I never thought I would get to write that as a headline – but that’s exactly what happened in Chennai this month! Working in the scientific services group, one of our roles is to support claims, demonstrations and approve marketing communications for the brands we support. Demonstrations are a really powerful tool in communicating with our consumer. It’s easy to be sceptical about claims made in TV advertising, it’s a lot harder to disregard when you see it with your own eyes!

This month marketing organised a “Great stain-off” which included use of a 20foot cloth, lots of messy stains and numerous packs of Vanish! We invited residents to throw wine, iodine, ketchup, juices, tea and coffee at 4 targets on our 20ft cloth. 3 stains successfully within the target won residents a prize – I’m sure you can guess what that was !

After a messy hour, the yellow cloth was looking a bit worse for wear and it was definitely time to bring out the Vanish. Taking half the cloth for washing, residents looked on as Vanish got to work. Everyone was intrigued by the oxygen action you could see and had lots of burning questions. The Grande finale was revealed when washing was complete and the cloth was hung next to its messy counterpart.

I think the results speak for themselves!

Sitting in the Scientific Services Group (SSG) , which is part of RB’s Research and Development (R&D) department, your work has a huge impact on the profitability of a really exciting region! Your ability to affect profitability can happen in much shorter timeframes than in category development as this department focuses on new product developments (NPDs). Here in SSG we are working with existing products and adjusting formulations, claims, production and supply strategy. So let me tell you a little about my first few weeks in SSG…(for those new to my blog, I’ve recently moved to India from the UK!).

Factory Transfers

Vanish liquid is a recent launch in India. Initially we had been importing product from our factory in China to A) hit the market ASAP and B) to test the market. Vanish liquid has shown good initial success – and without cannibalising our existing powder product.

The location of a production factory has a large impact on GM (gross margin) and profitability . We are currently in the process of moving Vanish production from China to India, localising our production. This will mean an increase of over 30% on our GM, which is HUGE and will have a massive effect on the brand’s profitability.

Formulation changes and Harmonisation

SSG is also required to manage the complexities encountered in our factories, such as the number of formulas made for one product. Veet has 3 main variants: Normal, Dry, and Sensitive. Within these variants, there are also formulation changes e.g.when we add extra materials such as Aloe with vitamin E. Countries migrate to the changed formulas within different timelines. However, the more formulas a factory carries, the more complexity is added. Cost is also impacted as cycle times will be longer due to the cleaning and swapping of lines and mistakes are more likely to be made.
Therefore SSG need to ensure that this situation is managed. I am currently managing the migration of Veet to our most recent formula which will supersede supply to all countries. These projects run for roughly 6 months over which raw material sourcing, line trials, stability and product registration will be completed.


Claims and Demonstrations

Consumers in one country can be completely different to the next. I can see this from my personal experience, I LOVE to have a tan, the browner the better, but here in India the paler the better. All of the creams and facial products sold in India are targeted at this need bucket. It is therefore really important to manage claims and advertising campaigns per country. This is another role of SSG, investigating potential claims and supporting these.

Vanish has some really interesting consumer demonstrations, including a Monster stain – scary! As part of my work I will be looking at ways to develop India specific demonstrations and claims to improve our market share. It’s all about making your product relatable and building trust in your brand!

Wish me luck

International opportunities
Before I started working at RB, I went travelling for 3 months… and I LOVED IT! I was pretty sad to come home and realise that this wouldn’t be possible again for a long time. Little did I know, but RB would offer me some amazing travel opportunities.

RB really has been the perfect place to begin my career. Having only been working for RB a year, I have been to the USA, China and am now LIVING in India!

Every one of these trips has been an amazing experience on both a work and personal level. All 3 countries I had never visited before and it has really opened my mind to different cultures, mindsets and the infinite possibilities out there!

USA
During my trip to the USA, I met and presented to one of the head buyers from Wal-Mart. It was really interesting to experience this side of our business as sometimes, in R&D, you can feel detached from the end goal – selling our products. Trade relationships are really important to the success of any business and it was invaluable to see this interaction.

China
China was a whirlwind! While I was there I travelled to Beijing, Shanghai, Dongguan and Hong Kong (all crammed into 5 days!). When in China you have to be adventurous with the food – pigeon, beef stomach (tripe) and beef tendon were amongst the strangest I tried.

During my time in China, I was sitting in on consumer focus groups (with live translation, of course ), visiting one of our core fragrance houses and meeting with some local suppliers. I gained a very rounded experience of the facilities we use and the consumer mindset which varies greatly around the country.

India
WOW – when I finished university, I would never have imagined I would be living in India for 6 months! Currently being based here, I am completing my second placement on the graduate scheme in the Scientific Services Group (one of the three departments in R&D). I will be managing Vanish for India, a few Veet projects and some products for Paras personal care which we acquired earlier this year.

I am really enjoying India so far – despite having found a cockroach in my apartment on the first night! As well as getting a really varied and fast paced work life, I also get to experience a truly diverse culture – I can’t wait to explore!

For me RB is my perfect match!

As Mark stated: “Reckitt Benckiser stands for strong brands and their people, who are passionate about it. Therefore it is our aspiration to make every RB Germany employee an ambassador for our brands “.

So each time they have a meeting with the whole team in Mannheim, one brand team will present some background information on the products, some facts and figures and, I’m sure, also some unexpected anecdotes and brand history.
The idea behind it is to encourage RB employees beyond the marketing department, to be ambassadors for our brands.

Coincidentally, I recently had a lunch conversation with a colleagues in France about how we always keep in touch and how we identify with the brands we have worked on even long after having stopped working for it.

The first brand I worked for was Vanish during my internship at Reckitt Benckiser and even though I’m not working in that segment right now (and I’m not even especially prone to stained laundry!), I’m still interested in the new projects, how the brand is performing and what’s new in the pipeline – or if a concept that the team had been working on back then has finally touched the market.
It’s too bad that I missed out on the brand presentation in Germany last week!

The thing about working on a brand is you can’t help but become an expert on the market and the product.
Back on Vanish, I knew everything about removing stains, and which Vanish product to use.�
I became an ambassador for Vanish Powerwhite. It’s still my favorite product out of the whole Vanish range – no white laundry without a spoon of pure white brilliance!
As for the other brands I worked for, ask me anything about painkillers, heartburn or sore throat remedies and, more recently, leather care or air fresheners and I’m more than happy to share my knowledge (and explain the advantage of our products even beyond what’s communicated in our commercials …).

Do you want to get to know Reckitt Benckiser’s brands and discover some interesting facts as well?
Check out our  match the brand game on our corporate homepage – you may be surprised by one or two things!

Many of you may have seen the media coverage on the freak dust storm that blanketed Sydney for most of Wednesday morning.

What was more exciting for marketers was the great opportunity to get caught up in an advertising storm with Vanish leading the charge.