Fogg Body Deodorants – A Good Reason To Buy

I always believe that if you have something to sell you must be able to answer a simple question – Why should my target customer spend his hard earned money to buy my product? – The question appears simple but the answer may not always be so; the marketer must give the target customer a good reason to buy if his ad campaign has to work. In a highly competitive situation there are several players making similar claims and all or most competing brands are capable of satisfying the needs of the target consumer equally well because there might be no significant differences in the physical and functional attributes of products of competing brands. In such a situation marketers go beyond the physically characteristics or functional aspects of the product in question and position the brand/product on entirely different platforms – lifestyle, aspiration, pride, fear and many more or in other words take the emotional or psychological route. In this post I would like to discuss the advertising of two deodorant brands – Fogg and Axe.

The deodorant market in India is rapidly growing; one can see large number of brands on retail shelves and the numbers keep increasing. Many of the deodorant brands are not advertised, the prominent ones that are advertised are Axe, Wild Stone, Layer’r, Denver, Engage, Park Avenue, Provogue and Fogg, these are the names that come to my mind now, there are definitely few more that are advertised. The proposition that Axe has been making all these years to the young males is about sex appeal – If you use Axe women will find you irresistible. Most other deodorant ads have also used sex appeal and their advertisements appear very similar to those of Axe; Wild Stone is one example. Axe from Hindustan Unilever was the market leader till recently, it has now been overtaken by Fogg from Vini Cosmetics, to know more please click here – Axe slips further in deo market.

Actually there is little difference among various deodorants that are present in the market today in terms of what they have to offer to the consumer; the fragrances offered by brands can hardly be described as differentiators. I doubt if there is any loyalty towards particular fragrances, consumers are always on the lookout for new fragrances and every brand needs to introduce new perfume variants from time to time.

Fogg’s proposition that you get only perfume liquid, not gas and is therefore effective for a longer time appeals to the cost conscious consumer, thus giving them a good and sensible reason to buy. A good and sensible reason to buy proved to be more powerful than the promise of sex appeal which is a mere advertising gimmick by Axe and other brands.

According to media reports marketing experts believe that the Axe advertisement, showing angels dropping from the skies when a man uses the deodorant, didn't really click with the Indian psyche; that is supposed to be one of the reasons for Axe’s declining market share. I would slightly disagree because I do not think that one advertisement can make so much difference; there was nothing offensive in the ad that would make the young Indian male turn away from Axe and stop using it and rush to Fogg. In fact the angels ad had the very same theme as the earlier campaigns – If you use Axe women will find you irresistible. To my mind the promise of sex appeal proved to be less effective over time. Consumers are not stupid, they know it is a gimmick and should not be taken seriously. Axe became the market leader because of the huge expenditure on advertising by Hindustan Unilever which made the brand top-of-mind; the proposition (If you use Axe women will find you irresistible) worked earlier because of the novelty factor which is now wearing off.

Fogg, on the other hand gives the consumers a good and tangible reason to buy which is – No gas, only liquid perfume, hence value-for-money. Despite Fogg’s good performance the company – Vini Cosmetics must not be complacent, because no USP can be effective forever. Some day Fogg’s proposition will not have the same impact on consumers as it has now with various players making new claims to secure their respective positions in this highly competitive market. Vini should attempt to foresee the future and prepare sound plans to secure or even increase their market share.