Skin Care

This tracker has been compiled from external sources and does not necessarily reflect the views of the company. Links provided will take you to the full articles appended at the end of the file.

© 2008 Zenith Optimedia.

 

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56. Anti-ageing Cream Goes Young

2 June, 2008

 

When consumer products major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) recently relaunched its Pond’s anti-aging skin cream range, it was not only launching a ‘new-improved’ version of the product but also responding to a larger change in the core target consumers of anti-aging products — from the middle-aged 35-40-years-old women to 20-something girls, yes, but even men too!

 

Says Oriflame India national sales manager Shilpa Ajwani: “Today, we have customers in the 20-years-plus age group who start preventive skin care through anti-aging creams and while women are still the larger consumer base, there is faster growth in demand for anti-aging products by men too. This is unlike the scenario sometime back when classically 40-years-plus women were our target customers.”

 

The company launches about six anti-aging products a month, which now account for over a quarter of its sales in India.

 

Cosmetics are conventionally bundled into three categories — skin lightning, moisturising and anti-aging. Market research firm ACNielsen puts the anti-aging cosmetic market in India at over Rs 60 crore. Though just over 2% of the country’s Rs 3,000-crore skin care market, the anti-aging segment is the fastest growing at 93% year-on-year.

 

Anti-aging cosmetics include products as diverse as anti-aging lipsticks and eye balms, facial creams, hair lotions and foot creams. Consumers pay Rs 500-6,000 for such products from brands like Mary Kay, Revlon, Schwarzkopf, Procter & Gamble, HUL, et al.

 

Schwarzkopf Professional country head Murali Sundar confirms anti-aging products’ age defying trend: “With time, usage of anti-aging products has got little to do with a person’s age. Rising consumer awareness means that people in their late twenties have started buying our anti-aging hair care products. While the bulk of our customers are still women, men are fast waking up to hair-care.”

 

While busy lifestyles and concomitant stress hasten skin aging, rising incomes and awareness are facilitating fast consumer adoption of anti-aging products. But that’s not all, for there is also another important factor at play here. Consumers today opt to prevent and correct rather than repair at a later stage. Marketers are quick to spot this trend and are responding appropriately.

 

Says HUL skin care category head Venkat Shridhar: “Today, sales of bulk of our anti-aging creams come from 28-30-years-old women. Personal care spends have increased a lot in the past 3-4 years. Easy access to parlours, supermarkets and greater exposure to media have led people to spend more on hygiene and beauty. Hence, all our communication also highlights prevention as the way out to delay aging.”

 

Agrees Mary Kay India senior marketing manager Nirupama Rao: “Anti-aging products have ceased to be prescriptive in nature. Today, they are used for preventive purposes. Consumers realise that they help in delaying the damage caused due to aging.”

 

Though the current penetration of anti-aging products is low, marketers see huge potential in the category and are prioritising for its growth. Says Devendra Shinde, marketing head, Kaya Skin Clinic, Marico’s 56-store strong skin-care division: “Our age control Botox and Fillers treatments have grown up to four times in the last year. Currently, age control packages account for 15% of our revenues and are expected to grow even more robustly.”

 

“We are witnessing a 30% year-on-year growth in the anti-aging segment. The age of consumers of anti-aging cosmetics is coming down rapidly and there is increased penetration of these products in India. This segment is expected to contribute substantially to our growth,” says Revlon India marketing director Deepak Bhandari. The company markets its anti-aging products under the Revlon Reveal brand, priced Rs 350-750.

 

 

57. Fruity beauty

5 June, 2008

 

Eminence Organics Skin Care has launched a range of products based on tropical fruit. They include coconut milk cleanser, pineapple enzyme pro peel, coconut cream masque, mango night cream, coconut sugar scrub, watermelon papaya body butter and mango enzyme body wrap. All the products are priced at Rs 3,500 and available at high-end spas and salons in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Ludhiana, Goa and Pune. 

 

 

58. For Him

29 May, 2008

 

Nivea has launched Multi White Advanced Whitening Oil Control Moisturiser for Men. It claims to contain a unique oil control system and 95 per cent Vitamin C. It claims to protect the skin from premature ageing and the harmful effects of UV rays. Itis priced Rs 252 for 40 ml. 

 

 

 

59. Pond's: An Ad 'Film', Quite Literally

5 June, 2008

 

You may have caught the movie trailer of Kabhi Kabhi Pyar Mein on television recently – a film starring Priyanka Chopra, Saif Ali Khan and Neha Dhupia. But as most would have now guessed, the movie itself is just a smokescreen; it is actually a mode of advertising to announce the launch of Pond’s’ new skin whitening cream.

 

Once upon a time Pond’s recently announced the appointment of actor Priyanka Chopra as its brand ambassador, and therein started this journey. Pond’s White Beauty, as the product is called, has been launched in various markets by Unilever. The brief given to Pond’s’ agency in India, O&M, was to adapt to the Indian market the global episodic TVC created by Ogilvy in the Southeast Asian region. The story revolves around a man cheating on his girlfriend, with the latter deciding to woo him back with the help of the product.

 

“The storyline of the original seemed so Bollywoodish, we decided to treat it that way,” says Zenobia Pithawalla, senior creative director, Ogilvy & Mather. Hence, an idea was developed to give the advertising story a Bollywood twist. A fictitious film – Kabhi Kabhi Pyar Mein – was created, with Chopra, Khan and Dhupia in the lead roles. Incidentally, this is the first time that the trio have been seen together on screen, which lends the freshness factor. The whole tale is about Khan and Chopra dating each other seriously before Khan becomes a celebrity and moves away from the city. Having acquired fame, Khan changes totally, and despite his girlfriend waiting for him back home, takes up with another woman (Dhupia).

 

Chopra sees a magazine cover featuring the two and decides to have it out with Khan. She lands up in the same city and spots Khan with Dhupia. The story is about how Chopra woos Khan back by using Pond’s White Beauty, a cream that enhances dull fairness with a much needed glow.

 

The Pond’s activity is being conducted in phases. Firstly, there was a write-up in Filmfare magazine about this supposed love triangle to create buzz around the film. Next, a short trailer was unleashed on television channels (including music channels and GECs featuring movie trailer based programmes), which showed clippings from the “upcoming film” (with the super, ‘Sometimes life gives you a second chance, but are you ready?’).

 

Next, five mini-episodes are being unleashed on TV, each one revealing parts of the story bit by bit. The first one was released on June 1, and it reveals the story up till the point where Chopra catches her man with the sultry Dhupia. Just then, she sees an LCD screen in a shop, wherein there is a product display shot of Pond’s White Beauty, with a voiceover on how it can change lives. What happens next will be revealed in the next episode, leading to the ultimate revealer (the fifth episode).

 

Each episode will air after an interval of 15 days, thereby wrapping up the whole story in a little over two months. All the episodes, according to sources, were shot with a budget of Rs 3 crore.

 

Apart from the film, a print shoot was done and divided into two parts: the beauty shots and the film posters.

 

The film was shot in Bangkok over seven days by director Shoojit Sircar (of Yahaan fame). The producer was Ronnie Lahiri of Rising Sun Films. “We were told to make it like a short feature film on TV, where the story is gradually revealed in parts,” says Sircar.

 

The print shoot was handled by Farrokh Chothia. “The film posters helped in building the drama of giving it a feature film feel,” says Pithawalla. “And as no film is complete without a trailer, we cut a Bollywood style trailer.” The highlight of this trailer is the Bangkok airport sequence (showing Khan parting from Chopra in the pursuit of fame), where the shoot coincided with a flight leaving for India. “So, the queue in front of the stars was probably longer than the queue in front of the departure gates!” laughs Pithawalla.

 

Most of the sets (shots of a bedroom, a house, etc.) were erected. To show the love triangle, the treatment given to the film was totally ‘filmi’: slick, quick shots, high production values and high emotions. “The ad film is like Mills & Boons meeting Bollywood,” sums up Sircar, while adding that the product had to be woven in a subtle manner into the film.

 

Chopra was given a girl next door kind of look, with dresses dipped in soft pastel shades (including pink, Pond’s signature colour). Dhupia, on the other hand, was made to dress up fashionably in bright hues. To lend her the right look of being “the other woman”, she was even given black dresses and black under-eye makeup.

 

Khan has three looks in the film: The first is of a simple boy in love with Chopra. In the middle of the film, he acquires celebrity status, and is seen sporting polished, designer outfits that signify his style icon status. In the third and last part, when Khan comes back to Chopra, he is shown in sober clothes.

 

The production was handled by Benetone Films, while the post production was done by Phenomena Productions of Bangkok.

 

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