Competition: Unilever leverages innovation to put Omo ahead

To face competition in any market, brand handlers must leverage on innovation; they need to innovate consistently. This strategy has sustained some corporate and product brands like UAC, First Bank, Indomie, among others. In any marketplace, competition is looking at gaps. If first comers are unable to take the advantage to fill the gaps due to absence of research and consumer insight, new entrants would fill it and take over the market.

The Nigerian detergent market has in the last decade faced stiff competition but Omo, a 50-year-old brand, was proficient enough through innovation and creativity to face the challenge. In the recent time, the brand owner has been constantly innovating to meet changing consumers taste. Unlike about 25 years ago, when the brand offered same variant for all purposes, in the recent time it has produced different variants for the market.

In its continued efforts to boost consumer experience, it recently re-launched new Omo Multi Active detergent in Lagos, at an event adorned by the musical performance of the Nigerian artiste, Flavour.

The new Omo Multi Active detergent formulation, according to Unilever management, ensures stains removal in one easy step and has a refreshing aroma with its new fragrance. Anil Gopalan, vice president, operations, Unilever Nigeria, said: “We have increased and improved the stain removals. It is going to be much easier to clean, it’s going to help the housewife clean in one easy wash but more importantly we have improved the fragrance of the product more significantly, and I think it will be just the best in the market.”

Omo Multi Active detergent is also embracing a new thrust to promote ‘Peace’ in Nigeria, he said, saying “Omo Multi Active detergent appreciates how kids learn, express their creativity and even bolster their immune systems. Unilever, thus, urges people to stand up for peace.

“Unilever products touch the lives of over 2 billion people every day. Key to the Omo Multi Active detergent brand is our commitment to the Cleaner Planet Plan – a pledge supported by several of Unilever’s laundry brands, through which we’re minimising our impact on the environment. We’ve also formulated our Omo Multi Active detergent brand to provide effective washing at low temperatures, saving energy, and saving you money. In line with Unilever’s commitment to meeting the needs of our consumers and its spirit of continuous improvement, the new improved Omo Multi Active detergent promises to deliver brilliant results in one step.”

According David Okeme, brand building director, Unilever Nigeria, “we are saying as a nation children deserve to be children, and being children means they need to go out and play. So, let’s join hands together to promote peace in the land so that our children can play and develop.”

The new Omo contains Max Clean particles, which penetrates deeper to tackle even the most stubborn stains, to deliver the best results. Before now in 2007, Unilever introduced ‘Dirt is good’ campaign geared at changing people’s attitudes towards dirt, which highlighted that getting dirty allows especially children to learn, socialise and get some much needed exercise. Based on Omo’s unique study into child development, 1, 500 mothers shared their hopes and concerns for their children, with 63 percent revealing they feared their youngsters were being deprived of their childhood.

This insight inspired Unilever’s ‘Every Child has the Right’ campaign, focusing on giving children the freedom to experience, learn and develop.

To ensure that everyone, everywhere, can share in this initiative, they invested heavily in developing a range of products that suits the pockets of all income groups.

This includes launching affordable products in low-income regions of Asia and Africa that offer Omo’s cleaning power and reduces the time, physical effort and amount of water needed to wash clothes by hand. In many countries, laundry has to be done by hand, a laborious and time-consuming activity.

Unilever believes that Omo’s global success has been largely due to the fact that ‘Dirt is good’ is not simply a catch-phrase. For it, the campaign represents the core value of the brand, “supported by patent-protected technology that gives children the freedom to get dirty and learn, with confidence that Omo will remove those stubborn stains.”

Nnenna Osi-Anugwa, category manager, fabric cleaning, Unilever Nigeria, said “the major thing is the enzymes which remove the stain from the fabrics, so those enzymes are the things that we have improved upon. We have improved the dosage of some of them, we have changed some of them to make sure that what we give to our consumers remove their stains without difficulty.

“When children explore the outdoor, they may get dirty in the process, however, Omo has promised to help remove these dirt, especially difficult dried-in stains. The new formulation is designed to help you get brilliant results on these stains leaving the fabric thoroughly clean in one wash.”

Since 1962, Omo’s innovation has kept it relevant to generations, from the Lever Brother’s factory at Aba in 1962, to its current home at the Unilever NSD factory at Agbara, Omo has survived over 50 solid years as Nigeria’s most advanced washing detergent.