Vanesa Group, the company behind the trusted brand Denver in the Indian personal care segment, has partnered with Cartoon Network Enterprises (CNE), the licensing and merchandising arm of media conglomerate Turner International India Pvt. Ltd., to launch a range of ‘Denver Superman’ deodorants for the first time in India.
Launched at a press event at The Park Hotel in New Delhi, the Denver Superman deodorants are available in two variants - Power & Strength. Priced at Rs. 250, the products will be available soon in stores across India.
The collaboration between the two successful brand names is the first of its kind in the personal care segment and promises to be a long association as shortly after the launch of the Denver Superman deodorants, Vanesa Group and CNE plan to launch Denver Batman deodorants and Denver Superman and Denver Batman perfumes. Additionally, Vanesa also plans to launch limited edition Denver Superman & Batman range of products.
Mr. Siddharth Jain SVP and Managing Director – South Asia, Turner International India Pvt. Ltd, was present at the launch event and said, “Cartoon Network Enterprises has recently been appointed as the Master Licensee for the Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) portfolio for South Asia. This deal with Vanesa Group will expand the WBCP brands of Batman and Superman into new and exciting categories and draw consumer excitement.”
In an exclusive conversation with EE, Mr. Saurabh Gupta, CMO, Vanesa Care Pvt. Ltd revealed the plans for brand Denver down the road and the marketing strategies it will adopt to penetrate into the tier 2 and tier 3 cities of the country along with the metro cities.
“We wanted to introduce a new product in the deodorant segment as we felt that the category was becoming monotonous and the same vanilla products were being sold in the conventional marketing trends. Customers today have changed for the better and they are constantly on the lookout to experiment with newer experiences even while they want to stick to their favorite brand. At Denver we want to deliver such experiences to our customers hence we launched the ‘Denver Superman’ deodorant”-says Saurabh Gupta.
When asked if the price of 250 INR was too exorbitant for a product that aspires to penetrate in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities as well? Saurabh responds by explaining that product pricing has been done after considering over all aspects of market competition, brand identity and the Superman association. He says, “Currently in the market there are plenty brands that are present in the range of 190-200 INR and most deodorant brands in the country today already exist in the 250 INR segment. Considering the association and the brand identity that we bring to the table with this product its price range is completely justified. However we also understand that not all customers would want to spend that much and would want to experience the product first. Hence we are also in the process of figuring out a way to launch smaller trial packages of the product.”
In 6 months Vanesa will be launching the ‘Denver Batman’ deodorants and then an entire marketing strategy by the brand comprising of both ATL and BTL campaigns will be unveiled. Revealing more about it Mr. Gupta says, “We are going to start with our full fledged marketing strategies soon and our main focus will be to capitalize on the release of Turner Internationals ‘Batman v/s Superman’ film which is expected to release around March 2016.
Our BTL activities will for the launched products will majorly circle around this films launch as I feel the products and the movie release will be a beautiful marriage that will complement each other. The main idea is to carry out an on-ground in cinema activation for the products through usage of product fragrances inside the cinema halls, contest videos and other such fun activities and we look forward to carrying such activations across 400 cinema halls in the country.”
When asked if there is an activation agency that the brand has already hired to execute the campaign? He says, “Well, we have a lot of event agencies currently pitching in for the campaign execution but nothing has been fixed on yet. Our spends on this BTL activity will be around 50 lakhs and we want an agency that has an experience to handle international IP’s, the capacity and intent to work in a closely guarded atmosphere and a strong background to comply with all legal formalities. We are looking for an agency that does not compromise on the quality of execution at all.”
