RIP Love of My Life

Me: Mummy, Mummy....

Mom: What happened?

Me: There's a good news and a bad news... What do you want first?

Mom: Hmmm... Bad news!

Me: Hindustan Lever Limited is no more....

Mom (shocked): Good News???

Me: Hindustan Lever Limtied is now Hindustan Unilever Limited.

Mom: And the brands???

Me(jumping in joy): Same brands, same brands....

Mom heaves a sigh of relief!

An adaptation of a recent popular advertising campaign by HLL to communicate the change in name of its flagship detergent bar 'Rin Supreme' to announce that Its Official... The Love of my life is no more... It pains and pleasures me at the same moment to announce that my love is no more, it has changed. It has changed.... its name... :D Before you made any conclusions, let me tell you, it is not a person but a phenomenon called HLL that am talking about...

Even before HLL started feeding me, my family earns it dough through HLL, I was fascinated by that green symbol of HLL that used to flash in between all those prime-time song shows that I waited all week for on Doordarshan. I was flummoxed at what that green ball reading HLL was, and what that P&G in a globe stood for. I had this certain animosity towards P&G because they had Gamble in their name, and I was a kid... :P Moreover, the ad of Lifebouy was too good not to like it... It was the jingle of the century... The 'Lifebouy hai jahaa, tandurusti hai wala' one...

Then, once my dad started earning our livelihood through HLL, I fell in love with it all over again. From that day till date, I have always loved HLL like nothing else. The very word 'HLL' brings some unknown happiness, enthusiasm and ownership in me and am sooo passionate about the name and the brand. Today, my dearest name is getting changed... HLL is no more Hindustan Lever Limited... It is Hindustan Unilever Limited now...

In a press release today, HLL announced that the government has cleared its application to rename the FMCG giant to HUL or Hindustan Unilever Limited. For many days now, many people had asked me what the new logo would look like. Though the new logo is something I had been witness to for months now, thanks to U n I and UnIversity programmes of HLL, I never knew that would be the logo of HUL. I loved the way the Ls curled up under the H in the HLL logo. We would miss that L altogether in the new logo.

At the first sight, many would feel the HUL logo weird, for it is just a U with many drawings in it. It has a deep interpretation, though! It stands for HLL's mission of 'adding vitality to life'.

One may wonder how this image, name and brand change would be communicated to the length and breadth of India which recognises brands more by images than by name. But then, we must recall it is HLL we are talking about. It is THE best marketing company in the country. From door-to-door brand communications to online brand communications, it is one company which has mastered them all. For every Project Shakti and Project Bharat, there is a gangofgirls.com and a spillurdil.com!

HLL has always been a great case to study, at least for me! And I have always learnt of HLL not from books and web, but from the company and its operations itself. Probably thats the reason it fascinates me all the more. From a Sunlight bar imported into the country in the 1890s to the gigantic hits like Surf, Rin, Lifebouy, Rexona among many many others to the 30 Power Brands in the 21st Century, HLL has always been a company with a unique strategy and deep penetration into every nook and corner of India.

While people wonder why Rin, almost a synonym for Detergent bar, is erased and merged into Surf Excel brand umbrella, they are unaware of the fact that Super 501, Rin Shakti are all being merged into the umbrella of Rin Advanced. The central idea of HLL probably is to keep Rin close to the masses, while escalating Rin Supreme, which now is the Surf Excel Bar, into the premium end of the market.

While every national giant bit the dust due to the invasion of local markets, especially rural areas, by local manufacturers, only HLL stood like no one else and regenerated its own glory every time there was a threat it would be abated.

No Nirma or P&G can do what HLL, hmmm now HUL, can do... HUL would be the standing testimony of a joint India. No matter what religion, caste, creed, sex, color, region or belief we belong to, we all love Rin, Rexona, Lifebouy, Lux, Axe, Denim, Kwality Walls, Lakme, Brooke Bond, Annapurna, Ponds, Dove, Pepsodent, Close Up (My fingers ache and force me to abruptly end the unending list) or atleast one of them! HUL is truly the identity of India! :)