Neha Kalra
Advertising

Dabur to launch cleaning brand; creative duties with O&M

O&M will also look after the communication for existing brand SaniFresh; the idea is to consolidate all the cleaning brands with one agency

Dabur has revealed its plans to focus on the home care segment. Accordingly, it has announced the launch of its entry into the hard surface cleaning market, with floor cleaners and the likes. A pitch was called with this aim in mind , and O&M has won the creative duties for it.

Two agencies participated in the pitch, O&M and McCann. Now that O&M has won the business, its mandate would be to build the brand from scratch, right from suggesting a brand name, to deciding on an appropriate positioning for it, and taking it to consumers.

O&M has also been awarded the creative duties for SaniFresh, a brand that moved to Dabur from Balsara, when the former acquired it in 2005. McCann has been handling SaniFresh since 2003. It has now moved to O&M because Dabur wants to consolidate all its cleaning brands with a single agency.

Dabur to launch cleaning brand; creative duties with O&M
Sunil Verma, vice-president, O&M, Delhi, says, “It’s a new category for the agency to work on, and extensive research has been undertaken by Dabur, and by us, too, for the new launch. As far as SaniFresh is concerned, it needs much attention; the goodwill of the brand cannot be wasted, so a re-evaluation will definitely be considered.”

The size of the entire business could not be ascertained, but considering that Dabur is looking at the cleaning products market for the first time, the ad spends will not be inconsiderable. The cleaning brands it has in the market are all acquired from Balsara and are not original Dabur products.

The company plans to launch three variants in the hard surface cleaning category. Additionally, three variants of SaniFresh are also being lined up.

As per media reports, in the quarter ending June 30, Dabur’s home care segment has grown by 21 per cent. An industry spokesperson reveals that SaniFresh holds a 10 per cent market share. This category is seen to be growing at around 25 per cent annually.

Dabur is bringing down the agencies on its roster from the current eight to three or four. On a consolidation spree, Dabur recently aligned the entire Vatika portfolio with Contract. Two months ago, it entrusted McCann with its Balsara-acquired oral care brands, Promise, Meswak and Babool.

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