Will Indian Bathing Soaps Finally Care for the Skin

Why has the Sebamed vs HUL battle ensured consumers win?

Till about a month back, not many knew about Sebamed, this little-known brand that was still trying to get its foothold in India. Cut to a month later, and their commercials have been the talk of the country. After all, it’s not often that you see a David taking on a Goliath in the form of HUL. 

At Bizom, we surveyed on LinkedIn to gauge public perception of the Sebamed advertisements. 

An overwhelming majority of our audience believes the ads are genuine. Does it mean that consumers are better aware of how pH levels affect their skin?  

It does seem so with the campaign put out on OOH, TV etc. A few days ago, the Honourable High Court allowed the commercials of Sebamed to restart (albeit without the detergent comparison to some of HUL’s biggest soap brands). It led ET Brand Equity to conjecture about a prolonged advertising war between the two brands. 

After all the Pitch-Madison Advertising Report 2019 showed HUL as the biggest ad spender in India for 2019 and 2018. It will, probably, top the chart in 2020 too. 

Now, HUL will spend this money on screaming out loud or use this as a conscience check to go back and build better products for the Indian consumer who has long had a raw deal. 

If anything, it could lead to significant product improvements coming from the learned Indian consumer, especially in soaps. 

It could mean that skincare is finally coming to bathing soaps.