How Surf excelled at consumer connect

FIRST HUL BRAND TO CROSS $1-BN TURNOVER MARK

- ALOKANANDA CHAKRABORTY

HINDUSTAN UNILEVER (HUL) announced on Friday that its laundry detergent brand, Surf Excel, had crossed the $1-billion turnover mark, becoming the first brand from its stable to achieve the milestone. With this, Surf excel joins an exclusive club of Indian consumer brands.

Its success has been attributed to the fact that it never talked down to the consumer but reflected the aspirations of housewives.

The country's first detergent powder, it was originally just Surf.

HUL positioned the brand as a non-soapy detergent powder and an alternative to the soap bar. Hitting shop shelves in 1959, the brand targeted the middle-class housewife.

Though more effective than the soap bar, Surf necessitated a new habit - that of soaking clothes before the actual process of washing. HUL launched a door-to-door campaign to persuade the cynic that solution washing yielded better results and also cut out the scrubbing.