2000 is positioned as a skincare soap by HUL whereas it is still perceived as a freshness soap.
Liril should be positioned as it was originally, as a freshness soap but with a strong communication of its increased total fatty matter, thereby making it gentle on the skin for women’s use.
Line and category extensions
To revitalise Liril as a freshness product line, brand managers need to come up with line variants that appeal to the women from the freshness angle.
It should introduce never-before launched, exotic and fresh fragrances like Vineyard Mist, Cranberry Spice, Champagne-Strawberry and the like.
Eventually, Liril needs to build category extensions which will include shower gels, deodorant sprays and talcum powders designed for women, like Axe does for men.
Specific variants of products (soaps, deodorants, talcum powder) can be created for different women consumers suiting their lifestyles. For instance, Liril Sports for the office-going, sports enthusiast and outdoor girl; Liril Diva for women wanting to create a great first impression;
Liril Classic for the confident and independent woman. Liril’s new array of products will build a more powerful brand image in the customers’ mind space, thereby promoting sales of new product variants which will, in turn, enhance sales.
Brand communication
Liril’s new brand mantra can be ‘Confident, vivacious and free-spirited’, along with the tagline ‘There she goes!’, which strongly communicates the brand message.
Liril has a strong brand equity and it should revive the sizzling bath with the original jingle that clicked with the masses.
Liril has to occupy the premium freshness soap mind space of the customers once again.
The core of its brand promise is its ‘come alive with freshness’ perception. Film stars like Priyanka Chopra or Deepika Padukone should be roped in as brand ambassadors.
Boosting sales
Apart from discounted bundles, combo packs offering all products of new Liril can be launched as promotions to gain market share. Creating a buzz on social media with promotional schemes will further boost sales.
(Sameer Gupta and Saurabh Kumar are pursuing a Post-Graduate Programme in Management at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.)