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Tag: Lifebuoy

  • HUL’s Paranjpe to move up, Sanjiv Mehta is the new CEO

    HUL’s Paranjpe to move up, Sanjiv Mehta is the new CEO

    MUMBAI: The Rs 25,000 crore FMCG major Hindustan Unilever has elevated its managing director and CEO Nitin Paranjpe as the global head of parent company Unilever‘s home care business.

    HUL MD and CEO Nitin Paranjpe

    From 1 October, company‘s current Middle-East and North Africa operation head Sanjiv Mehta will replace Paranjpe as HUL MD. Mehta will also be responsible for south Asia cluster which includes India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. However, the appointment of Mehta will be subject to approval of shareholders.

    Paranjpe will join the leadership executive team and will report directly to global CEO Paul Polman.

    Announcing the management changes, HUL chairman Harish Manwani said “The changes reflect our strong commitment towards leadership development and our tradition of leveraging experiences and synergies of talent across markets.”

    HUL chairman Harish Manwani

    Welcoming Mehta as the new CEO, Manwani added, “Sanjiv brings with him rich experience of successfully leading businesses across developing and emerging markets. I am confident that he will further build on the growth momentum and drive the company‘s agenda of competitive, consistent, profitable and responsible growth.”

    HUL, which employs over 16,000 people in India, markets various brands including Lux, Lifebuoy, Surf Excel and Pepsodent. They contribute six-seven per cent to Unilever‘s turnover which recently pumped Rs 19,180 crore through an open offer to increase its stake to 67 per cent in the company.

  • Lifebuoy rolls out ‘Saving Lives’ campaign

    MUMBAI: Lifebuoy has announced the launch of a campaign with a three-minute film that seeks to inspire action from viewers to pledge support for Lifebuoy’s hand washing programs on the ground.

    According to the brand, the objective of the campaign is not to sell a product, but share a lofty brand purpose. Also, the brand wants to tap the “technology-savvy” audience by inspiring them to spread this message of saving lives. The campaign aims to create an act that will make a real difference.

    Lowe Lintas chairman and chief creative officer R. Balki said, “A small act like washing hands with Lifebuoy can save a child‘s life. This message needs to reach far and wide. So, we created this campaign that can open one‘s mind to this amazing message. A campaign that moves people to the extent that they care to share it with others”.

    Lifebuoy global vice president Samir Singh said, “Lifebuoy’s goal is to change the hand-washing behaviours of a billion people by 2015 in order to help save lives and reduce disease. On top of the work we have been doing on ground for the last 10 years, we needed people to support our cause in huge numbers to reach our goal. We wanted to tell the world the Lifebuoy story in a deeply emotional way. Our brief to Lowe was to translate the statistic of “2 million children still die in the world before the age of 5 due to preventable infections like diarrhoea and pneumonia” into something real, personal and powerful. And through this film, they have done just that.”

    “We wanted this ad to evoke a meaningful response towards the initiative and not to say ‘what a beautiful ad’. It‘s a real, true and honest programme and the work should embody that. Judging from the responses we have from people and industry alike, I think we‘ve managed to achieve this,” Lowe Lintas NCD Amer Jaleel added.

  • Kavita Kailas quits Saatchi & Saatchi

    MUMBAI: Saatchi & Saatchi VP planning Kavita Kailas has put in her papers after serving at the company for one year.

    She will be launching her own venture, a source revealed.

    Kailas had joined Saatchi & Saatchi in June last year and was looking after all the brands handled out of Mumbai branch.

    She comes in with over a decade of experience on diverse categories ranging from FMCG to financial services.

    Starting with Lowe she has also worked at Leo Burnett and has handled clients such as Axe, Lifebuoy, Clinic All Clear, Tide and Whisper.

  • HUL’s promotional spends drop 3.58% to Rs 26.97 bn in FY’12

    MUMBAI: Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has reduced its spend on advertising and promotions by 3.58 per cent in the fiscal ended 31 March 2012 compared to the year-ago period.

    The company spent Rs 26.97 billion on promotions, down from Rs 27.97 billion.

    Despite the fall in marketing spends, the company has reported a 16.99 per cent increase in its net sales year on year which stood at Rs 229.88 billion for the fiscal as against Rs 196.48 billion in the prior year.

    HUL’s consolidated net profit was up 21.54 per cent to Rs 27.91 billion compared to Rs 22.96 billion in 2010-11.

    Meanwhile, for the quarter ended 31 March 2012 (standalone), the ad and promotional expenses of HUL spurted 8.67 per cent. The company spent Rs 6.77 billion in the final quarter, up from Rs 6.23 billion a year ago.

    The company’s net sales grew 20.6 per cent to Rs 56.60 billion, in comparison to Rs 46.94 billion. Correspondingly the net profit for the quarter under review also saw an increase of 20.63 per cent to Rs 6.87 billion.

    HUL chairman Harish Manwani said, “Our performance through the year has been consistent, with broad based growth ahead of the market, driven by a relentless focus on innovation and in-market execution. In a year of competitive intensity and high volatility, a sharp focus on cost management helped the business to continue to invest behind our brands and capabilities while delivering an improvement in margins.”

    During the quarter domestic consumer business grew at 20 per cent with strong underlying volume growth of 10 per cent. Soaps and detergents grew 28 per cent as momentum was sustained in both bars and powders with Rin benefiting from the bars being relaunched in the third quarter of 2011. The focus on driving upgradation stepped up growth rates in Surf. During the quarter, Rin made a foray into the fabric blues segment with the launch of Rin Perfect Shine. Household Care delivered robust double-digit growth led by Vim and Domex.

    The personal care category grew at 17 per cent and was strongly volume led in the process. Skin cleansing registered double-digit growth across all price segments. Lux accelerated its momentum, delivering the third successive quarter of double-digit growth post its relaunch. Lifebuoy Clini-care 10 was launched with the breakthrough ‘Activ Naturol Shield’ technology to further strengthen its germ protection superiority in the hygiene segment.

    In skin care Fair & Lovely (FAL), Ponds and Vaseline continued to grow in double digits. FAL growth was broad-based with the FAL Menz variant more than doubling during the quarter. Vaseline grew on the back of a robust performance in lotions and Ponds performed well at the premium end. Innovations in the quarter were led by the relaunch of Ponds Age Miracle, FAL anti-Marks, FAL Under Eye Serum and Vaseline Menz.

    In Hair Care, Dove, Sunsilk and Clear delivered double-digit growth. Dove sustained its growth momentum and volumes doubled in the quarter. Conditioners continued to lead market development with growth in high double digits.

    Oral Care registered modest growth in a competitive environment. Pepsodent GumCare performed well gaining from stepped up investments and distribution expansion.

    Packaged Foods grew 10 per cent, buoyed by Kissan and Kwality Walls Kissan. The Knorr franchise was expanded with the introduction of a new Chicken variant and multi-packs in Soupy Noodles. Kwality Walls continued its strong growth momentum, led by innovations and distribution expansion.