The detergent market in India is worth an estimated Rs 20,000 crore, and growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5%. While hand wash detergents dominate the market share, the machine-wash detergent category, which constitutes 12% of the entire market is rapidly acquiring market share owing to changing consumer lifestyles and usage of washing machines. So much so that washing machine was the only category that reported 7-8% growth over other appliance categories in 2018 in the home appliances industry, according to the Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA).

Ghari, which were at the top spot in the detergent market since 2012, realised that significant share of its target audience, who are the masses of India are moving towards the washing machines for two key reasons, a convenient way to wash clothes and to maintain the quality of their clothes.
That’s why it made sense for Rohit Surfactants (RSPL) to venture into the machine-wash category.  

According to Deepti Kshirsagar, chief design strategist at TCT Branding, which has been associated with Ghari’s branding and packaging design, said, “The key strategy behind this new product was to increase the possibility of converting the existing Ghari users into machine-wash users and also of on-boarding a new class of consumers to switch to Ghari with its premium offering.”

Building up the aspiration level for the consumer through the visual identity and packaging thus became a key driver of the project, as it was introduced as a premium product.
TCT opted to go for the lavender colour to give the pack a mystique and unique look to its stand-up pouch.

Kshirsagar says, “We zeroed in on a colour that was uncommon in this category. The strategy worked well with the addition of lavender essence to the formulation for the fragrance.”
In addition, the lavender fragrance mnemonics displayed on the front of the pack are aimed to attract the buyers with the product’s bonus features.
“Secondly, it was pertinent to make it clear on the pack that the detergent is meant for washing machine. This was accomplished with the visuals,” says Kshirsagar.
To focus on the machine aspect, TCT played around with the texture and shapes of the inner tub of the washing machine. It opted for an image of the washing machine on the front to emphasise more on the washing machine aspect. 

The punch line of Ghari pehle istemal kare phir vishwas kare was retained as it was the most precious asset of the Ghari brand.
Kshirsagar adds, “To highlight the product features and to make them easy to notice and understand, we developed mnemonics for each feature with graphical illustrations on the back of the pack.

“Since Ghari machine-wash is a step up in the RSPL portfolio and intended to trigger the aspiration in the target group, we suggested the packaging format and substrate upgrade to a gusseted metallic PET-poly laminate. The gusseted pouch allows the pack to stand on the shelf giving better visibility. The metallic substrate was used to get a great metallic finish, leveraging the royal purple colour. The printing challenge was to achieve the washing machine texture on the background in full clarity and desired subtlety. However, with precise colour separation and printers cooperation we did a number of mock-ups and were able to achieve the results as desired,” explains Kshirsagar.