An OLD product with the SAME feel in a NEW Package

Any marketing enthusiast would remember the Cinthol Ad featuring the 80's hero,Vinod Khanna Ad. The ad managed to position Cinthol as an exuberant youthful brand which showed the confidence of the young energetic male. The symbol of Vinod Khanna in a horse by the beach stayed on till the 90's and managed to help Cinthol ward of the onslaught of the MNC brands.

Cinthol heavily promoted the product using celebrities of the likes of Vinod Khanna and Imran Khan in 1986 . In 1989 Cinthol tried to catch the lime freshness trend using Cinthol Lime which was a big hit. During 1992 it came out with Cologne. The brand went for a major overhaul in 1993-1995 with a new pack. But there was a customer outcry for the old Cinthol. Eventually the company had to relaunch the original Cinthol and the new range was branded as Cinthol International. By 1993, the soap boasted of an 18 per cent share of the premium segment of toilet soaps.

Then, Cinthol’s fortunes took a turn for the worse. Between 1993 and 1996, it got in-and-out-of a joint venture with Procter & Gamble (P&G), the aftermath of which saw Godrej’s overall market share in soaps slip to a measly 5 per cent. Brand Cinthol today is a shadow of its former self.

Godrej Consumer Products is targeting an over 20 per cent topline growth in its Cinthol brand this year. And in line with this target they have increased their marketing spends for Cinthol by about 20 %. One such move in this direction is the new commercial featuring Hrithik Roshan on the TV screens performing DHOOM 2 Lik stunts bare chested in the new Cinthol ad. When Godrej Consumer decided to relaunch its flagship brand Cinthol last month, it decided to let Hindi film star Roshan do what he’s best at. Accompanying the new action-packed television commercial that’s currently on air, is an entirely repackaged offering from the Cinthol franchise.

On watching the ad you tend to get the feeling that Cinthol is trying to recreate the magic of the 80s and early nineties by making Cinthol contemporary with today's youth but keeping it's brand essence intact. The brand essentially is to offer freshness to the young confident male. Just like it used Macho stars of yester year, Vinod Khanna and Imran Khan for enhancing its sex appeal, it has gone on a similar path to rope in the definition of Macho in today's India - Hrithik.

Hrithik exemplifies energy, passion, and the attitude to achieve what he wants to precisely firring into the "Don't stop" campaign that Cinthol has launched. Whether Hrithik manages to pull consumers to the shelves as he does his fans to the theatres remains to be seen.