HAMAM

Hamam is one of the oldest soap brands in India. The brand came into existence in
1934 and over these 77 years has successfully built a space for itself in the consumer's
mind. The brand has successfully fought the competition and the changed environment.
The brand was owned by Tata Oil Mills (TOMCO) and later became the HLL brand when
HLL (Hindustan Liver Ltd ) acquired TOMCO.

Hamam is a natural soap .Although many reports put this brand as a herbal soap,
Hamam is more of a natural soap than herbal. The brand has a market share of about 9-10
percent of the Rs 4000 crore Indian soap market. The brand has a huge market share (more
than 25%) in the Tamilnadu market. When HLL implemented the Power Brand strategy,
Hamam survived the axe because of the strong equity it had among the consumers. Hence
the axe fell on Rexona which was also a natural soap with the same positioning as Hamam.

Hamam was positioned initially as a complete natural family soap. The brand was
built on the Trust factor. The earlier ads typically showed Mother and child with mother
explaining the meaning of Trust using the example of Hamam. The brand may have
acquired this quality from its original creators TATA.

Although the brand was able to manage the PLC, it had its share of problems. At one
point, HLL was facing the competition from Herbal/ayurvedic soaps. HLL tried to position
Hamam as an herbal soap by changing the composition by adding Neem ingredient and
reducing the TFM. But that reduction of TFM disqualified Hamam as soap and the brand
lost many of their loyal customers.

2005 saw HLL repositioning the brand by adding more ingredients. The brand now
talks about having a Perfect Balance of Neem, Tulsi and Alovera Extracts. The packaging
also has been made more contemporary and the shape of the soap has been made
oval.2006-07 saw a change in the communication of the brand. The brand no longer talks
about trust but now positioning itself as a beauty enhancing soap. The brand has now come
out with a variant that contains green gram, turmeric and sandal .The color of the soap also
has changed to sandal from the traditional green color. This move is a marked deviation
from the age old positioning of the brand as a natural green soap.

Hamam for years has been able to sustain its market position because of the strong
brand loyal customers .The brand now wants to be relevant to a new consumers ( younger
generation). The brand also faces stiff competition from a plethora of brands offering the
same ingredients and benefits. The latest repositioning exercise is aimed to keep the brand
relevant and also leverage the brand equity it had built up over these years.