Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna

The Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna programme was initiated in 2002 as a rural health and hygiene initiative in India. In India, over 600,000 hildren under the age of five die annually from diarrhoea. Studies have shown that almost half these deaths ould have been prevented by simply washing hands with soap. In partnership with lo al government bodies, the Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna programme is designed to spread awareness about the importan e of washing hands with soap. It also promotes general hygiene in rural areas that are diffi ult to rea h through usual mar!eting ampaigns su h as television, press or in"store advertising and promotions. Communi ation Swasthya Chetna, whi h means #$ealth %wa!ening#, is a multi"phased a tivity that wor!s towards effe ting hand washing behaviour hange in rural ommunities. The main message of the ampaign is &'isibly lean is not really lean&. The ampaign has three ommuni ation tas!s(

To establish the presen e of germs, even on lean hands, through the use of a #glow germ demo !it# that has been developed by )nilever for use in Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna. The simple and powerful tool ma!es unseen germs visible. To establish the onse*uen es of these hidden germs, whi h when ingested, an ause stoma h infe tions and diarrhoea, or be transferred to eyes ausing painful eye infe tions, or infe ting wounds. To establish how urrent pra ti e is not enough to fight these germs by using the glow germ demo !it to demonstrate that washing with water is not enough, and that it is ne essary to wash hands with soap for germ prote tion. Tools used to ommuni ate the entral Swasthya Chetna message are adapted a ording to the spe ifi audien e. +ngagement Lifebuoy teams visit ea h village several times, engaging all segments of the ommunity and ensuring the formation of lo al #self"help ommunities# that an sustain the message. S hool hildren, being initiators of hange, ma!e e, ellent ambassadors of ommuni ation, provided they find it fun and engaging. The element of Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna that involves hildren fo uses on fun, using stories, games, songs and *ui--es. +fforts are made to ensure that the learning does not fade over time. %dditionally, these visits also in lude a meeting with the .an hayat /village elders0.

Covering 120 million people in 20,000 villages sin e 2002, the Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna programme has made its mar! as the single largest private hygiene edu ation pro3e t in the world. The Swasthya Chetna programme will be re"laun hed in 2004, and will over even more villages in India as part of the Lifebuoy brand#s rusade.

5ey pro3e t a tivities( Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna is a multiphase a tivity that wor!s toward effe ting hand washing behavior hange among the rural ommunities it tou hes. The entral message of the ampaign is( Visibly clean is not really clean. The ommuni ation tas!s were to( +stablish the presen e of germs even on lean"loo!ing hands, using a simple but e,tremely powerful, low" ost demonstration tool alled the 6glow germ demo !it.7 8eveloped by )nilever for use in Swasthya Chetna, it brings to the target audien e the idea that hands are only truly lean if washed with soap. +stablish the onse*uen es of these hidden germs on hands. 9a !ground The Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna /6$ealth %wa!ening70 program began in 2002 as a rural health and hygiene edu ation initiative in India. The pro3e t was designed to spread awareness about the importan e of washing hands with soap and to promote general hygiene in rural villages. The program has rea hed more than 100 million people, and its teams have rea hed at least ::,000 villages in rural India. Swasthya Chetna is one of the world;s largest self" sustained and self"funded hygiene promotion pro3e ts.

Communi ating the message to hildren( S hool hildren are hange initiators and, in this onte,t, the program wor!s with them to ta!e the messages home and into their ommunities. Children are also e, ellent ommuni ators if they find the topi or a tivity fun and involving. The tools to ommuni ate the entral Swasthya Chetna message are adapted a ording to the spe ifi audien e, and s hools have proven e, ellent entry points into ommunities. The element of Swasthya Chetna that involves hildren fo uses on how to position hygiene as fun and uses stories, games, songs and *ui--es. 5ey fa tors to su ess of the program( Continuous monitoring and evaluation is at the ore of the program < ea h year, program

a tivities are evaluated on both awareness of hygiene moments and effe tive behavior hanges. Improvements an be made to the subse*uent year;s program to ma!e it more effe tive in a hieving its goals. Cost"effe tiveness of the program < the ost per village is appro,imately =>0 for the three e,posures, in luding implementation and development of the materials. Commitment of the operating ompany < Swasthya Chetna is now entral to what the brand does in India, and the operating ompany /$industan )nilever Limited0 has invested more than )S?> million. )nilever 'alues )nilever;s mission is to add vitality to life. @e meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, and personal are with brands that help people feel good, loo! good and get more out of life. %s a multi"lo al multinational, )nilever aims to play its part in addressing global environmental and so ial on erns through its own a tions, and wor!ing in partnership with sta!eholders at lo al, national and international levels.

An %pril B, 2006, on the o asion of @orld $ealth 8ay, the 8epartment of .osts released a spe ial Lifebuoy #Swasthya Chetna .ostal Cover#. Lifebuoy, a leading soap brand from $industan Lever Limited /$LL0, the Indian subsidiary of )nilever, be ame India#s first brand to be featured on a postal over. The Spe ial .ostal Cover was released in re ognition of the wor! done by Lifebuoy and $LL to in rease awareness of health and hygiene in rural India, through the Lifebuoy #Swasthya Chetna# /LSC0 initiative. LSC was a five"year ampaign laun hed in 2002 in eight states a ross India. The ob3e tive of this program was to edu ate around 200 million people in rural and urban areas about the importan e of adopting good #health and hygiene# pra ti es. The program aimed to debun! the mis on eption that #visibly lean is safe lean#.

$LL#s senior produ t manager for Lifebuoy, $arpreet Singh Tibb /Tibb0 said, &.eople believe that #visible lean# is #safe# lean and hen e tend to overloo! simple hygiene pra ti es su h as washing hands with soap. 9ut the fa t is that there are invisible pathogens, whi h are responsible for many infe tious diseases. @e hen e aim to edu ate people on the presen e of invisible germs and raise on ern on their onse*uen es.& 1 LSC also spread awareness about germs and their adverse impa t on health, and how proper #health and hygiene# pra ti es, su h as bathing and washing hands with soap ould prevent diseases li!e diarrhea, the se ond largest ause of death among hildren in India. The LSC program was implemented in various phases. In the initial phase, the ompany representatives intera ted with s hool hildren and !ey influen ers in the ommunity li!e medi al pra titioners, .an hayat members, et . .eople were edu ated through le tures, Clo"germ demonstrations, use of visual aids su h as flip harts, and *ui--es. The program also used media vehi les li!e inema vans, wall paintings, wee!ly mar!ets, fairs and festivals. The program was later e,tended to the parents and other adults. The messages on health and hygiene were reinfor ed through regular onta t programs. $LL also introdu ed a smaller bar /1D gram0 of Lifebuoy soap pri ed at two rupees, to en ourage people with low in omes to use soap. Einally, hildren and parents were re ruited as volunteers to start health lubs that would help sustain the initiative. $LL sought to involve the lo al ommunity in this ampaign at all stages so that the benefi iaries saw this as their own initiative and felt a sense of ownership. An the whole, $LL had ommitted )S? >.: million to fund this five year ampaign. 9y the end of 200>, $LL had overed over 1B,000 villages, and planned to over an additional 10,000 villages in 2006. % ording to $LL, LSC was not a philanthropi a tivity, but a mar!eting program with a so ial benefit. $LL sought to grow the Lifebuoy brand in India by attra ting those onsumers who never used soap. In the pro ess, the ompany sought to bring about a behavioral hange by onvin ing people to use soaps more fre*uently, thus reating more users for its brand. The sales of Lifebuoy had in reased by 20 per ent in 2002"0:, with strong sales observed in the eight states overed under the program. In 200>, the Lifebuoy brand grew by 10 per ent and strong growth of the brand was e,pe ted to ontinue in 2006. The program also generated goodwill for the ompany among ustomers, the government, and the media. 9y the end of 200>, the ampaign had tou hed D6 million rural onsumers and registered a 20 per ent in rease in their awareness of germs, 20 per ent in rease in understanding the asso iation of germs with diseases and an in rease in urrent user base by 22 per ent ompared to pre" ampaign status in a tivity villages. 2 . The ase study helps in understanding the differen e between a produ t and a brand. It also enables to study the behavior of a produ t during various stages of its life y le. The urrent ompetitive mar!eting environment during the new millennium is for ing

managers to understand the needs of modern onsumers and reevaluate the hanging opportunities and threats in an evolving global mar!eting pla e. The on ept of .rodu t Life Cy le /.LC0 sin e its in eption in the early 14>0s, gained signifi ant re ognition as a tool for effe tive mar!eting strategy in understanding the behaviour of produ t on sales, profits, :.;s of mar!eting and onsumer approval. Sin e in eption in late 14th entury, Lifebuoy, was a nimble and good iti-en brand of India, rea hing millions of rural ustomers with a promise of Fhealth and hygiene; as a platform of its business. Its famous advertising 3ingle, tandurusti !i ra!sha !arta hai LifebuoyG was so famous that it enabled the brand FLifebuoy; to be per eived as a Fred arboli soap; for several de ades. The brand passed through prolonged stages of growth and maturity during most of the se ond half of 20th entury and was fa ed with a de line stage during early 21st entury with sales falling at the rate of 1>H<20H per year. The downward trend of Lifebuoy arboli soap sales made $industan Lever Ltd., to withdraw the produ t ategory during 2002 and re3uvenate the brand with prudent mar!eting strategies by optimally utilising the brand image. This ase study analyses how Lifebuoy managed to e,tend the brand life y le.