Advertising, Brand and Consumer Behaviour (The Indian Context), Ist Edition by Pearson

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Surf

Surf, the detergent brand in India marketed by Unilever, is a brand with an interesting history (the brand was adapted later on to the changing and contemporary needs of consumers; see the chapter on Surf excel). Surf was launched during the 1950s and the proposition was that it cleans clothes the whitest (Gupte, 2014; Sachitanand, 2012). It was the first detergent powder launched in India, and it was also the first detergent powder to advertise on television (Gupte, 2014).

During the initial stages of the detergent powder’s life cycle, the offering was affordable only to the upper-middle class or the higher class of consumers with sufficient socio-economic purchasing power. Surf continued with its whiteness proposition and grew to be ...