4/20/2014

UNILEVER

ADVERTISING RESEARCH ON SURF EXCEL

Submitted to Maam Saima Mallick | Araib Khan, Syeda Umme Rubab, Jahanzaib Izhar,
Waqas Ahmed And Haris Sajid

OBJECTIVE:
This Advertising Research is being done to explore the overall advertisement campaign impact
of the Surf Excel, as advertising is a particular salient area of inquiry today. The objective of this
research is to find out that advertising campaign of Surf Excel is winning consumer confidence,
support and creating brand image or not. It is to analyze the widest and the most effective
exposure of the advertising message that helped in influencing purchase or reducing sales.
INTRODUCTION:
Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of fast-moving consumer goods. Surf Excel is the
oldest detergent brand of Unilever Pakistan Limited. Surf was the first detergent powder brand
to be launched in the country. It created the detergent powder category and introduced the
concept of Surf. Surf has since, become generic to detergent market. Consumers refer to all
their powders as surf, even competitive powders are called Surf e.g. Bonus surf, Ariel Surf, etc.
Detergent is a category where dirt and stains have always been portrayed as bad. The category
has always harped on functional benefits, however, Surf Excel has been taking a different route
by seeking to occupy the emotional space amongst consumers by playing on the paradox of
dirt being good by showing children doing good deeds and getting dirty in the process for the
last eight years.
ADVERTISEMENT CAMPAIGN:
Surf Excels advertisement synonymous with the catch line, Surf Excel hai naa! was the first
national detergent brand on television. It has indulged in numerous advertisement campaigns
which have a gained a lot of popularity. Slice of life situations have generated high levels of
interest in the communication. Using consumer speak in the form of testimonials has helped in
building credibility in the brand. Surf Excel's positioning is done in such a way that they make
people believe that healthy activities involving dirt are essential for development and that is
what they say "Dirt Is Good".

THE RESEARCH:
To conduct our research on Surf Excels ad campaign, we selected a focus group consisting of 12
members. The members were chosen on the basis of following Criteria:

The Participant must be a TV Viewer

The Participant should be a Surf Excel User (Former/Current)
The Participant must have used any of the other detergents in market
The Participant should be able to raise his/her opinion regarding Surf Excel ad Campaign
The Participant must have watched Surf Excels Former and Current Ads.

ANALYSIS ON CAMPAIGN:
From the reviews we can to interpret that nowadays, since 2004 Surf Excel is displaying its
commercial using emotional appeals and with very famous slogan Dagh tau achay hotay hai
(stains are good). It is a central philosophy that the brand lives by, with an intrinsic passion to
ensure child development through tactile learning. This campaign of Surf Excel is considered to
be most effective campaign of washing powder and it has helped Surf Excel to gain the major
portion of market share. The brand uses all the media to reach the audience they are in
television, radio, newspapers and billboards.
This commercial campaign helped the brand build high salience amongst the target audience
and was followed up by equally interesting executions over the years. The consistency and
distinctiveness of the campaign has led to building differentiation for Surf Excel that has
resulted in strong growth for the brand. The brand has worked hard to build awareness on the
importance of child learning through experience. Dirt is a natural part of the process of children
experiencing life and developing. Although child development is at the very heart of Surf Excel's
message, this would not be possible without the superior stain removal properties that come
with every bag of Surf Excel.
In this entire campaign of Surf Excel Cricket Ground Ad' in which dirt has been shown
positively, just to bring a smile in their fellow team players face. The print copy says 'Sab Pyar
Se Darte Hain'. The innocence of kids is shown well in the advertisement which also highlights
the thought process of children that go beyond materialistic aspects like dirt and grime on
clothes hindering their daily activities.
One of the negative reviews that has come to light from the surf excel ad campaign is that
children do their clothes dirty deliberately and excusing their dirty clothes to the tagline "daag
toh ache hote hain

One of the real cases that came forward by one of the participants was of a family that was
going to attend a wedding event. It was a rainy day and there was a puddle of mud right outside
the wedding hall. Their kid ran directly towards that pool of mud and started playing in it,
dirtying himself along the process citing the excuse to his mom, daag toh ache hote hain (dirt
is good).
Participants also mentioned that they have seen other detergents ads as well. And other
brands lack in creating emotional attachment of the audience towards the brand. Rather, these
brands focus on promising whiter and brighter clothes. Only Surf Excel is the one who have
created distinction among the other detergents by promising both physical benefits and
emotional benefits that relate audience to the brand.
Therefore, we can perceive that a successful ad campaign being run by Unilever, to capture the
slice of audience from the market and to build its brand image.
CONCLUSION:
It can be concluded from the analysis and the reviews that Surf Excels campaign is loved by
consumers in Pakistan and has a distinctive positioning in the minds of consumers driven by the
Dirt is Good advertising. The brands emotional position has helped Surf Excel to differentiate
itself from the other brands. It has also helped in building a deep emotional connect with their
target audience i.e. mothers. Results from surveys have shown that peoples instantly connect
with the various executions of the theme the brand has presented over the years. Surf excel
enjoys a space in the top position in brand recall of the consumers.
However it can be further interpreted that Surf Excels campaign is playing with the mind of the
young generation, making them intentionally dirtying their clothes and building up the need to
buy and use their product. One of other reasons this ad and indeed the entire series
works well, is the connection it builds between a detergent powder and a sense of freedom.
Thus, every ad of Surf Excel has a catchy tagline to it that instantly attracts the consumers eye
and help in retaining the message of the ad for the long period. Surf excel enjoys a good
reputation with the consumers with respect to all attributes.

APPENDIX:

QUESTIONNAIRE
Objective: Following are the questions that we designed for our research. Our data collection
method consisted of a focus group consisting of 10 participants. They addressed to our
questions regarding Surf Excels ad campaign and also we showed them the related ads so that
they do not forget something really important to share. Moreover, we were able to discuss and
gather the emotional attachment created through the ad campaign among the participants so
that we can evaluate whether Surf Excel was able to successfully communicate its message to
the audience.
1. What do you think about the Surf Excel Ad Campaign claiming Dirt is Good?

2. Does the ad create a persona of emotional attachment to your childhood memories

related to dirt and stains?

3. What do you think about its ad campaign success or failure points?

4. Can we get any real life example of Daagh to Ache hote hain? Is it leaving a positive
impact towards the audience?

5. Any other campaigns in Pakistani detergent space, which have caught your attention?

6. Ariel is also a strong brand by P&G in Pakistani Market. Do you think that Surf Excel Ad
campaign is liked by many people in comparison to that of Ariels Ad?

7. Do you think that Surf Excels campaign is so much successful in beating all other
detergents campaign?

8. Please leave us with final conclusive remarks about the whole Ad campaign of Surf Excel
with its pros and cons, and any additional views you would like to share with us?