Unilever triples budget in Rexona deo relaunch

The brand will be revamped with 'aquaball' packaging as it fights to regain its leadership position by 2006. Rexona lost significant share to Beiersdorf's Nivea over the last two years, but has now recruited TV host, actress and model Nadia Nimitvanich for its latest campaign, which breaks this month. Nadia will also participate in an interactive 'No sweat' challenge, touring universities and department stores, and daring young women to test the product's effectiveness. "Rexona hopes to get closer to our target -- female teenagers and women with confidence as their first priority in life," said Suthipa Panyamahasup, Unilever marketing manager for Dove, Rexona, Axe and dental care products. The company expects to spend 200 million baht (US$4.9 million) this year marketing Rexona -- three times last year's budget -- to help the brand on its way to reclaiming market leadership. The push comes two months after the Anglo-Dutch giant took its men's deodorant brand Axe, which has a 12 per cent market share, on a promotional blitz through the night entertainment venues in Bangkok and other major cities. Unilever has said that it has allocated spend of 400 million baht to promote its deodorant products in Thailand this year. At stake is a market worth 1.8 billion baht and growing annually by double-digit figures -- this compares to slow growth in the traditional categories Unilever competes in, including toothpaste and detergents. Market leader Nivea, which boasts a 26 per cent share of market, has launched an ongoing campaign that sells the brand as 'mild and caring', reflecting the shift in focus to promoting deodorant as a skincare product, to be used daily, rather than a cosmetic product, to be used on special occasions. "In the last two years especially, consumer perception has changed, so we were able to reposition ourselves," said Ekapong Ongsangkoon, product manager for Nivea. The company invests in two major campaigns each year, on this theme, targeted at increasing both brand awareness and deodorant use. The last is a strategy it shares with its competitor -- to encourage those who don't use deodorant to start doing so, and to encourage those who do, to use it more regularly. "We are highly determined to expand further the deodorant market in Thailand," said Suthipa. The strategy has already borne results -- about 80 per cent of Thais use deodorant today, compared with 60 per cent five years ago, according to Ekapong. sm