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Purvita Chatterjee
Sravanthi Challapalli

MUMBAI/CHENNAI, Oct. 17

IN a bid to gather volumes for its toothpaste franchise, HLL is introducing a new variant for Close Up - Lemon Mint. In a bright yellow carton, the Close Up brand has a window, for the first time, on the pack to display the product.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Pradeep Banerjee, Head of Oral Care, Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL), said, "For the first time we are offering a new format for Close Up. The new variant is part of the innovations planned for the brand. A new campaign will be released soon to highlight the benefits of the new variant. We intend continuing with the same positioning of fresh breath and white teeth."

J Walter Thompson is handling the advertising account for the brand. A new campaign will break in the first week of November, when the variant will be available nationally. The campaign will be a combination of television, print and outdoors, according to Mr Debjit Rudra, Marketing Manager, Oral Care, HLL.

Mr Rudra told this newspaper in Chennai, on the sidelines of a press conference, that the new variant would not be priced differently. The 150 gm pack would retail for Rs 50 while the 40 gm pack would sell for Rs 12.50. He said that this flavour had first been introduced in Brazil and was now being adapted to Indian tastes.

Close Up was relaunched early this year in two variants - Tingly Red and Eucalyptus Waves. Close Up Whitening, another variant, is being sold with a shade card thrown in to help the consumer appreciate the whitening effect the product imparts.

According to ORG-Marg, Close Up has a 17.5 per cent value share of the Rs 1,400-crore toothpaste market. Adds Mr Banerjee, "We obviously want to see growth beyond these shares with the introduction of the new variant."

Considering that HLL's other toothpaste brand, Pepsodent, has introduced a dental insurance scheme with the purchase of Superior Pepsodent, the company has no intentions of gathering volumes based on the same strategy for Close Up. "Pepsodent is on a completely different platform compared to Close Up. There are no plans to introduce a similar scheme for Close Up," stated Mr Banerjee. Pepsodent's value share of the market is 17.7 per cent, according to ORG-Marg.

Pepsodent was launched on the family health and protection-against-germs platform while Close Up is more of an "outwards-directed" toothpaste, Mr Rudra said.

According to Mr Rudra, who addressed a press conference in Chennai on the dental insurance scheme, the marketing initiatives for it include advertisements in print and television, direct mailers to 15,000 dentists across the country and creating awareness at 50,000 retail outlets nationally. Apart from the pack itself and the shops, starting November, the print advertisements too would carry the insurance application form. Road shows would be considered later, he added. The television ad has just begun to be aired this week.

The insurance cover under the scheme will come into effect after a period of six months from the date of issue of the Pepsodent Dental Insurance Certificate. The last date for receiving completed proposal forms is April 30.

Mr Rudra said that the insurance scheme reflected HLL's commitment to improving oral hygiene in consonance with the National Oral Health Policy. The company has started a pilot programme of free check-ups in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh this year, under which it aims to cover 10,000 villages. Since Pepsodent's launch in 1991, HLL has conducted oral care and hygiene programmes in schools and expects to cumulatively cover 12.8 million students by the end of the year, Mr Rudra said.

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