Consumers' desire to smell as good as they look has seen the deodorant and bodyspray sector emerge as a major driver of growth in the personal-care market. In 2006 it was worth 拢459m, up 12% since 2001, according to Mintel.
The category is dominated by Unilever, which owns the top four brands, including bodyspray Impulse. Unfortunately, Impulse is notable for the wrong reasons, as it has failed to take advantage of the burgeoning market. Between 2004 and 2006, it suffered a 10% slump in value sales to 拢28m, while stablemate deodorant brands Lynx, Sure and Dove all reported growth in the same period.
Impulse's positioning is based around 'capturing the female allure' and its variants have names such as Thrill, Goddess and Temptation. In its heyday, it was an innovator, and it remains the only one of the top 10 bestselling brands in its category to fall under the label 'perfume deodorant' - a product type that it created at its launch in 1979.
Recently, the brand has failed to keep pace despite continuing to innovate. Its last major activity in this area was in 2005 when, as part of a 拢3m NPD spend, it introduced Impulse Shakers, a fragrance containing a ball that blended the ingredients when the can was shaken. It is not the only new idea to have failed to lift the brand.Last July, for example, it altered its packaging to include a 'sexy curve' to coincide with the launch of a fragrance called Tease.
Impulse has focused on online for its promotions. For Tease's launch, which was backed with a 拢4.2m integrated campaign, it created a microsite and viral game offering tips on how to flirt - an extension of its TV ad creative. And last November the brand hired digital shop Agency Republic to relaunch its website and develop activity on social-networking sites.
Last month, Impulse sealed a six-month tie up with Yahoo! The deal includes the creation of an Impulse Premier Club-branded web channel, via which it will invite 200 Yahoo! users a month to exclusive movie screenings.
Will this be enough to win over its core audience of 11- to 18-year- old girls? We asked George Bryant, managing partner and head of planning at Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, which handles Sara Lee's advertising, and Jane Cunningham, co-founder of consultancy Pretty Little Head, which advises businesses on the best way to target women.
DIAGNOSIS 1 - George Bryant managing partner and head of planning, AMV BBDO
I can't look at Impulse without thinking of Lynx. From its constant product innovation to its digital dabblings and desire to take part in the teen mating game, Impulse (or should that be Minx?) comes across as Lynx's younger sister.
The trouble is that while Lynx has become one of the boys, Impulse looks more like a troubled teenager, unsure of her place in the world and living in her elder brother's shadow. It feels like a schizophrenic presence in the arena of female fragrances - ill at ease in the adult world of Dove, but uncomfortable being seen to target younger teens.
The other guilty secret of these two teen mating-game players is that gatekeeper mums are the biggest purchasers. I'm sure that those with teenage girls wouldn't be quite as happy to indulge their 'get more' antics as those with sons.
The biggest difference between Impulse and Lynx is that between follower and leader. Teenagers are a fickle lot who can sense a lack of confidence and wannabe attitude a mile off; Impulse is in danger of becoming a cultural irrelevance.
REMEDY
- Develop a positioning that truly brings Impulse out of the shadows of its male sibling, Lynx.
- Allow the brand to develop its own identity.
- Reconnect with Impulse's natural audience of younger teens and stop trying to compete in a more overtly adult world.
- Think like a youthful style brand, not an adolescent seducer - there is probably more to learn from Topshop than there is from Lynx.
DIAGNOSIS 2 - Jane Cunningham co-founder, Pretty Little Head
The secret of Impulse's original success was that it felt like a pioneer. It presented a new, aspirational picture of women as sexually empowered, desirable and fun. It got female networks chattering about when the latest Impulse 'flavour' was going to be out. It was a credible, modern brand that was 'in' and on-side with its audience of young girls. It felt like its name - energetic and active.
Now it feels confused. Is it a fashion or personal-care brand? Is it sophisticated and thoughtful (like its recent ads), or fun, young and vulnerable (as its 'how to flirt' microsite suggests)?
Confusion leads to stasis, or at least slow movement, and that, unfortunately, is how the brand feels: laboured, out of step, and lacking conviction and spirit.
Impulse should decide it is a fashion brand and take on the chin all the implications that go with it. Fashion has its own rules, so play by them, though they may seem counterintuitive to the traditionally trained marketer for whom careful calibration and long-range planning are sacred cows.
REMEDY
- Sacrifice perfection for the sake of getting something new and exciting out there.
- Secure celebrity and third-party endorsement, especially from female titles.
- Develop a clear sense of Impulse's aesthetic and constantly re-invigorate it. Show it is connected to the fashion scene.
- Infiltrate female networks and get them talking about the brand. Distribute content online, rather than asking women to visit the Impulse microsite.