Anti-dandruff Soap Launch at IIM Kozhikode!

It was a great experience at Backwaters 2.0 – The annual international management festival of IIM-Kozhikode held from 19th - 21st of November, 2010.

The wonderful scenic backdrop & the hill station resort-like experience at the IIM was truly wonderful.

I had participated as a finalist in the flagship event ‘Avatar’ which was conducted in association with ITC.

The event had 7 rounds that revolved around ITC’s case of launching an anti-dandruff shampoo under one of its existing umbrella brand. We had to come up with our idea and proposal for the same.

It gave us a mini experience of what pressures a leader or a CEO goes through while finding business solutions.

My father has always told me about marketing myopia and how important it is to avoid it. A marketeer, who keeps looking at his competitors product, is most likely to end up making a 'better' version of the same product, christening it as 'The New', and 'The All New' and so on.

Instead, a marketeer probing into customer's need is more likely to come out with innovative solutions. "Look more through the front wind screen of the car (the customer need) while driving (running business) rather than constantly looking through the side windows and into the rear view mirror (analogous to focusing on the competition)", he says.

Instead of looking at competition and its products alone, i tried to address the customer need of dandruff problem with a different offering. Instead of restricting myself to the shampoo idea, I chose to address the hugely untapped bottom of the pyramid Indian market.

In my presentation in front of the esteemed judge panel from ITC, I proposed launching an anti-dandruff soap instead of a shampoo that the competition is offering anyway. The soap will function as a bathing soap with anti dandruff properties for hair care.

This idea was based on my sampling survey which involved interacting with customers including my mother as a prosumer. The finding was that majority of Indian users still prefer using a soap due to being price-conscious and soap usage being within their comfort zone. Of course this needs to be substantiated through extensive research.

Another proposal was to lauch a shampoo cum conditioner as Indians want maximum benefits (2-in-1) in minimum cost.

In this world most good ideas seem to be bad initially. It is not so important to solve problems quickly as to be able to come with surprising new ideas which at the same time satisfy the basic needs. The above idea is like that.

I shall be glad to work with companies to further elaborate this idea and take it forward.

Finally would again like to thank IIM Kozhikode and ITC for organizing the event and giving us an opportunity to interact with bright minds from top b-schools in the country and make new friends.

Comments and contribution to the idea are most welcome.