Is “Clinic All Clear” Heading for a fresh Branding & Repositioning !!

“Clinic All Clear”, the ‘no dandruff’ shampoo from the house of Hindustan Unilevers’ Limited, has institutionally been the Indian version of brand “CLEAR” of Unilevers’, London.

“Clinic All Clear” has had a face lift recently. The colours and the typography of the bottle containers and the sachets have changed, giving it a new look and feel. It primarily appears to be a respite from the “Old” look, which had been there for quite some time, and so grown monotonous.

In the world of “Change”, “Looks”, does have a significant appeal and it can well be a silent ‘marketer’.

A given product, might go on maintaining a perceived quality standard for a period of time. But, that does not mean, the said users of the said brand would continue with it only because they find it “good.”

“Boredom”, has always been a major cause for ‘shifting trends’. We the users, usually take the product quality, that is, the performance and affectivity parameters for granted. This results in the “creeping effect” of monotony and related ‘boredom’.

Result : We look for other brands as we become “habitual shifters.”

The observations made in this aspect are :-

1. The word “Clear” (in bottles & sachets) is very distinct and prominent due to its ‘large font size’.
2. The words “Clinic” & “Ace” come in a much smaller font size and have a relatively unattractive colour background.

So, is it that ‘HUL’ is silently proceeding forward, to bring about a ‘Re-branding’ for “CLINIC ALL CLEAR?”

“Clinic All Clear for dandruff free hair”, the related Ad’, used to send this message. Therefore, the positioning evidently pointed out that, here is one shampoo, for those who are faced with ‘dandruff’ problem.

Observations made from this part is :-

Going by the televised visual, I find that the Ad’ explicitly speaks about “Soft and Silky hair”, away from it’s earlier positioning of “No dandruff” shampoo.

Inference made there of :-

1. The brand is likely to be pushed to the people who consider “Soft and Silky” to be the most appealing quality of a ‘shampoo’.
2. The brand is expected to compete with brand “Pantene”, which also tends to have the attributes of ‘no dandruff’ and ‘soft and silky hairs’.

So, going through this, I strongly feel that, the day is perhaps not very far, when India would also experience the brand “CLEAR” replacing “Clinic All Clear.”

Contributed By:
Malay Bhattacharjee
(Globsyn Business School)