The Hindu Business Line : Tress sense

Moving from being just a skin care brand to a hair care brand, HLL's Dove now promises every woman `more beautiful hair with every wash.' The FMCG company has extended its shampoo portfolio, which till now consisted of mass usage shampoos, to include specialised `masstige' products to beat competition in the cluttered hair care segment.

Building on the equity of the moisturising soap brand that Dove amassed over 15 years, HLL is speeding up the entry of its international products into India. (However, Dove's hair care range has been available in the neighbouring South-Eastern countries for the past seven years where it has moved beyond skin care.)

N. Rajaram, General Manager & Category Head (Hair Care), HLL, justifies Dove's late entry into the hair care market. He says: "The India market is right for masstige brands and we think there is an opportunity across categories. Besides, the hair care segment is now large enough."

Dove's products for hair damage repair offers solutions for breakage and dryness as well as daily-use products across categories such as shampoos, conditioners, revitalising hair mask and leave-on lotions.

Dove's new hair care range in repair and therapy does not seem to have any immediate competition. Says Rajaram: "At this end of the market there is no nobody who is seriously talking about damage repair and damage therapy.''

Even in the international markets, competitive brands such as L'Oreal, Garnier and high-end brands such as Pantene are yet to address the segment which Unilever seems to have captured. "In terms of pricing, we are competitively priced with the L'Oreal shampoo brands, though,'' claims Rajaram.

However, competitors such as L'Oreal are not too perturbed by Dove's new hair care range. Says a product manager at the company, "The stretch is far too much from skin to hair care and Indian consumers are unlikely to accept Dove as a hair care brand."

But HLL believes Indian consumers are already familiar with Dove's new range. "The Indian market for Dove is now led by skin, but there is already a lot of Dove shampoo being imported into the country. So, it is not that consumers in this country are not aware of Dove being in hair care," says Rajaram. The features and values associated with Dove's skin care equity such as mildness, trust, moisturising and product performance will be extended to its hair care range as well.

As Rajaram says, "Dove's credentials in skin care are unquestionable and built largely on the soap brand in India. Its equity has originally been developed in skin care and it is those elements in its equity that will help it extend in other categories."

In fact, the latest Dove Hair care range has included the proposition of having moisturising milk just like its soaps and body washes. Dove entered the Indian market as a soap care brand 15 years ago and in the past two years it has been extended to the body wash and body cream categories. While the shares in the two categories may be negligible as of now, Dove has been accepted as a mild moisturising brand in India.

Explains Praveen Tripathi, Chief Executive, Hansa Consulting, "Dove in India has an equity. It is a cream-based caring and nourishing soap. Originally, the brand was not into therapy but if the brand is equally caring in the area of hair care, maybe the company can pull it off as a hair care brand."

At the same time, industry observers feel HLL has been late to unleash its international portfolio in the country. According to an FMCG analyst: "HLL still does not have a large international portfolio while players like P&G and L'Oreal have already adopted a funnelling technique of bringing in their international franchise into the country."

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