The rise and fall of Liril has been a unique case. A lot has been written by many analysts, mainly hinting at its positioning losing relevance and that today’s woman needs something else to fantasise about and a bath under a waterfall is passé. In my view, this is too simplistic an analysis. To figure out whether Liril has any steam left in it or not, one has to analyse why it became successful and where it lost the plot.

What made Liril successful?

It was clearly a focused positioning on freshness and the brand’s ability to fill an aspirational gap. While other brands were looking at serious claims of health and beauty, Liril brought in a sense of carefree fun to the bathing experience. And what really worked for it was how it executed this positioning.

The soap was possibly the first to have the two-colour streaked effect, with shades that were different from the pink and white or herbal green. The fragrance was unique for those times. And, of course, the communication made sure it stood apart and gave a very different dimension to bathing, which no one had tried before in India. It was the sheer likeability and freshness of the advertising which, even while it shocked some, was an industry shaker. Therefore, the product clearly delivered on positioning and on communication that created a trend. What followed is history.

How did Liril lose the plot?

Contrary to most views, I do not believe that the positioning lost its relevance. Freshness is as relevant a benefit in this category as it was then. Those who have doubts can study the Santoor positioning across years. It has been consistent, but has changed the expression.

There is a health aspect, where the users believe they are using real herbs to give them a healthy skin but, at the same time, avoid a soap that does not leave them feeling fresh and rejuvenated. Therefore, what the other brands did was to deliver freshness in the product, while promoting the health or beauty benefits, thereby trying to make the freshness benefit a hygiene requirement. If I had been the brand manager in a soap company at that point of time, I would have dreaded taking up the freshness position, unless I could have come up with an expression of freshness far superior to Liril, and that was possibly the reason why most brands stayed away from this positioning, given Liril’s strong hold. However, this is where Liril lost the plot. Brand managers believed that this positioning, once achieved, remained their property and they need not stake a claim on it with consumers at regular intervals. In short, Liril was complacent and the future of a large brand — garnering 14 per cent market share at its peak — was left to languish. If we review the advertising which followed, you can almost read the brand manager’s brief.

Make the brand talk to the modern woman, who is young, working and has a devil-may-care attitude. The commercials looked more like transcripts of the brief and less like creative pieces.

The product also lost its distinctiveness; neither was the fragrance modernised, nor were the look and feel of the soap. And the worst thing you can do to a brand is to begin extensions when it is going downIt also followed the classic act of following one small mistake with a big one to correct the previous mistake.

Liril 2000 was the final nail in the coffin. Really surprising that Hindustan Lever (as it was called earlier) thought Liril could become a family health soap. Which was like expecting the carbolic Lifebuoy to become a beauty soap.

Can Liril regain equity?

Yes it can and HUL should give it its due and resurrect the brand. However, will the brand regain 14 per cent market share? Unlikely. But that is because even the most expensive new launches from giants like ITC have not managed to gain even 3 per cent share all-India. The market dynamics today is very different from what it was when Liril was launched. Despite that, the residual equity of Liril, I believe, still has enough strength to regain more shares vis-à-vis a new brand, if they were to re-launch.

So what should Liril do?

Go back to the drawing board with the product. Create unique looks, not available in the market. It has to be a combination of transparency, shape and colour.

Modernise the fragrance, at the same time retaining the lime base, yet moving towards a finer fragrance. Add higher level product benefits, but talk of them only on the pack and not in the communication.

Go back to the original positioning of freshness in a way that is aspirational for the modern-day woman. This brand should almost stand out as a rebel in the market, where everybody is trying to be logical and elaborate on the ingredients.

Withdraw Liril 2000 simultaneously. The 1 per cent share it holds is not worth the confusion in the market.

In short, the brand needs some clear and non-incremental thinking and it could be poised to do a 5 per cent plus in the market again.

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