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Purvita Chatterjee

Mumbai , Jan. 6

ADHERING to its power brand strategy, Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) is phasing out brands existing in the same price and category. While brands such as Denim and 501 are on their way to being merged and subsequently phased out of their respective categories, the latest to join the list is the Jai brand of toilet soap, which is expected to exist under the umbrella of the Breeze brand.

`Jai from Lime Breeze', reads the caption of the Jai brand currently being made available on shop shelves.

Breeze's lime variant is likely to bring Jai's lime soap under its own franchise in future.

Since both brands contain the same synthetic lime perfume, merging them and subsequently phasing out the smaller brand is the strategy being adopted by HLL.

HLL acquired the Jai soap brand in the 90s as part of Tomco's portfolio of soaps.

Jai currently retails at the same price point as Breeze and is pegged at Rs 8 for 100 gm.

It is manufactured at HLL's manufacturing base in Buldana district, Maharashtra.

While Jai would come under the Breeze portfolio, 501, the economy brand, is expected to be absorbed under the Rin franchise.

Bates India, which handles 501's advertising account, is already communicating this message on existing 501 packs.

An account executive from Bates India said, "Currently, 501 is being integrated with Rin. Although HLL has announced its power brands, the time taken to phase out the other brands depends on the company."

Besides, the Denim brand is being retailed along with Axe in limited packs, which contain both Denim and Axe products.

Denim has recently been offloaded as part of HLL Network where it is being sold as Denim Xclusive.

Mr Dalip Sehgal, Executive Director (New Ventures and Marketing Services), said: "HLL does not believe in having more than one power brand in one category. Since Axe already exists as a power brand in the male grooming segment, Denim has to be phased out."

At the same time, the company has realised that some of its phased-out power brands continue to enjoy strong equity in the market.

Thus, the decision to include Denim as part of the network's portfolio of brands has been a conscious decision taken by the company.

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