Indiantelevision.com Team

(4 April 2007 8:00 pm)

BANGALORE: From condoms meaning sensuality to personal care products - deodorants and olfactory seduction seems a logical connection to Raymond's J. K Ansell (JKAL) president Aniruddha Deshmukh whose premium condom brand of the Kama Sutra fame or shall we say the infamy that it garnered when JKAL launched their rubbers along with a semi-clad Pooja Bedi 16 years ago? And why ever not?

Kama Sutra has a 24 per cent share in value terms of the commercial condom market worth Rs.1.4 billion, or a 16 per cent market share of the combined commercial and subsidized condom market of Rs.2.2 billion in India. This makes Kama Sutra the largest player in the commercial premium condom market segment in India, assuming Deshmukh's word on it as a writ.

Deshmukh announced the national launch of five deodorants and the impending launch three after shave lotions at a press conference in Bangalore today.

Three named 'Spark', 'Dare' and 'Urge' for les hombres and two called 'Provoke' and 'Intention' for their …hhhmmm better halves - les femmes fatales? Well, the deo monikers do jell with the Kama Sutra philosophy of selling condoms as a means to enhancing lovemaking rather than hiving them as safety against STD's or birth control tools. And that exactly is the philosophy that JKAL wish to play with while promoting their personal care products. And no, these products will not compete with Raymond's existing Park Avenue range, because the Kama Sutra is to cater to premium segment. The gent's deos' are priced at Rs 150 for 150 ml, the girls deos will be priced at Rs 135 for 125 ml packaging.

Over the next 12 months, Deshmukh is looking to capture just Rs.150 million of the estimated Rs.8.5 billion deodorant market, of which around Rs.1.33 billion is the estimated revenue of organized players. Overall the personal care category in India is estimated to be around Rs.90 billion and growing at double digits - 12-13 per cent annually according to Deshmukh.

His target is people who consider sensuality as important, and of course he has the means to deliver the goods to them through the 100,000 retail outlet network that hawk Kama Sutra condoms. There will be some differences though, since condoms are pushed more through pharmacies and medical stores, for deos' Deshmukh says that he has lined up general merchants and modern traders too.

The deodorants will be launched in 36 A class cities and metros in the first phase and then pan India at a little later. An outdoor teaser campaign is on in Bangalore and Hyderabad currently, with bill boards announcing provokingly "My wife uses Kama Sutra", or "I let my daughter use Kama Sutra", "Dad, can I use your Kama Sutra" and "The actress will use Kama Sutra throughout the scene" and more. Bangalore can expect a revealing campaign about how these people use Kama Sutra starting tomorrow.

The creative work for Kama Sutra is done by O&M, while the media business is handled by Starcom according to Deshmukh, who plans spends of around Rs.70-80 million this fiscal, including TVC's which can be expected sometime in May or June of this year.