I saw a new commercial for Pretty24 hitting the not-so-prime time slots on some GECs. The narrative is subdued (typical beauty products ad) which goes like this – A younger sister prodding the elder one to know the `secret’ behind her `bright’ complexion, thereby building further the argument that the two share similar skin tone as well as other beauty products! And the revelation is Pretty24.

In an earlier blog titled Face to face in a fair game, this author had argued that Pretty24 has taken a bold step as `… From general purpose Fairness creams to Men’s Fairness creams to dark spots reduction fairness creams to winter fairness creams; every conceivable sub-category promise has been exploited to grow the market… and that…the fairness cream market in India is fairly mature…’ And hence, `… careful segmentation holds the key to success for a new entrant in a crowded shelf as the `Anti’ position puts the new entrant in direct competition vis-à-vis the rest…’

This new TVC, thus, is surely a departure from the earlier bold and in-your face communication taking on all the fairness creams for `cheating’ the young women.

While penning my thoughts in the earlier article, I had expressed that Pretty24, at least in terms of its positioning, is a little late! My gut feeling has been that as an idea its time peaked some 10, 15, 20 years ago. Pointing out that… `In India, the pride factor in one’s `own’ complexion has already gained ground; especially with girls-next-door winning the titles such as Ms India, Supermodel, etc. And to the buyer of very premium international brands, complexion has never been an issue…’ And for the buyers in Tier II and III or semi-urban centre… `it is still `Fairness’ all the way to success. So who is the brand Pretty 24 targeting? And what’s the `reason to buy’, it is offering to the consumers (unless subsequent campaign reveals it).’

As it appears from the TVC, the earlier strong and bold anti-fairness, and victimhood for the consumer, position adopted by the brand has given way to a much milder push and shove to somehow get a place into the consumers beauty product shelf. Will it work? Especially when a woman’s vanity box is already  filled with all kinds of beauty products from scrubs, wash’s, peel-offs, moisturizers, anti-wrinkle creams, and what not! The other most important point is `For all skin tones’ makes Pretty24 a product for everyone. Is it a carefully chosen strategy? Or manifestation of internal confusion! Let’s wait and watch.