DermiCool was launched in the summer of 1999. It was the second summer product from Paras Pharmaceuticals Ltd after the successful launch of ItchGuard Sweat-itch Cream in the summer of 1998. The prickly heat powder market was around Rs.75 crores with Nycil having 65% market share. Shower to Shower was a distant second with 17% market share. The market was also on the decline. (1999 sales - 13% drop in volumes over 1998). The category had not seen any major change in terms of product development or innovation. And no new brand launches either. The media presence of the two brands was seasonal, non-aggressive, and merely sustenance level advertising. Hence, there existed an opportunity for launching a new brand of prickly heat powder, which could clearly be differentiated from
DERMICOOL
Prickly Heat Powder existing brands with its distinctive product benefit and positioning. Moreover, entry barriers for launching a new brand in this category were low.
Pre-launch Research Findings
Prickly heat occurs to people across all age groups and SECs, and, was not restricted to children.
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Prickly heat is not a very serious problem, but relief measures are undertaken by all sufferers. The basic relief that a sufferer sought from prickly heat was sensory in nature - a cooling sensation that relieved them from the burning and itching sensation on the affected body part. Cooling sensation thus emerged as a strong differentiator for the new brand.
Consumer Insight: Consumers desire a sensation of cooling to mitigate the feeling of burning and pricking caused by prickly heat.
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Phase 1 (1999 - 2000)
Phase 2 (2001)
The market dynamics suddenly changed. Success of DermiCool saw new brand launches – BoroPlus Ice by Emami, DermiCil by Cipla and DR. Smyle by Kopran. Besides which, promotion offers (BoroPlus 1+1 free, DR.Smyle 1+ 2 free) and price-offs (Nycil – Rs.13 off) were offered by all leading and new brands.
Quantitative Research