Brief Explanation

Massively outspent and out promoted. With just UNDER 3% segment value share, Kotex was up against three category titans with over 80%, outspent in media by at least 3:1 and out promoted on-trade, with half the facings the three brand leaders. A super-premium offer in a price-sensitive category. Priced at a premium vs. brand leaders and its own existing Ultrathins offer in a highly price sensitive and promotional driven category. A High-value, low-involvement category. The ‘life-time’ value of consumers is considerable if they establish a brand preference and trade-up early, but brand-switching declines sharply after age 17-20.

The Brief

Driven by its brand mission to pioneer a more progressive approach to femcare, Kotex developed a product innovation allowing coloured patterns to be printed onto pads. In a category dominated by incremental functional improvements in absorbency and comfort, this was a potentially winning strategy for Kotex Luxe, but its potential was compromised by Kotex’s fourth-place brand position and an array of seemingly insurmountable marketing challenges. Kotex’s stated business and marketing objectives; •Increase segment market share in the Ultrathin segment; •Encourage trial of the premium Luxe product from competitor brand users and trade-up from existing brand users.

How the final design was conceived

With our objective of disrupting category conventions and challenging consumer apathy, we interviewed young women, asking them to empty their handbags and explain the reasons behind the personal items they carry with them daily. From this we developed a visualization of our core target; sense of style, tone of voice and world of brands and design in which she immerses herself, which we called ‘Lively Charisma’. Borrowing from semiotics of fashion and lifestyle brands we found a powerful expression of “Lively Charisma” in the colour black, stylish typographic treatment, background patterning and the innovative use of matte and spot gloss.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

By December 2010 (four months after launch) Kotex Luxe segment share grew more than 4 times and from a distant No. 4, significantly closed the gap with the No. 3 brand. The true value of the design will be felt in the longer term, by unlocking the life-time value of consumers converting to Kotex Ultrathins. The design also radically altered perceptions of the Kotex brand in Singapore. The blogosphere was alight with young women, discussing and complimenting the new product based largely on its aesthetic appeal and emptied limited edition tins were exchanging hands on ebay for five time RRP.