Case Analysis of Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna: UNILEVERs Social marketing campaign

Lifebuoy swasthya chetna was launched as a health and education program in 2002, in eight states. The objective of the program was to educate around 200 million people about best health and hygiene practices as they believed that Health of the business is totally interconnected with the health of the community we serve. As the health awareness was increasing more people were using the soap in turn sales were increasing. LSC was launched in areas where media penetration was zero. So means used for promotion: Lectures Demos Visual aids like flipcharts, intelligent quizzes Cinema vans Wall painting Weekly market fair and festivals

In rural area for message to be conveyed they chose target audience as school children who in turn communicated it to their parents. $5.4 million were committed for this scheme and it was implemented through best PR agency Ogilvy Outreach by Weber shandevick. By the end of 2003-2004 there was a 20% increase in sales in the eight states. LSC targeted customers who never used soaps. After the positive results in these eight states LSC was also implemented in Bangladesh and 5 African countries. Unilever started its business in India in 1931 through Hindustan Vanaspati. In 1933 it started Lever brother India ltd followed by United trader ltd in 1935. HLL was formed by merging all the three subsidiaries of Unilever. In 90s it went on merging spree and collaborated with TOMCO, Brooke bond Lipton India ltd, ponds, Lakme Kimberley dark. After facing competition from domestic brands like Nirma. HLL identified 30 of its 110 brands as a power brand, on the basis of size, brand strength, brand reliance, competitive advantage and potential for growth. As a part of reforms in 1998 they structured the project for rural penetration and distribution which resulted in 12% increase in sales from 25% to 37 %. In the same year they started project Bharat having emphasis on increased use of personal care product, low unit price packing, microcredits, HLL training to buy companies product and sell it at profit.

In 2001, HLL launched project shakti which focused on empowering underprivileged women, followed by LSC in 2002, Ishakti an IT based rural information in 2003 and launched Pureit in 2005. Here all there advertisement signified association of brand with health. Primarily market was divided in three segments on the basis of cost Premium > 11 Popular between 7 & 11 Carbolic < 6

In 2001, discount segment grew by 15% the reasons were Increased media penetration. Women decision making.

In 2002, the communication was focused on health soap for the entire family, several variants in the product lifebuoy (Natural, Gold, Strong, and Fresh) with focus on smell and size. There was a mixed opinion on this change in advertising strategy.

A Multi -Phase Interactive Program: A three year multiphase initiative aiming to change the behavior and attitude of a consumer. Each team of a health development facilitator (HDF) and a Health development assistant (HDA) covered 24 villages in a month and 72 villages a quarter.4 direct contact in a year to change the behavioral change from "no relevance to "habit formation". Primary audience was school children and secondary was the parents. Village heads, health workers and school teachers were key influencers. Targeted the children and taught them about germs and importance of washing. The whole program was made interactive by conducting Glo-germ demonstrations where the informed about visibly clean and hygienically clean. Besides Flip Charts, quizzes were also conducted to increase participation. Interactions with key members of the community meant that the whole village was involved. The children were already excited as they were made an important part of the whole campaign and played a key role. The Phase 2 gave prizes and gifts to children who had saved Lifebuoy wrappers after the Phase 1.Also certificates and medals were provided to the 'most neat and clean person'. A Swasthya Diwas" for parents and other adult was conducted in the village to increase their participation. Target shifted to the mothers of young children by visiting their homes and motivated them to attend the health education sessions. Health workers gave children a height and weight check. Also they internalized the message with periodic contacts.

In this health clubs with volunteers from the villages were formed. The motive for this was to transfer the ownership of the campaign to the clubs and self sustenance of the whole campaign.

Impact and Accolades:

The states where this program was launched showed a growth of 20%. In 2005 the sales grew by 10%.The LSC campaign at its highest level reached 86 million customers. An overall 30% increase in awareness levels, 20% increase in germs and diseases and about 33% increase was noticed in the user base. Positive coverage by national as well as international media. Financial times appreciated the LSC program. Gol acknowledged HLL for good work. Inclusion in "Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: eradicating poverty through profits" by C.K Prahlad.

Submitted By: Shobhit Agarwal Roll No. 12IB-044 Section:D