An excerpt from Philip Kotler's Marketing Management: The

Millennium Edition (Prentice Hall; 2000) throws some light on

P&G's global strategy with respect to its detergents: "P&G will
enter a market containing a large entrenched competitor. Instead
of launching a me-too product or a single-segment product, it
introduces a succession of products aimed at different
segments. Each entry creates a loyal following and takes some
business away from the major competitor. Soon the major
competitor is surrounded, its revenues are weakened and it is too
late to launch new brands in outlying segments. P&G in a moment
of triumph then launches a brand against the major brand."
■ P&G had no presence in India, till 1985.
■ P&G introduced Ariel detergent powder in1991.
■ In November 1990, P&G, which had not been active in the Indian detergent
market, test marketedAriel Microsystem. The premium product was launched in 1991
and priced at Rs. 32 for 500grams as compared to Surf’s Rs.15.80 and Nirma’s Rs.
4.90. The powder detergent was based onP&G’s advanced proprietary enzyme-based
technology and was considered superior to Surf . P&G backed the launch with heavy
investment in advertising. The campaign claimed that a 500-gram packet of Ariel
would last for a month, eventually working out as cheap as low-priced products.
■ Surf Excel managed to take away consumers from Ariel owing to HLL’s stronger
distributionmuscle (1.2 million retail outlets compared to P&G’s reach of less than
half a million outlets).
■ Between 1997 and 1999, the urban market saw a shift towards
premium and compact detergents(detergents with dirt-removing
intensive enzymes). Both HLL and P&G tried to connect to
the premium consumer through a series of launches. In a departure fr
om its global practice, P&G launched its world famous Tide detergent
in May 2000, in the premium segment (P&G considered any detergent
priced over Rs. 70 per kg as premium).
■ P&G India felt both Tide and Ariel were necessary in India as the
premium segment was growing. Research revealed that there was a
specific consumer need for improved cleaning. Tide was launched
to address the quality of whiteness in cleaning. Ariel was
positioned as the detergent with the best performance and
the best technology that helped the consumer redefine
cleaning standards. For the non-Ariel consumer in India,
yellowing of white clothes was addressed by Tide.
■ In late 2003, P&G India resorted to a more aggressive pricing strategy.
The company unleashed a price war by bringing down the prices of
Ariel and Tide sachets by 50 % in September 2003. The revised price
of Ariel and Tide sachets stood at Rs 1.50 and Re 1 against Rs 3 and
Rs 2 earlier, respectively. In March 2004, P&G renewed its attack on
rival HLL through a revamped pricing strategy for its larger unit packs,
bringing down Ariel and Tide prices by almost 50%.
■ P&G was present only in the premium segment where the market size
itself was small. In the middle and low segments of the market, P&G
was totally absent. Realizing the need for volumes, P&G introduced
what it called a price correction strategy. The main objective was to
expand the upper end of the market where quality products were sold
at a price not affordable to many.
ARIEL

■ #sharetheload
■ 1st to introduce fragrances
■ Mainly targeting niche market
■ Launched in 1991
■ Ariel is a mega brand, more premium, targeting consumers with very
high expectations in terms of laundry performance. Their consumers
care about laundry, and cleaning the laundry is not just a functional
task.
TIDE

■ Chauk gye?
■ Tide is a laundry detergent owned and produced by American 
multinational Procter & Gamble. Introduced in 1946, it is the highest
selling detergent brand in the world, with an estimated 14.3 percent
of the global market.
■ Launched in mid 2000 in India
■ Tide provides ‘outstanding whiteness’ on white clothes without
bleaching.
■ SEGMENTATION
Medium level income segment, detergent powder and bar
■ TARGETING
Middle class buyers who cannot afford premium products but aspire
equally good quality products.
■ POSITIONING
Positioned as a good quality detergent offering superior whiteness at
affordable price.
■ Analysts are of the view that P&G floundered by launching Tide as a
premium detergent at Rs 120 per kg, just Rs 35 lower than its super-
premium sibling, Ariel.
■ According to analysts, P&G's strategy for Tide increasingly started to
focus on the value-for-money consumer and this could represent the
company's strongest effort so far to grab volumes in India.
■ Certainly, volume share crawled up. According to Rahul Malhotra, country
marketing manager, P&G, the Tide business has tripled post the price
reduction. But it's not just the pricing strategy that helped Tide rise up.
■ Another factor, after the price game, that worked in favour of the
detergent was the "whiteness" proposition (Ariel has always
been promoted on the "cleanliness" platform).
■ And finally, what helped Tide gain momentum is the communication
channels it chose to reach to its target audience, which was different from
that of Ariel.
■ For Ariel P&G focused the communication on the modern and
upwardly mobile family.
■ To reinforce the tag of premium quality, it tied up with consumer
durable companies such as Videocon, to vouch for its quality when
used with their brand of washing machines.
■ In the case of Tide, though, P&G focused on the traditional Indian
housewife (the ideal core target for any detergent brand) from the
beginning.
■ Today, according to a media buyer, it makes perfect sense for P&G to
put most of its resources behind Tide.
■ Even as HLL and P&G are trying to pump up volumes by slashing
prices, growth has been static as consumers continue to downtrade to
low-priced options.
■ Washing powders were categorized into four segments – economy
(selling at less thanRs.25 per kg), mid-priced (Rs.25 – Rs. 90 per kg),
premium (Rs. 90 – Rs. 120 per kg) and compact (selling at over Rs.
120 per kg). The compact, premium and medium priced segments
together accounted for 20% of the volume share and 35% of the value
share. The economy segment made up the remaining lion’s share of
the market.
■ Tide naturals mid priced, tide plus premium