Sanitary Napkin Strategy & Brand Celebrity

Sanitary Napkin market is growing and few local brands have been forayed into the Indian market. All of brands are slowly moving into rural market which is highly untapped and also planning for associate with Govt. / NGO. Because, urban market is already being covered by leading brands Whisper & Stayfree however brand Sofy & Pro-ease are consistently trying to compete with them. This product is purely pedestal on “Convenience & Comfy” level; it is not easy to switch consumers from one brand to other brand if consumers are completely set with one brand.

The primary objective of Sanitary Napkin is:

(1) To absorb and retain menstrual fluid & quickly dry

(2)To ensure that no leakage, no rashes and no odor

(3) Absorbent filler: The filler material such as cellulose pulp, cellulose wadding, tissue, cotton & free from lumps, oil spot and dirt.

(4) Quality of cotton material & level of layer on pad

(5) Wings size & stretchable capacity

(6) Female should feel comfortable wherever they are

Personally I believe that for Sanitary Napkin does not require any celebrity endorsement and consumers are not being influenced by celebrity for this product. Few brands are having celebrity like –

  ü  Whisper (Brand from P & G) - Parineeti Chopara (Bollywood actress) which was being endorsed by Saina Nehwal (Tennis Star) earlier 2011-2014. 

  ü  Stayfree (Brand from Jhonson & Jhonson) – Sakshi Tanwar 

  ü  Sofy  (Brand from Unicharm) – Prachi Desai (Bollywood actress)

  ü  Pro-ease (Brand from RSPL Ltd.) - Priyanka Chopara (Bollywood actress) 

  ü  Paree (Brand from Soothe healthcare) -  Saina Nehwal (Tennis Star) – from 2015

Celebrity may be change when it is an end of the contract. So it cannot sustain the brand image towards the consumers if consumers are influenced by celebrity. Frequently change the celebrity is not good sign for any brand because it is impacting entire brand & consumer’s perception.  

Saina Nehawal (Tennis Star) who was endorsing brand Whisper earlier in 2011-14. And, recently she has signed a contract with Soothe Healthcare and endorsing it brand Paree sanitary napkin with message “Paree gives me confidence”.  While she had been conveyed message in Whisper campaign “Whisper hai toh possible hai” means overall the purpose is to encourage the female/women.  So how brand is valuable if the same celebrity is promoting the rival brand, will it be established brand image through the same celebrity? Will it be helpful to increase the sales/demand in the market though the same celebrity? It is expressing more importance to celebrity than brand. Moreover Whisper is established brand in Indian market and consumers are not buying Whisper because of the celebrity. They are buying because they feel comfortable & safe during the period.

TVC: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7daDKeG-tM (Whisper endorsing by Saina Nehwal)

So far many TVC campaign released by Whisper  & Stayfree which was influencing, encouraging  & urge to teenage girl as well as women.  Still there is an essential to encourage the female/women to use sanitary pad during the menstrual period.  Because, today also girls/women are using normal clothe instead of hygiene pad in urban/rural market. Even though they are feeling shame or discomfort when buying pad from medical store. Many girls/women are preferred to buy sanitary pads from supermarket/hypermarket/malls which is the best place for them because over there displayed the whole range of all brands.  The ratio is high of buying sanitary pad from hypermarket/malls than medical stores.

In order to tap the market, keep communication & campaign strategy should be effective which can urge to buy & use sanitary pad with confidence. 

Strategy without Celebrity = Build Strong Brand Equity