Surf Excel's marketing journey in India

How many of you have been mesmerised by the Surf Excel ads? "Daag ache hain" has been etched in our minds from the time we first heard it. How has Hindustan Unilever (HUL), the parent company of this detergent brand, managed to sustain the brand's image in India for over 60 years? Let us have a look and see what marketing lessons we can learn from the FMCG veteran.

Launch and first challenge

Surf Excel was first introduced in India in 1959 as Surf and was renamed to Surf Excel in 1996. But the journey from then till today has not been smooth for the Surf and HUL. Just a decade after launch, in 1969, it faced competition from a new entrant in the Indian market - Nirma. The newcomer made waves with a much cheaper product than Surf, which created problems for Surf in a price conscious market like India, and that too during the days when disposable incomes were not as high as they are today.

This prompted HUL to launch a campaign to persuade consumers that higher price is actually a benefit and not a weakness. The campaign had an iconic character ‘Lalitaji.’ The white sari-clad woman spoke about the difference between cheap and effective products. This was HUL's answer to Nirma’s catchy ‘Hema, Rekha, Jaya aur Sushma’ campaign. The character became a household name thereafter.

Detergent war heats up

But this was not the end of Surf's challenge. 1991 saw the launch of yet another detergent brand in India - Ariel by P&G. This brand was targeted at the premium segment, in competition with Surf. To react to Ariel, Surf underwent various changes in brand communication and was renamed as Surf Excel in 1996. The move was in line with HUL's parent company Unilever’s global communication theme "Dirt Is Good" for its premium detergent brands.

Facing stiff competition from the constantly evolving laundry detergent segment with the launch of local products and mid-pricing, Surf Excel rolled out Surf Ultra with enzymes technology. This also gave birth to ‘Daag Dhoondte Reh Jaoge’ philosophy.

The birth of the iconic 'Daag Ache Hain'

In the late 90s, Surf Excel went with the tagline ‘Jaise Bhi Daag Ho, Surf Excel Hai na’. It was only in 2005 that the brand managed to break through the clutter by introducing ‘Daag Ache Hain’. With this, Surf Excel targeted housewives, especially those with kids, and catered to the urban audiences.

Can you imagine someone telling you that ‘Its okay if you spoil your newly bought white shirt, kyunki Daag Ache Hain'?! Surf Excel did it! It went on to produce Surf Excel bars. Teaming up with Lowe Lintas, the iconic brand created themed campaigns that became famous.

The ‘Dirt is Good’ campaign began with the famous puddle war commercial, where a brother is shown taking revenge on a mud pool for spoiling his little sister’s clothes. The communication continued with a series of stories of children getting dirty while doing something good, hence dirt is good. The ads portrayed qualities that parents desire to have in their kids - be it ‘badappan’ or ‘forgiveness’.

Since 2005, all of Surf Excel’s ads have chosen kids as their portaganists to send out the message that kids should have the freedom to get dirty in the process of doing something good, which is when they can truly learn and develop. Again, dirt is good.

From promoting itself as a better option than its competitors, Surf Excel stood for righteousness and human qualities to possess but did not let the kid in it go away. Another commercial shows a young kid standing up to bullies through a mix of courage and quick thinking that ends up saving the day.

Continuing the trend of iconic campaigns

To keep the communication going for decades, its always a challenge for a brand to come up with a fresh twist in its advertising. Surf Excel very much understood it and launched Haar Ko Harao under ‘Dirt Is Good’.?Here the ads preached to parents that if kids get dirty while learning to defeat failure, then dirt is good.

Unique products and multiple variants

Not just campaigns, Surf also used product variants to differentiate itself and introduce new technology in the market. For instance, it was a pioneer in the Indian liquid laundry detergent space with the launch of Surf Excel Liquid in 2013. This was mainly targeted at the affluent customer segment, hoping they will pay a premium for a product that would make their laundry chores easier. So far, liquids were sold only for woollen clothes or as post-wash whiteners and conditioners within the laundry category. The move fit into HUL’s strategy of premiumisation and filling up niche spaces in a category which offers one of the lowest margins.

In a bid to make the chore of doing laundry more efficient, HUL launched the Surf Excel 3 in 1 Smart Shots in 2021. It is a single-use soluble liquid detergent capsule with a unique three-chamber design, specially designed for fully automatic front and top load washing machines. The product contains smart technology for advanced stain removal, long-lasting fragrance and care for fabrics, held together in the three chambers.

A touch of controversy

The rosy journey of Surf Excel was not without controversy though. But it was not the fault of the brand, rather it was due to the prevailing politics in the country that fueled the controversy; the ad itself was well-intentioned and tried to promote religious harmony.

Surf Excel’s minute-long Holi ad in 2019 - ‘Rang Laaye Sang’ (colours bring people together) featured two kids, a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy. The girl dressed in white, rides on a bicycle and challenges neighbourhood kids to splash her with Holi colours. It is later revealed that it was in order to protect her Muslim friend who had to go to a nearby mosque for prayers. As she drops her friend at the mosque, she said, “I will colour you later” and he agrees, with a bright smile on his face. However, Twitterati took the ad rather badly and said that the ad portrayed Hindus in a bad light and promoted “Love Jihad.”

In my view, this was a needless controversy, so it does not in any way tarnish the image of the iconic brand. In fact, it was bold of the brand to air an ad on such a sensitive topic and is in line with its decades-old methodology of creating campaigns to truly stand out. Remember, some amount of controversy (not too much) works wonders in marketing. This form of marketing is called "Controversial Marketing" or "Shock Advertising". It is?a tactic whereby a brand intentionally offends or surprises audiences by violating the norms of social and personal values and morals. The aim is to generate debate and discussion, and subsequent buzz around your brand.

I am not sure if HUL really intended it to be a Shock Advertsing campaign or not, but it definitely created a buzz. Within a few weeks of its release, the advertisement had garnered over 8.5 million views and 28,000 likes on YouTube, apart from lot of tweets, some supporting and others criticising the campaign.

Lessons from Surf Excel's journey

Marketing lesson number one: take your consumers in a different direction than what the competition is doing; stand out from the clutter. What worked in the favour of Surf Excel is the communication that always centered around people (consumers) while it’s competitors focused on the product.

Two, touch the audience's heart through relevant messaging as per the prevalent mood and season. Surf Excel did it through relevant campaigns during festival time and during the launch of government initiatives. In 2016, HUL launched a campaign themed around Diwali, with the tagline "#AbLagRahiDiwali". This encouraged audience to share the joy of Diwali with everyone, especially the less privileged ones in our society. When PM Narendra Modi announced the Swachh Bharat Initiative, Surf Excel attempted to put the spotlight on the matter of environment cleanliness with Surf Excel Keep India Clean Watch campaign. The ad showed?kids leading the change.

Three, also ensure some form of product-centric messaging if you have different variants of a brand. In the race to catching up with the ever-evolving trends, Surf Excel has always been equally focused on the various product-centric advertising for variants like Surf Excel Matic Liquid.

Conclusion

All these efforts over the years has now led to Surf Excel on the verge of becoming HUL's first ever "$1 billion" brand. In 2019-20, the brand became the first HUL brand to cross sales of Rs 5000 crore. The brand recorded sales of Rs 5,375 crore (US$ 769.07 million) in the past year with a market share of 17.9 per cent, according to the industry executives citing Nielsen data. It accounted for around 14 per cent of the company's net revenue and 45 per cent of its laundry segment sales.