Is Nirma trying to get men to do the laundry?

Hrithik Roshan does what he does best in a new spot for Nirma Advance. A look at the marketing strategy.

Nirma the washing powder brand, which is known for its jingles such as 'Washing Powder Nirma' and 'Hema, Rekha, Jaya aur Sushma, Sabki Passand Nirma' has recently come out with a new TV campaign featuring Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan for its sub-brand Nirma Advance. The ad has been conceptualised by Boing!, a Mumbai based ad agency; the media duties are being handled by Purnima Advertising (the agency that has been associated with the brand for several years) and Every Media is handling the digital marketing.

This is not the first time though that Nirma Advance has come up with a TVC without the combination of '
Hema, Rekha, Jaya and Sushma
', which is an iconic part of Nirma's advertising. In the year 2015, the detergent brand had come up with its
first TVC
of a girl practising the move of standing upside down in a box filled with sand and scorpions and the tagline back then was 'Jo Chahiye, Wo Chahiye' and now the tagline for the new ad is 'Naye Zamane Ke Ziddi Daagon Ke Liye'.

Talking about the brand getting Hrithik Roshan on board for Nirma Advance, Sunila Karir, founder and creative partner, Boing!, says, "Since parent brand 'Nirma washing powder' has never had a celebrity endorsement (Hema, Rekha, Jaya, Sushma already being the faces of the brand), it certainly made sense to explore a celebrity endorsement on 'Nirma Advance' as it is a relatively new brand with no deep rooted customer perceptions."

The new ad seems to be targeting the youth; mainly men/bachelors, who for a livelihood, stay in a different city away from their families and need to be independent when it comes to doing household chores such as, washing clothes, utensils and cooking food for themselves.

We asked Manan Soni, director, Purnima Advertising, if that was the right assumption and whether are men the target audience. He says, "Of course men are the TG, albeit secondary, since the primary TG for any brand in this category would be female who is a buyer as well as a user."

He adds, "Yes, there are bachelors who move to other towns for work and they too need to do their daily dose of washing clothes but the primary TG for this category will always be female because it is either your mothers or wives who decide on which product to use."

When asked about Nirma Advance targetting a new TG than that of Nirma, Soni says, "We are definitely looking at a new TG since it is a new product and we want consumers to come and try it out. Basically these people are the ones who would like to try something new that we are offering."

Nirma Advance's core TG is female, 15-45, SEC B and C whereas, for the parent brand Nirma, it is Female, 15+, SEC B and C.

We asked our ad and brand experts to watch the film and surmise the message.

Robby Mathew, chief creative officer, FCB Interface, says, "If you get rid of Hema, Rekha, Jaya and Sushma and also that
iconic jingle
you should have something equally strong in place. 'Naye Zamane ke ziddi daag' is definitely not it. Even a fabulous dancer like Hrithik cannot help you here. The only thing I get from the ad is that the brand is more 'modern' than before."

According to Samit Sinha, managing partner, Alchemist Brand Consulting, the message that comes out from this ad is, "Nirma Advance makes it fun to wash out tough food stains."