SUPERBRANDS 2012

LACTO CALAMINE

piramalhealthcare.com

superbrandsindia.com

Product

What is remarkable about Lacto Calamine is that it has grown younger with time. From caring for tender
skin several decades ago it now soothes and nourishes skin exposed to the elements and ravaged by the
environment. The brand has also extended its franchise and now offers an oil control formulation, a skin
hydration product, a deep cleansing lotion and a moisturising face wash. Today, Lacto Calamine is used by
people to treat everything from rashes to blemishes and sun burns to insect bites. The brand controls 83%
of the calamine market in India.
Market
Beauty is an industry almost as old as mankind
itself. While no record exists of formulae
that early Homo sapiens used to make up
themselves, adornments found date back several
tens of thousands of years and feature
everything from sabre tooth pendants to herbal
pastes and perfumed oils to extracts from roots
and barks. From its earliest peripatetic days, the
worldwide cosmetics industry is now a trillion
dollar business.
Closer to home, the Indian cosmetic retail has
been witnessing strong growth over the past
few years and has emerged as one of the
leading industries with a massive potential for
future growth. As is the very nature of FMCG
products the number of competitors and
alternatives is immense. In a market perennially
hungry for the next advancement, innovations
are the key and are driving the business
forward. It is the ultimate irony that an industry
based on beauty and aesthetics is a veritable
battleground for competitive warfare.
Due to changing lifestyles and spreading
consumer awareness, people have become

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more conscious of how they can and want to

look. Skin care has emerged as one of the most
dynamic segments of the Indian cosmetic
market. The moisturisers and skin cream
categories size in at a huge C7000 crore (US$
1.30 billion) (Source: ACNielsen RMS June
2012) and have grown at an average 22% per
annum over the last three years.
Like any other industry today, rapid advances
have resulted in a new age for cosmetic and
skin care products with newer improvements
around every corner. Rising awareness about
their benefits and the advancement in medical
technology with safe and effective procedures
has made the skin care market a high growth
one. However, there are two other compelling
reasons for the runaway growth India is
registering: rapidly escalating disposable incomes
and a climate supportive of skin care products.
Within this dynamic, busy and competitive
category, Lacto Calamine from the
Piramal Healthcare stables, stands
out as one of the most time-tested,
trusted and respected brands that
the skin care market has to offer.

At over C60 crore (US$ 10.90 million) (Source:

ACNielsen RMS June 2012) in turnover and
with nearly a million users (Source: IRS 2010)
the brand has made its mark in India, South East
Asia and several western countries.

Achievements
Not because of any effort to project it as such,
but simply because peoples experiences said so,
Lacto Calamine has become a kind of an allpurpose lotion. Consumers have used it
effectively for everything ranging from treating
allergies and measles marks to acne and
for acquiring a healthy radiant glow even
as a foundation for make-up. It is this ubiquitous
use that has
propelled Lacto
Calamine to its
highest popularity
ratings ever, across

all ages and both sexes.

Over the years the brand has garnered a fan
following and like a family heirloom the open
secrets of its benefits have been passed down
from generation to generation. Today, in the
calamine market it commands a market share of
83% while its aloe variant is notching up the
fastest growth rate amongst moisturisers
(Source: ACNielsen RMS 2011).

History
Lacto Calamine first came to India several
decades ago riding on the portfolio of Duphar
Interfran. In the early 1990s it was bought out
by Nicholas Piramal and is now vested in
Piramal Healthcare.
In its earliest days, Lacto Calamine, a
formulation containing zinc oxide and ferric
oxide was used as an antipruritic an antiitching agent that could treat mild conditions
caused by sun burn, eczema, rashes, chickenpox,
insect bites and stings. It was also widely used as
an antiseptic to prevent infections that could be
caused by scratching affected areas and as an
astringent. In fact, after several years of study
the US Food and Drug Administration
announced on 2nd September 2008 that
calamines were also effective in relieving
symptoms originating from poisonous plants.
Over the years, Lacto Calamine, despite its
strong therapeutic leanings, has taken its rightful
place amongst the better skin care brands of
India. It has successfully transformed into a
must-have product across diverse dressing
cabinets as a daily skin care product rather than
merely a problem-solution therapy. This has
widened its market significantly, opening up
several avenues for expansion. Thus, with the
evolution of the market, Lacto Calamine itself
has undergone a metamorphosis, becoming
more conventionally appealing to the greater
Indian market.
From being an astringent, an antipruritic and a
complexion care brand, Lacto Calamine has
come a long way and is now increasingly
regarded as an essential daily skin nourishment.

Lacto Calamine is a time-tested

product that has transcended
generations and can now proudly
claim to be one of Indias most
recognised skin care brands. It has
established itself and has now
become the mainstay of the
cosmetics and particularly the skin
care industries. The product itself is
a lotion based on a timeless
formula containing kaolin, glycerine
and zinc oxide offering complete
care for all skin types. Its the
devotion to a tried and tested
formula that has resulted in Lacto
Calamine becoming the choice of
over a million people. The brand
offers two variant Lacto
Calamine Oil Control, formulated
for consumers with an oily to
normal skin type and its relatively
newer variant, Lacto Calamine Skin
Hydration for those with dry to
normal skin.
Lacto Calamine promises care
and everyday nourishment. Its
wide range of benefits includes the
removal of excessive oil from skin
pores, exfoliation of dead cells, the
reduction of acne and the clearing
of blemishes. Its quite simply a
product that has not only captured
the hearts and minds of people it will, for years
to come, be the benchmark against which
competition will be judged.

glycerine as the perfect balance and the

antidote to the unsympathetic environment.
As a corollary to the environmental
conditions, Lacto Calamine ramped up its
positioning. It put forward the idea of
Skinsurance a promise of health for the skin
and the consequent confidence that its users
silently communicate. It was this core idea with
which the brand grew to its formidable strength,
becoming the essential skin mantra on dressing
tables.
Liberation of the modern Indian woman has
meant that she is more than just a pretty face,
set about her work; she is a woman of
substance rather than superficiality, unfazed by
societal pressures and norms, with an inherent
lucidity of determining right from wrong. This is
what makes her todays confident woman. It is
this new-age woman that Lacto Calamine
celebrates, with its latest communication,
protecting her skin from within, so that she
can continue to focus on what is truly
important to her.

Brand Values
Over the years, Lacto Calamine as a brand has
always championed the cause of substance over
superficiality. With its roots deeply ingrained in
providing skin with nourishing goodness, it has
always defied the stereotype of being obsessed
with ones looks. As a product, it has also upheld
and demonstrated the value of trust for its
million plus consumers.

Recent Developments
Like many brands that make the cut, Lacto
Calamine is research driven. When consumer
insight showed that consumers hoped that
instead of simply curing it could prevent a
skin problem, the company had reason to
revisit its positioning. In early 2009 it
repositioned its Classic lotion and newlyoffered aloe-based moisturiser variant as
a daily use formula that promised a
prophylactic action. The company called
this Skinsurance.
With this customer wish fulfilled, the
company felt it was the right time to
extend the brand franchise. In a quick
foray it launched Lacto Calamine Deep
Cleansing and Lacto Calamine Moisturising
Facewash. The products came in several
variants raspberry, yogurt and avocado
each for a different skin type.
As a step in bonding with the assertive,
confident woman of today it combated its next
challenge: to give her a blemish-free, nourished
skin every day. In this pursuit it reintroduced
Lacto Calamine in a new avatar, single-mindedly
promising her nurturing goodness that would
allow her inner confidence to shine through.

Promotion
There was a time when the air was fresh, the
water pristine and the skin, usually, soft and
tender. Today, hundreds of hazardous chemicals
cloud the atmosphere. Exposed to this harsh
environment the skin erupts in several types of
ailments.
The new Lacto Calamine is a product of the
21st century, formulated to combat the ravages
caused by the environs. By 2003 it had already
re-established itself as a household name and in
2004 was being advertised to enhance beautiful
skin. In the following year, Lacto Calamine began
projecting its natural ingredients kaolin and

Things you didnt know about

Lacto Calamine
Every day 40,000 people buy a bottle of
Lacto Calamine
If all packs of Lacto Calamine sold in a year
were laid out end to end they would nearly
cover the entire length of National Highway
3 from Mumbai to Delhi
Lacto Calamine has over 300,000 male users
Kaolin, a unique ingredient is actually a form
of clay which is known for its natural healing
and therapeutic properties
Calamine is a compound of zinc oxide and
ferric oxide. It has antiseptic properties and is
used to treat skin for irritation, burns,
inflammation and other conditions

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