MUMBAI: Last year it was raining shampoos on Indian television. This year its toilet soaps! But whether shampoos or soaps, when it comes to India's top advertiser, it unsurprisingly remains FMCG behemoth Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) with a huge lead over the likes of Proctor & Gamble (P&G) and Pepsi.
These are the findings revealed in a comparative analysis done by AdEx India on the Top 10 Product categories and Top 10 Advertisers on television from January to June 2004 and 2005.
Top 10 Product categories on television
In the Top 10 Product categories, while shampoos ruled the roost on television in the first half (H1) of last year with a 5.4 per cent share of total category spend; in H1 2005, toilet soaps stood tall with a 4.9 per cent share.
In H1 2004, the toilet soaps category garnered a share of 5.1 per cent and was a close second to the shampoos category.
However, interesting is the fact that the corporate/brand image category has been one of the most drastic movers and shakers in the Top 10 product categories on television. This category, which was the third largest product category on television in H1 2004 with a 4.4 per cent share, failed to figure in the Top 10 list in the corresponding period this year. The category stood in the 11th position in H1 2005 with a share of 1.83 per cent, which is a drop of 2.57 per cent from the corresponding period last year.
The corporate/brand image category has been one of the most drastic movers and shakers in the Top 10 product categories on television. When the attention of media professionals was drawn to this, some put it down to possibly "a change in the way Tam classifies certain campaigns and defines the category."
Media Direction CEO Sandip Tarkas says, "I would not read too much into this shift because there is a difference in the way the brands want themselves to be perceived in the market and in the way Tam classifies them. An ad wherein Samsung is advertising its entire range of products can be classified as a corporate ad, whereas another where the company is advertising specific products will fall under the respective category."
Maxus Delhi general manager Debraj Tripathy concurs, "I am not too sure if this has happened. There is no specific reason for the corporate/brand image category to go off the Top 10 list. Maybe the definition of the same has been changed."
Lodestar Media vice president Nandini Dias adds, "Tam's estimates of spends is very way-off and it is extremely difficult to find trends with those numbers."
However, Tam India defines corporate/brand image advertising as "those where a company or a marketing team wants to glorify its Corporate Image and add that halo effect across the corporate and product board. Some such examples are - Tata, ICICI with Amitabh Bachhan, (the former unified) Reliance Group, Videocon etc."
Tam India further points out that normally, spends on corporate campaigns go down during recessionary years and periods of low corporate profitability. AdEx India had observed one such situation during 2000-01. Again, the spends level on corporate campaigns go up when the economy is doing well and shows a high degree of corporate profitability. Last year, corporate campaigns showed high degree of spends across 2004. This was primarily because corporates, specifically in certain sectors like automobile, cell phone service providers etc., registered high degree of growth.
The soft drink aerated category meanwhile, scrambled up from its seventh position last year to step in to the third spot this year, which was vacated by the corporate/brand image category. The share of soft drinks aerated went up from 2.9 per cent in H1 2004 to 3.7 per cent in H1 2005.
Top 10 Product categories on TV
January -June 2004
January -June 2005
Rank
Categories
% share of total category spend
Categories
% share of total category spend
1
Shampoos
5.4
Toilet Soaps
4.9
2
Toilet Soaps
5.1
Shampoos
4.7
3
Corporate/brand image
4.4
Soft Drink Aerated
3.7
4
Washing powders/liquids
4.0
Washing powders/liquids
3.2
5
Tooth Pastes
3.2
Cars/Jeeps
3.1
6
Cars/Jeeps
2.7
Tooth Pastes
2.9
7
Soft Drink Aerated
2.9
Biscuits
2.6
8
Cellular Phone Service
2.7
Cellular Phone Service
2.4
9
Two Wheelers
2.6
Fairness Creams
2.4
10
Cellular Phones
1.8
Cellular Phones
2.3
Washing powder/liquids held on to last year's fourth position this year too. The share in H1 2004 was 4 per cent but dropped to 3.2 per cent in H1 2005.
Two new categories - biscuits and fairness creams - entered the top 10 list in the first half of this year. The biscuits category stepped in at the seventh spot with a 2.6 per cent share of the total category spend, whereas fairness creams shared the eighth spot with the cellular phone services category wherein each had a share of 2.4 per cent.
Speaking on the biscuit category rearing its head in the Top 10 list, Tarkas reasons, "ITC heavily promoted its biscuit brand Sunfeast with a couple of big campaigns and hence this category has emerged. The competition in the biscuit category is hotting up. A few years back there was only Britannia and Parle but now new entrants are coming in."
The two wheeler category that held the ninth spot in H1 2004 with a 2.6 per cent share of the total category spend did not figure in the Top 10 product categories on television this year. Tripathy says, "This category as a whole is driven by big launches and mostly they happen in the second half of the year. Hence it might not have featured in the first half of this year. Also, this category has a skew towards print and hence may not reflect on television."
Tarkas adds, "There were quite a few launches last year in this category but this year hasn't seen that many launches. Again, I wouldn't read too much into it because as a category it has not stagnated but is continually growing."
The cellular phones category, while retaining its tenth position this year saw an increase in its share of the total category spends from 1.8 per cent in H1 last year to 2.3 per cent in H1 this year.
Top 10 Advertisers on television
HLL by far remained the top advertiser on television and retained its numero uno position with a share of 10.28 per cent in H1 2005 as compared to 11.24 per cent in H1 2004.
P&G and Paras Pharmaceuticals Ltd, too held on to their second and third positions respectively. P&G had a share of 3.16 per cent in H1 2005 viz-a-viz 3.53 per cent in H1 2004, whereas Paras Pharmaceuticals Ltd share rose from 2.26 per cent in H1 2004 to 2.85 per cent in H1 2005.
Top 10 Advertisers on TV
January -June 2004
January -June 2005
Rank
Advertisers
% share advertisers
Advertisers
% share advertisers
1
Hindustan Lever Ltd
11.24
Hindustan Lever Ltd
10.28
2
Proctor & Gamble
3.53
Proctor & Gamble
3.16
3
Paras Pharma.
2.26
Paras Pharma.
2.85
4
Reckitt Benckiser
1.93
Pepsi Co
2.52
5
Dabur India Ltd
1.86
Reckitt Benckiser
2.10
6
Coca Cola Ltd
1.73
Dabur India Ltd
1.84
7
Pepsi Co
1.56
Johnson & Johnson
1.51
8
Maruti Udyod Ltd
1.49
Colgate Palmolive
1.49
9
Samsung Electronics
1.44
Nokia Corporation
1.45
10
Johnson & Johnson
1.30
Coca Cola Ltd
1.42
An interesting trend that was noticed was that while Pepsi Co, which held the seventh position last year with a share of 1.56 per cent moved to the fourth position this year with a share of 2.52 per cent; arch rival Coca Cola dropped down from its sixth position (1.73 per cent) in H1 2004 to the tenth position (1.42 per cent) in H1 2005.
Baby care major Johnson & Johnson climbed up from the tenth position it held last year with a share of 1.30 per cent to the seventh position with a share of 1.51 per cent this year.
New entrants this year in the list of top 10 advertisers were Colgate Palmolive India Ltd (eight spot with a share of 1.49 per cent) and Nokia Corporation (ninth spot with a share of 1.45 per cent). On the other hand, last year's eight and ninth spot holders Maruti Udyod Ltd and Samsung India Electronics Ltd respectively didn't feature in this year's list.
