Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Fairever : Natural Fairness

Brand : Fairever
Company : Cavinkare
Agency : Fountainhead/Orchard


Brand Analysis Count : 283

Fairever is a challenger brand. It was the first brand to challenge the market leader Fair & Lovely. This brand was once touted by the media as the DAVID who fights against the Goliath.
Fairever was launched in 1998. Initially launched in South India, this brand went national a year after. It was the time when Fair & Lovely ( FAL) was ruling the Indian fairness cream market. The phenomenal success of FAL and the marketing might of HLL scared off many potential rivals. It was interesting to note that ever since its launch FAL never faced any competition from any players till Cavinkare decided to take on the behemoth.
Unlike many challenger brands from small companies, Fairever was never a price warrior. At one point of time Fairever was expensive than FAL. The courage of this small brand to standup and challenge a market leader with clear non price positioning makes Fairever a special brand.

From the launch , Fairever was clear about its positioning and differentiation. The brand was positioned on the basis of its main ingredients Saffron and Milk. Saffron is traditionally considered to be a fairness enhancing ingredient. So a product with the unique blend of Saffron and Milk was appealing to the target segment. With in six months of the launch, Fairever garnered a neat six percent of the fairness market. Fairness market in India is huge with a market size of Rs 800-900 crore. FAL holds more than 70% of the total market.
The saffron based positioned worked well with the brand. The packaging and the excellent use of brand elements like the Color gave this brand an upmarket look.But the ads of Fairever was predictable and was revolving around Girl becoming fair and then attractive to men. But it was Fairever who broke this cliche ads and turned that attention to Achievement rather than Fairness. But in the ad war that ensued, FAL took over the concept of Women Empowerment and owned the positioning. Fairever also faced some legal issues with FAL. HLL challenged that Fairever has violated the Patent formulation of FAL. But later the matter was amicably settled out of court.
Fairever was a brand that has worked hard to survive in the market. The success of Fairever prompted many players to enter the market. This made differentiation difficult for the brand. Fairever then chose the Green Path. In 2005, Fairever went Natural. The brand was relaunched with Natural tag. The brand also launched a premium Fairness cream subbranded Manthra aimed at the Upmarket customers.
These moves along with heavy ad spends have ensured that Fairever carved a 12 % market share Nationally and 17% share in the South India. Fairever uses the popular South Indian actress Asin as its brand ambassador.
Another interesting fact about Cavinkare is that the company is not in favour of Brand extensions. Cavinkare feels that new brands works better than extending a successful brand. The company is also keeping the positioning consistent for Fairever. This careful nurturing has made this brand , the second largest brand in the companies portfolio.

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