Why did they feel the brand needed an overhaul? Did they feel the brand had run aground?
Well, you know, the consumer is changing a lot, especially after liberalisation. I have known Lakme managing director Anil Chopra and (Simone) Tata since 1983 and I wanted to work with them. They always looked ahead. When we did a study of the brand, what we found was a fantastic top of the mind presence, but it lacked an identity. Lakme stands for women, it is the only brand that can understand the Indian woman’s needs. This is a fantastic evaluation point. But you know, sometimes what happens is that you have the perception and you have to reveal it physically to see, to understand what it stands for. How do you go about redesigning brands? We proceeded this way, and then I proposed to Chopra, who is a very creative and innovative gentleman and understands our way of thinking, that we wanted to redefine the company, bring skincare and cosmetics together into one unique solution. And then we started our patent “P&P research”: perceived and potential value, to find out what Lakme stand
