Company : Emami
Agency : Situations
Brand Count : 256
Watch the TVC here : Fair and Handsome
Agency : Situations
Brand Count : 256
Fair and Handsome is a brand that created the Men's fairness cream segment in India. Launched in 2005, the brand became the creater and the market leader of this segmen
t. Emami was looking for ways to challenge the Fair and Lovely brand from HUL. Emami had a brand Naturally Fair which was small compared to FAL.
t. Emami was looking for ways to challenge the Fair and Lovely brand from HUL. Emami had a brand Naturally Fair which was small compared to FAL.Emami went for serious customer research which showed that 25-30% of customers of Fairness creams were men. That customer insight paved way for a specialized brand for men. Fair and Handsome is targeted at young urban men aged 15- 35. The brand was launched with much promotion across visual media.
Watch the TVC here : Fair and Handsome
The campaign for Fair and Handsome is one of the lousiest campaign I have ever seen. Here the main character is depicted as a fool who gets into a ladies hostel to steal a fairness cream ( or has he got in for some other purpose !) . I still couldn't understand why couldn't he just go to a supermarket and buy it.
The brand is being positioned as the fairness cream that can make men handsome and also attractive to girls. The brand uses the tagline : Be fair Be Handsome . Whether the campaign is lousy or not , after two years of launch , Fair and Handsome is worth Rs 45 Crore now commanding a market share of over 30-40% in the segment.
The brand has to be appreciated for creating a category. It is true that men uses creams meant for women. Hence there is a logic in creating a brand for men in this category. The total fairness market is estimated to be around Rs 900 crore and men's segment is around Rs 160 crore. Although Fair and Handsome has gained the first mover advantage, already competition is hotting up. HUL has extended FAL into men's category with a variant Menz Active. Nivea and Lo'real also have moved into this segment. Unlike Fair and Handsome ( FAH), other brands are little subtle in positioning their brands as a fairness cream.
Nivea uses the term Whitening while Lo'real positions the men's range Men Expert has a range of skin solutions for men. However HUL directly positions its Menz Active as a fairness cream but the target market are older men aged 25-35 . These brands faces the issue of the reluctance of men to be seen using a cream because cosmetics traditionally is viewed as a category meant for females. Situations are changing and the Metrosexuals are least bothered about openly caring about their looks. The changing face of modern man is definitely indicating a big opportunity to these brands.
In the face of emerging competition Emami has moved aggressively to promote Fair & Handsome by roping in Bollywood icon ShahRukh Khan as its brand ambassador. The TVC featuri
ng SRK is already on air.
According to a report in agencyfaqs, SRK was initially skeptical about endorsing a fairness brand for PR reasons, However Emami was able to convince SRK into endorsing this brand. Fair& Handsome is the first brand to target men. It was followed by Fair and Lovely extending itself to men's variant Men's Active. Now this segment is seeing lot of activity .
Fair and Handsome is banking on its 5 power Fairness System :
1.Double Strength Peptide complex which was developed in collaboration with Activor Corp. USA.
The brand is being positioned as the fairness cream that can make men handsome and also attractive to girls. The brand uses the tagline : Be fair Be Handsome . Whether the campaign is lousy or not , after two years of launch , Fair and Handsome is worth Rs 45 Crore now commanding a market share of over 30-40% in the segment.
The brand has to be appreciated for creating a category. It is true that men uses creams meant for women. Hence there is a logic in creating a brand for men in this category. The total fairness market is estimated to be around Rs 900 crore and men's segment is around Rs 160 crore. Although Fair and Handsome has gained the first mover advantage, already competition is hotting up. HUL has extended FAL into men's category with a variant Menz Active. Nivea and Lo'real also have moved into this segment. Unlike Fair and Handsome ( FAH), other brands are little subtle in positioning their brands as a fairness cream.
Nivea uses the term Whitening while Lo'real positions the men's range Men Expert has a range of skin solutions for men. However HUL directly positions its Menz Active as a fairness cream but the target market are older men aged 25-35 . These brands faces the issue of the reluctance of men to be seen using a cream because cosmetics traditionally is viewed as a category meant for females. Situations are changing and the Metrosexuals are least bothered about openly caring about their looks. The changing face of modern man is definitely indicating a big opportunity to these brands.
In the face of emerging competition Emami has moved aggressively to promote Fair & Handsome by roping in Bollywood icon ShahRukh Khan as its brand ambassador. The TVC featuri
ng SRK is already on air.According to a report in agencyfaqs, SRK was initially skeptical about endorsing a fairness brand for PR reasons, However Emami was able to convince SRK into endorsing this brand. Fair& Handsome is the first brand to target men. It was followed by Fair and Lovely extending itself to men's variant Men's Active. Now this segment is seeing lot of activity .
Fair and Handsome is banking on its 5 power Fairness System :
1.Double Strength Peptide complex which was developed in collaboration with Activor Corp. USA.
2.Sunguard: Prevent sunburn
3.Stress Busters: prevent wrinkles
4.Anti Bacplus : anti bacterial
5.Herbo Cool : herbal ingredients.
The brand website also gives an interesting chart
that explains why fairness is important.
This chart in a way explains the Brand's thought process.
Fair and Handsome retains the original tagline : Be Fair, Be Handsome" in the new campaign also.
The brand gives an impression that the users are having a lack of confidence and feels insecure and have less self esteem. Again the brand assumes that Fairness gets women attracted towards men. I feel that the brand still lives in the stone age.
I feel that FAH has got its assumptions wrong. By depicting the main hero of the ad as a person with low self esteem, the brand is repelling lot of self assured men who wants to take care of their skin rather than attracting chicks. Gone are the days where Indian men had a complex about the skin color influenced by the long oppression by the British. Now the urban male is a more evolved one . ( I am not denying the fact that there are people who have complex about being not fair) . Men are more exposed to sun and dust and the traditional creams may not be effective for men. Hence such brands should address the host of issues faced by men rather than talking about being attractive to girls. I feel that FAH by default is restricting itself to the Fairness proposition ( which is not a bad idea ).
Even when you are addressing the issue of fairness, the brand have to project itself as an aspirational brand rather than as one for losers. Even the new campaign fails terribly in execution.
3.Stress Busters: prevent wrinkles
4.Anti Bacplus : anti bacterial
5.Herbo Cool : herbal ingredients.
The brand website also gives an interesting chart
that explains why fairness is important.This chart in a way explains the Brand's thought process.
Fair and Handsome retains the original tagline : Be Fair, Be Handsome" in the new campaign also.
The brand gives an impression that the users are having a lack of confidence and feels insecure and have less self esteem. Again the brand assumes that Fairness gets women attracted towards men. I feel that the brand still lives in the stone age.
I feel that FAH has got its assumptions wrong. By depicting the main hero of the ad as a person with low self esteem, the brand is repelling lot of self assured men who wants to take care of their skin rather than attracting chicks. Gone are the days where Indian men had a complex about the skin color influenced by the long oppression by the British. Now the urban male is a more evolved one . ( I am not denying the fact that there are people who have complex about being not fair) . Men are more exposed to sun and dust and the traditional creams may not be effective for men. Hence such brands should address the host of issues faced by men rather than talking about being attractive to girls. I feel that FAH by default is restricting itself to the Fairness proposition ( which is not a bad idea ).
Even when you are addressing the issue of fairness, the brand have to project itself as an aspirational brand rather than as one for losers. Even the new campaign fails terribly in execution.
The new campaign and the brand ambassador in SRK may spike the sale of this brand for a while, but in order to move up the ladder, FAH have to project itself as a winner rather than a brand for losers.
What do you think ?
What do you think ?
source : agencyfaqs,business standard,fairand handsome.net
both fair and lovely and fair and handsome campaign was launched by the same person alyque padamsee!!!!....he explained the concept of fairness and his strategy on fair and handsome in the programme 'Tryst of Destiny' which was aired on ndtv
ReplyDeleteFear is what the FAH campaign tried to induce,fear is a very powerful emotion and many marketers have been using it to their advantage,the campagin says "If you dont use our product girls will not like you",If I think from a marketers perspective "Fear of rejection" is an awesome tool and If used correctly can work wonders for the sales.But here in FAH ad they didn't put it quite well and made a lousy ad.
ReplyDeleteMy father and my brother use soap at bathing time. Don’t the other males use soap while they bath? Then they must be stinking. Yak! Now, while speaking of fairness cream, it was all dominated by women. Emami Co. took a brave step ahead to launch a fairness cream for men. Why is that becoming such an issue? All through these years, the huge multinational companies tried to convince their female consumers to use fairness cream to get married or to get a job. Then there was no such comments from criticizers like ‘entrenching discrimination based on skin colour’. Once SRK endorsed Fair and Handsome, criticizers comments started to arrive. Was there any rules like only females can be fair and men should be jet black? I don’t know about such rules. Do you know?
ReplyDeleteI think the man not going to supermarket can be analyzed from a different angle. It is very embarrassing for a man to go to supermarket and search for ladies fairness cream in a ladies fairness section.
ReplyDeleteThis embarrassment and unawareness about fairness product might have caused this desperate (for being handsome) boy to go to hostel.
So this ad says don’t be embarrassed here is a fairness cream exclusively for men. So just be proud, go and buy it and be handsome.
I think you guys have lost it. These products are subtly stirring racism in the society. What next? a pill that will transform you in a blue eye, blonde hair Caucasian???
ReplyDeleteAnyways read this interesting post.
http://www.indianeye.org/2008/01/12/unfair-and-lowly-fairness-creams-and-racist-tones/
its nice but the question in the segment is of Rs160 cr ..so is it wise decision to endorse SRK?
ReplyDeleteSrk highlight in an ad that during struggle time " fair n handsome ko Apna sathi banaya"
ReplyDeleteHe was already established and popular star in 2005 when fair and handsome was launched........ How foolish is that we carried away by such ad just becoz srk is super star people blindly follow him