Dabur launches Boro Glow and Back-aid; ad campaign to break in October end

The healthcare division of Dabur India has launched two new products Dabur Boro Glow and Dabur Back-aid, marking an entry into the antiseptic cream and the backache remedies markets

The healthcare products division of Dabur India announced its entry into the antiseptic cream category and the backache remedies category at a press conference held in the capital yesterday. The two products in the respective categories are Dabur Boro Glow and Dabur Back-aid. While Dabur Boro Glow, which is available in a 20-gm tube is priced at Rs 12, Back-aid's 25-gm tube is priced at Rs 26 and the 5-gm tube at Rs 8. Currently, Dabur has six products in its healthcare portfolio - Chyawanprash, Hajmola (tablets and candies), Pudin Hara, Hingoli, Dabur Lal Tail and Dabur Janma Ghunti.

The ad campaign for both the products is slated for release by end October. While Leo Burnett has been entrusted with the Dabur Back-aid account, Contract Advertising has conceived the Dabur Boro Glow ad. Shyam Sundar, head of the healthcare products division of Dabur India, refused to reveal the size of the campaign despite requests. All he said was that the campaign will be a mix of press and TV, and that, besides Doordarshan, all major satellite channel will air the commercials of the new products. To put things into perspective, Dabur has six agencies on board - O&M, Leo Burnett, Contract, Bates, Mudra and Euro RSCG.

Talking about Dabur's logic for getting into the new categories, Sundar said, "The foray into new markets was driven by the need to grow." It is obvious the company sees a huge opportunity given the size of the two markets.

The backache remedies market is estimated at Rs 143 crore and is led by two big players, Iodex (from SmithKline Beecham) and Moov (Paras Pharmaceuticals) with market shares of 49 per cent and 34 per cent respectively. Recent entrant Fast Relief (Emami) has a 1 per cent market share. Yet, Sundar said, there is a clear gap in the market. "While most of the backache ointments act on the surface of the skin, Dabur Back-aid's gel-based formula enables the ointment to penetrate deep into the skin and reach the source of the problem."

Thus Dabur Back-aid is positioned as the ‘most effective pain relieving ointment.' Dabur's Back-aid is essentially targeted at women in the SEC A and B categories who are above 25 years. Dabur will sell the product through chemist shops. With the backache remedies market growing at 13 per cent, the company hopes to settle down with a market share of 10 per cent in a year-and-a-half's time.

The decision to launch Boro Glow, an antiseptic cream, was inspired by a similar ‘need gap' in the market. "Our research showed current users were unhappy with the stickiness and ‘medicinal odour' of the brands available. To address this issue, we launched Boro Glow; a herbal cream with low oil content," said Sundar. Boro Glow doubles up as a moisturising cream too. Sundar added, "Our research showed most antiseptic creams are used as moisturising creams by consumers. We found the sale of these creams goes up by 72 per cent in the winter season (from October to March). So we decided to offer the benefit of moisturisation as a product-plus." The product targets both men and women of the SEC B and C category.

Despite tough competition in the Rs 133-crore Ayurvedic antiseptic cream market, the company is targeting a market share of 8-10 per cent in the next 12-18 months. Boro Plus leads the market with a share of 49 per cent, followed by Boroline with 28 per cent and Boro Soft with 17 per cent. Boro Natural and Boro Plus Lite have small shares of 4 and 2 per cent respectively. To take on competition, Dabur plans to support the launch with a ‘Buy one get one free' introductory offer.

© agencyfaqs! 2001