PROMOTION
Promotion is an important marketing force that provides an extra incentive(usually short term in nature) for consumers, the trade, the sales force and other influential groups. Promotion ranks with advertising and selling efforts as one of the major activities that can be utilized in the marketing of packaged goods. Promotion is directed not only to consumers or the trade but also to the occasion to the sales force and other influential groups.
The great Indian brand wagon of Lux started nearly 4 decades ago. Great brands sometimes outlast their ambassadors as proven by Lux which celebrated its 75th anniversary in India.

The first ambassador Leela Chitnis featured in a Lux advertisement which flagged off the Lux wagon. She gave way to a galaxy of stars which include Madhubala, Nargis, Meena Kumari, Mala Sinha, Sharmila Tagore, Waheeda Rehman, Sairah Banu, Hema Malini, Zeenat Aman, Juhi Chawla, Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi, Aishwaria Rai Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and most recently Katrina Kaif.

The last frontier for most actors aspiring to stardom is becoming a Lux ambassador. The brand has outlasted many soaps. From the beginning, Lux became a household name in the country.
Lux advertisements through ages
Lux campaigns have wooed millions of people over the decades. Popularly known as the beauty soap of film stars, Lux has been an intimate partner of the brightest stars on the silver screen for decades. An ode to their beauty, an announcer of their stardom, advertising campaigns on Lux have featured film stars across the nation, promising their beauty and complexion to common women

With top movie stars- from Madhubala to Madhuri, form Babita to Karishma and Kareena having endorsed the goodness of Lux over generations, it was natural that the brand has built equity as the best beauty soap in India. In 2005 Lux celebrated its 75th anniversary sparking of a controversy. Deviating its tradition of roping Bollywood Divas, this time none other than Shah Rukh Khan endorsed Lux. The ads created instant controversy with marketers discussing whether the brand has suddenly become MALE. Paul Newman also has endorsed Lux soap which shows that Lux makes such stunts to excite the market. Whatever be the controversy, the brand again succeeded in creating excitement in the market. Some argue that HLL was testing a new positioning appeal to male users while others say that it was a one time endorsement to break the clutter.

A recent ad of Lux featured the golden couple Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan. They were paid Rs.25 crore for this ad. But in all these advertisements the celebrity never shadowed thebrand.

From the beginning Lux, by using a leading film star of the time has fulfilled the consumer’s aspirations of using beauty soaps via the rationale “if it’s good enough for a film star, it’s good for me”. This later moved into a transformation role of having a bath with Lux, which transports the user into a fantasy world of icons, film stars and fairy lands.

Change in communication strategy

Lux was always changing with the times. Whether in terms of product or in terms of promotions, the brand kept the consumers excited. Lux was initially a premium brand. It was being projected as an aspirational brand and the endorsements by stars further reinforced the positioning. However the communication was slowly seemed to be losing relevance, as consumers were beginning to question if the film star actually used the brand. The increasing competition in the soap category also forced Lux to rethink on its targeting strategy. Several competitive beauty soap brands had begun advertising using similar methods of communication. The brand had a choice either to compromise on market share or dilute the positioning. In this context, the global brand team for Lux developed a new communication strategy. This strategy-bring out the star in you-for the first time moves the brand away from the long running film star route. The film stars still features in the new communication but not as her gorgeous self but rather as an alter ego/projection of the protagonist, for a few seconds of the entire ad. Thus, for the first time the film star was used as a communication device and not as the main feature of the ad. The move away from the film star and her fantasy world to the regular Lux user with the focus on the protagonist’s star quality is a change from the norms set by the Lux advertising in the past. With the new communication strategy, the film star is used purely as a communication device to portray star quality in every Lux user. This can be significantly seen in the latest TV commercial of Lux Crystal Shine where Priyanka Chopra is portrayed as a normal woman.

This idea-bring out the star in you-puts the consumer at the heart of brand’s promise. The promise goes beyond the functional deliverables of soap, beyond bathing and bathroom to the world outside. It’s the world where Lux on her side, an ordinary woman can impact her world with her own star quality.
This is a successful attempt to bring the brand closer to its users and give it a more useful and contemporary image. Breaking away from tradition, HLL resorts to a male and metro sexual Shah Rukh Khan to revive Lux which turned 75 in 2005.

Sales promotion
Sales promotion, a key ingredient in marketing campaigns, consist of a collection of incentive tools, mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products or services by consumers or the trade.
Whereas advertising offers a reason to buy, sales promotion offers an incentive to buy. Sales promotion includes tools for Prominent Sales Promotion Schemes used by lux
• Lux presented 30 gram gold each to the first 3 winners of the Lux gold star offer from Delhi. According to the promotional offer that Lux unveiled in October 2000, a consumer finding a 22 carat gold coin in his or her soap bar got an opportunity to win an additional 30 gram gold. The first 10 callers every week got a 30 gram gold each. The offer could be availed only on 100 gram and 150 gram packs of Lux soap.
• Lux Star Bano, Aish Karo Contest:

All one needed to do was buy a special promotional pack of Lux soap. The pack comes with a special scratch card. The 50 lucky winners and their spouses were flown down to Mumbai to live a day like Aishwarya Rai would. They could also be given gift vouchers worth Rs. 50,000 from Shopper’s Stop along with an exclusively designed Neeta Lulla saree and a beauty makeover by Michelle Tung, Aishwarya’s preferred designer and stylist.
• Lux celebrated 70 years of stardom with the “Har Star, Lucky Star” activity.

All wrappers of Lux had a star printed inside them. If the consumer found written inside the star any number from 1 to 5, he or she would get an equivalent discount(in Rs) on her purchase from her shop keeper.

Public Relations

Not only must the company relates constructively to the customers, suppliers and dealers it must also relate to a large number of interest to publics. Public is any group that has an actual or potential interest in or impact on a company’s ability to achieve its objectives.PR involves a variety of programs designed to promote or protect a company’s image or its individual products.

Lux PR activities
• Press relations: Lux has been maintaining constant communicating with its potential customers about various developments taking place in the brand by using press relations.
• Events: Lux celebrated 75 years of existence in a grand way by unveiling Shah Rukh Khan as their latest brand ambassador.

Kareena Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Sridevi and Hema Malini graced the event and made it special. All this stars have endorsed Lux in the past. The event was held at the Grand Intercontinental in Mumbai.
• Limited edition: Coming up with limited edition of brand is also a way of attracting attention towards the brand. It creates a buzz and feeling of urgency to try out the product and helps in promotion of the brand. This strategy was also implemented by Lux by bringing out limited editions like Chocolate Seduction, Aromatic Glow, Festive Glow and Hot Pink.