My Contemplation

The war between two FMCG giant, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Procter & Gamble (P&G), continues and has taken a very aggressive move when HUL directly attacked P&G by promoting its best selling detergent "RIN" along with P&G's product "Tide" in same commercial ad.

We have seen many such competitive ads for different products like tooth paste, cold drink, electronic products, however none of them were direct. This ad has aggressively disparaged "Tide" as a brand to make HUL's "Rin" detergent look more prominent. There were many ads where indirect reference to competitors products were made, either by making the name of competitor's product look blurred or showing a dummy product that looks very much similar to competitors and sometimes even making some funny comments about competitor's advertisements. However this is the first time in Indian commercial advertisement segment where competitor product's name as well as the product is belittled to show the strength of own product. 

"Tide" was usually marketed by P&G with their USP as making use of the superior technology which make the clothes more white/bright as compared to the other detergents. However, HUL attacked "Tide" showing "Rin" as better product in ad by comparing the brightness/whiteness of two shirts. The one where "Rin" was used is shown brighter than one where "Tide" is used.

P&G had filed a suit claiming Rs 100 crore in damages from HUL alleging that they had made an advertisement showing their product 'Rin' had more whitening power than 'Tide'. P&G's counsels submitted before the court that such claims were unsubstantiated and had no scientific basis. They also claimed that such an advertisement was made with malafide intent. The matter would come up for hearing again after six weeks. 

I am not sure about the repercussion but will have to admire the guts of HUL. However, I personally feel this is not the right way to market the products. Improve your quality, promote ethically and it will automatically stand out in the competition.   

What do you think, is it the right way of marketing? How will this commercial ad create an impact on both these brands? Will people stop buying "Tide", will they stop buying "Rin" or there will be no major change in buying behavior of consumers?