Lateral Marketing at Reckitt Benckiser!
I am currently interning with Reckitt Benckiser.
For those who are wondering what is that, it is an FMCG company that bears brands like Dettol, Mortein, Easy off Bang, Harpic, Lizol, Colin, Cherry Blossom, Vanish, Air Wick, Veet, Finish, Disprin, Strepsils to name a few. All of these brands are either first or second in the category they are present. Interestingly RB is second largest media spender in FMCG category after Unilever. While typing in this post till now I have already watched more than six advertisements of RB products. :)
So the question pops up, why still people don’t know about it. Most of the brands mentioned above have their own websites.
Why does the advertisements for above brands don’t display Reckitt Benckiser logo at the the end as done by other FMCG majors viz. Unilever, ITC, P&G, Colgate-Palmolive etc.
The media manager has a very interesting explanation to this question and roots its reason to the corporate strategy of the company. They say that a one second airtime of flashing the company logo in a 10 second commercial accounts to 10% of the advertising budget. Now considering the amount of advertisement airtime bought by RB that is a considerable amount and company is unwilling to spend until convinced it does any good to the sales.
The company feels people chose to buy dettol, mortein or cherry blossom for the brands they are and attributes they possess. The company believes Brands and People are its pillar of strengths.
A counter argument that can be given usually is the parent company’s logo if known to people, it becomes easier to launch new products. However a counter-counter argument could be look at the product launches done by RB. Veet that was launched in 2006 moved from nothing to market leader in less than three years, brushing past Fem and Anne French (this would make more sense to our female counterparts). Vanish-relaunch and Easy off bang have been hugely successful too. The 10% saved on creating parent company brand is used aggressively at the time of brand launches.
Moreover the company believes that until they are sure of having exploited full potential of their products, they don’t want to do any further product launches.
But there are some fall-backs which even RB acknowledges. eg. lack of pre-awareness about RB in B-schools sometimes may have made them pseudo-lesser attractive destination compared to Unilever or ITC. At one occasion they needed to introduce themselves as “company that makes dettol”.
In a nutshell that explains the company’s believe in creating Power Brands, as they call them, instead of an Umbrella brand of RB. A strategy that can surely represent Lateral side of FMCG marketing. :)
For those who are wondering what is that, it is an FMCG company that bears brands like Dettol, Mortein, Easy off Bang, Harpic, Lizol, Colin, Cherry Blossom, Vanish, Air Wick, Veet, Finish, Disprin, Strepsils to name a few. All of these brands are either first or second in the category they are present. Interestingly RB is second largest media spender in FMCG category after Unilever. While typing in this post till now I have already watched more than six advertisements of RB products. :)
So the question pops up, why still people don’t know about it. Most of the brands mentioned above have their own websites.
Why does the advertisements for above brands don’t display Reckitt Benckiser logo at the the end as done by other FMCG majors viz. Unilever, ITC, P&G, Colgate-Palmolive etc.
The media manager has a very interesting explanation to this question and roots its reason to the corporate strategy of the company. They say that a one second airtime of flashing the company logo in a 10 second commercial accounts to 10% of the advertising budget. Now considering the amount of advertisement airtime bought by RB that is a considerable amount and company is unwilling to spend until convinced it does any good to the sales.
The company feels people chose to buy dettol, mortein or cherry blossom for the brands they are and attributes they possess. The company believes Brands and People are its pillar of strengths.
A counter argument that can be given usually is the parent company’s logo if known to people, it becomes easier to launch new products. However a counter-counter argument could be look at the product launches done by RB. Veet that was launched in 2006 moved from nothing to market leader in less than three years, brushing past Fem and Anne French (this would make more sense to our female counterparts). Vanish-relaunch and Easy off bang have been hugely successful too. The 10% saved on creating parent company brand is used aggressively at the time of brand launches.
Moreover the company believes that until they are sure of having exploited full potential of their products, they don’t want to do any further product launches.
But there are some fall-backs which even RB acknowledges. eg. lack of pre-awareness about RB in B-schools sometimes may have made them pseudo-lesser attractive destination compared to Unilever or ITC. At one occasion they needed to introduce themselves as “company that makes dettol”.
In a nutshell that explains the company’s believe in creating Power Brands, as they call them, instead of an Umbrella brand of RB. A strategy that can surely represent Lateral side of FMCG marketing. :)