"The deo category is moving away from being 'an equivalent to perfume'": Ashok Namboodiri, Park Avenue Deo

JK Helene Curtis, the Raymond Group Company that markets Park Avenue's deodorants, has released a new marketing campaign titled 'Always Fresh, Always On', for the range. This is the first time a celebrity brand ambassador has made a case for Park Avenue deodorants on mass media. Crafted by Publicis, the campaign features Bollywood personality Farhan Akhtar.

The objective is to position Park Avenue Deodorant as a brand that offers freshness that outlasts the day and helps men overcome "Shaam ka budhaapa" (Bobby Pawar's words, not ours). The '8 hour freshness lock' promise is prominently displayed on the new packaging. Design firm Wow Design has worked on the new bottle. The price stays unchanged - Rs 195 for a 135 ml (100 gm) bottle.

Around eight to ten per cent of the brand's annual revenue has been ear-marked for this overhaul. The team is hopeful the effort will generate new trials for the brand.

"The product formulations have undergone a huge change. We've increased the fragrance concentration by 20-40 per cent," shares Ashok Namboodiri, business director, JK Helen Curtis, and former Britannia hand.

Edited Excerpts from an interview with Namboodiri.

Edited Excerpts

In the deodorant category, over the last few years, it has essentially been all about one standard conversation with the consumer... the 'night time' story - spray, step out, attract the opposite sex. And the communication has been about the bedroom, the black shirt...

Our story is about being prepared, being ready to take on any new challenge that life throws at you.

While the deo market in India has seen explosive growth, Chapter One of that story is over. Chapter Two is going to unfold now... we are going to embark on new conversations. Deos can play a bigger role in the life of a man.

To a large extent, what we call 'deodorant' is often a surrogate for perfume. That's the reality of the market today. That's how the usage has been driven. That's how the consumer has decoded the category so far.

In developed markets, deodorants are used for more for 'body odour management', after a workout, or before work, and not just for evening/night time application or as something you spray before you go to a party.

In our market, the codes are now beginning to change. People are realising that using a deo can actually make you more productive, that body odour can be detrimental to your career progression. The deo category is evolving and moving away from being 'an equivalent to perfume'.

Over the last couple of years the deo category has developed a 'value' connotation. The whole 'gas-no gas' conversation, for instance, is all about saying, 'Here I am; I offer more value because you can get more number of sprays for the same amount of liquid'.

Packaging needs to be handled with a lot of expertise and care. A sudden, jerky change in packaging can lead to disastrous results. There is science to it. It's not just about the colour thematic, what you put on the pack or the structure/shape of the pack.

Given the amount of clutter on the shelf, an increased number of variants and growing competition, one of the roles that packaging needs to play is to facilitate consumer navigation at the retail level.

We're looking to increase our appeal among younger consumers - young in terms of age and sensibility. They're clear and make informed choices.

This is not going to be a game of being No.1, No.2 or No.3. For us, the strategy has to do with my choices in terms of where I intend to play, how I want to play, on my distribution, on whether I can pick the outlets, on how - within the same outlet - I can out-execute someone who has got more financial muscle...

By and large, deodorant is an urban phenomenon; the category has not penetrated regions beyond the top 50-60 metros in the country.

We have increased our distribution footprint in the metros. We have increased our outlets by about 15 per cent.

We select our outlets very carefully. We are very clear we don't want to take the carpet bombing approach of saying, 'I will disproportionately step up my distribution'; it is more important to be available in the right outlets than in as many outlets as possible. The unique thing about the deo category is the skew; the '80:20 rule' applies here. So in this category, a small number of outlets contribute to a large chunk (of sales).

Modern format retail is a significant channel, both in terms of product availability and engagement with the consumer. Modern trade is a channel as well as a medium... over the past three to four months we've worked very hard at stepping up on this front.

When it comes to general trade, we look at the upper end. We're not really going to the small format outlets. We have picked and chosen larger format departmental stores and standalone aisles at supermarkets.