The Commotion: Mid 90s onwards:
Equations changed in the early 1990s with the entry of L'Oreal and hair colours. The hair colour market became one of the fastest growing segments in 1998.
- From 3 forms to 6 forms.
- From a 1 brand monopoly to over half a dozen brands including global players.
- From a Rs 700 million market to a Rs 2.540 billion one.

L'Oreal was already an entrenched player with Excellence crème and Casting. There was a need to counter with a hair colour from the Godrej Stable. Impending entry of Sunsilk with Pro Colour.

The Challenge:
Hair Colours by virtue of being seen to be more of a fashion accessory than a grey coverage solution. Consequently, hair dyes came to be seen as down-market and harmful for the hair. Arrest share loss, capital on the trend put Godrej back in the reckoning as a Hair Colour brand, rather than a hair dye brand. And all this at a time when the product was still not completely developed.

The Consumer:
While the wave of colours was building up, two insights seemed to provide an opportunity. A widespread apprehension among nonusers that the colour might make one look odd.A large proportion of competitive colour sales accrued from grey coverage usage. In this scenario Colour Soft with its range of three basic shades temporarily took on the challenge of the imported colour brigade.

Launch of Colour Soft:
To respond quickly to the threat of other players crowding the hair colour market and to quickly establish a presence in the hair colour market, the basic Godrej Liquid Hair Dye formulation was improved and launched as Godrej Colour Soft Hair Colours. The launch was made with three basic shades - Natural Black, Soft Black and Natural Brown.

It was launched in 1998 to tap into a fast growing market with the advent of L'Oreal and Wella; Provide first-time users of hair colours with an inexpensive product. And also to provide a superior product for current users of Liquid Hair Dye to graduate to, thereby making each customer more profitable for the company. Introduction of value-adds in the pack likes conditioner and shampoo to provide more value for money.

Tackling image - Pulling off a real Institute!
The 'Godrej Hair Care Institute' was created and devoted to providing the Indian consumer with affordable, world-class products. Thus effectively keeping the 'Godrej = Hair Dye' image at bay and reinforcing Godrej's authority on Indian hair care.

Influencing Influencers- The GHCI Parlour Programme:
This institute was aimed at promoting hair care among Indian consumers by offering them products made especially for them. More importantly in the immediate term, it would also train and develop beauticians through various workshops. Over time it introduced related products specially made for Indian hair- like Colour Gloss Triple Action Shampoo and Colour Gloss Vitamin Enriched Conditioner. Significantly, it conducted a series of Professional Programmes building goodwill with parlours and beauticians across important centres.

Media:
Mainly television and a few press ads led the launch. The launch TVC focussed on the fact that Colour Soft was a breakthrough product especially formulated for Indian hair. Stylish in their execution, the commercials were run on mainline TV channels like Star, Sony and Zee TV. Thus the target group (25+year-old, SEC A/B women) was effectively reached.

Addressing the first roadblock to growth viz. shade limitation:
The number of shades that a hair colour offers is often the deciding factor in the consumer's choice. And Godrej was at a disadvantage here because it launched with only three shades (and all of them in basic black and brown) as opposed to a minimum of 10- 12 shades from L'Oreal. Besides the shades that Godrej offered were the 'natural, grey coverage' shades rather than 'fashion' shades.

Indians have darker skin and hair tones as compared to Westerners. Hence the shades of hair colour that suit the Westerners' light skin and hair tones mightn't suit Indians. The need was to have a range of colours specifically catering to Indians (more of blacks and browns). And Colour Soft was the only hair colour brand to have it. The fact that the communication was based on a strong insight (the fear that a hair colour might not really suit their skin tones) only made it that much stronger.

'Colours' for India:
Attempting brand esteem with a new range while Colour Soft was doing well for itself after the launch, one surely missed a fuller range of colours from the brand. L'Oreal offered 13 shades, Colour Soft had only four (the fourth shade Light Brown was launched in 2000). This was corrected in May 2002 as Colour Soft launched more fashion shades. This moved Colour Soft one step closer to being a true hair colour, rather than a dye masquerading as a hair colour.

Media:
With the 'Made for Indian hair and skin tones' proposition established through the 15 seconder TVC, Colour Soft moved onto the next stage- that of owning 'Indian colours'. Airing infomercials that educated consumers about choosing hair colours to match their skin tones did this. The infomercials were supported by press ads, centered on various Indian festivals. The theme for each of these press ads was Colours of India.