Tura Supreme: Another Victim of Brand Extension? - 2008-06-23

When, in 2007, Tura International Nigeria Limited introduced Tura Supreme into the market, industry watchers were of the belief that another super brand, akin to Tura Medicated Soap, had come to stay. However, barely a year after that historic launch, Tura Supreme has disappeared from the market. In this piece, Ralph Tathagatha, examines some of the factors that led to the disaster.

Unlike some leading brands that disappeared for known and unknown reasons from the Nigerian market, only to come back and face fierce competition that some times drown them in the throes of relative obscurity,Tura's come back did not fall into any of these snares. Rather than take the back seat or even queue up for a recognition that could take ages, the brand quickly reclaimed what seemed like a vacuum it left behind.

 Tura brand is widely known for its germicidal and medicated soap from the stable of Lornamead and has consistently remained one of the leading personal care products in the Nigerian skin care market today.

In 2005, after what appeared like a decade of disappearance from the Nigerian market, Tura made a swift come back with a strong intent to produce locally. The acclaimed monumental investment of over #600 million from Lornamead Group's Investment was said to be a genuine response to the call by Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime for foreign Investment in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector. Prior to the said period, Nigeria spent huge foreign exchange to import Tura products into the country from the Group's factory in the Republic of Ireland. It was widely believed that with the establishment of a world-class factory in Nigeria, the brand will be strategically positioned for substantial growth and supply in the domestic market and export across the neighbouring West African countries.

 Meanwhile, before the return of the Beautiful Girl (Tura), the market was led and dominated by some notable brands in the personal care sector, especially the medicated and antiseptic category. Delta soap from the stable of Orange Drugs Limited and Tetmosol manufactured by Jagal Pharmaceutical, Dettol, among others enjoyed more visibility and loyalty during Tura's absence in the market. But Orange Drugs Limited appeared to have upstaged all of the above mentioned brands in advertisement and publicity. Interestingly however, the brand's efforts in that direction paid off in terms of the massive loyalty it commanded in that category. In fact, the brand positioned itself at the time as the true successor of Tura Medicated soap. With the glamorous array of stunningly beautiful girls on outdoors and television screens (TVC), Delta soap found its way into virtually every household in Nigeria.

  It is also important to note that the battle for supremacy in skin care products (soap) has not just been with the above mentioned brands alone. Some other types like Zarina, Carat, Carex, IKB, among others have also been struggling for their fare share in the Nigerian market.

Unarguably, the bulging population of Nigeria stands her out as the largest potential market of FMCG in the continent. And the increasing demand for personal care products has made the country a haven for foreign investors. Apart from Tura Medicated soap, other brands in the skin care category like Tura Lotion, Tura Skin Tone (tube) among others also come from the stable of Lornamead International. But the most popular and highly patronized in the Nigerian market has always been Tura Medicated soap.

  Meanwhile Tura's impressive market preponderance even after years of absence and its attendant obscurity is believed to have provoked the desire to extend into non Medicated soap segment. As a matter of fact, leading brands of different categories in the FMCG, for example Delta soap had embarked on such extension exercise albeit within the Medicated and Antiseptic category and was recording success. But the courageous foray into a completely different category (Non Medicated) according to expert opinion, was erroneously borne out of Tura's bravado in its brand equity.

  In 2007, Tura International Nigeria Limited, owners of Tura brand, announced and launched headlong its Non Medicated soap into the Nigerian personal care market, subbranded Tura Supreme. This extended expression of the popular brand raised some questions among brand experts as some feared that it might spark off brand equity erosion or even result in stillbirth on the part of Tura supreme. But the brand owners contended at the time that the reverse was usually the case if the process is justified by sufficient research into momentous consumer need.

  The brand, said to have been long awaited, was targeted at the entire family with children playing key roles as drivers to convince their parents to buy Tura Supreme. More so, the advertising and by- line promotion for the new product were said not likely to be different from the existing Tura brands in the country at the time. “Go for it girl: beyond beauty”, the pay off line read.

  Undoubtedly, the vast space in the Non Medicated soap market leaves ample opportunities for many brands to explore. According to a recent survey, over 52,000 tons of Non Medicated soap estimated at USD 120 million is required in our domestic market annually and only about 35,000 tons are made available. On the other hand, it raises serious doubt that a notable Brand with international acclaim like Tura can be cajoled into believing that its product, Tura germicidal and medicated soap, having being positioned in the subconscious of many Nigerian consumers as 'Medicated' can simply be placed on a brand outside this category no matter how huge or attractive such a market might appear.

  During a market excursion by M2 to confirm the alleged failure and absence of Tura Supreme in the Nigerian mainstream market, some consumers expressed divergent opinions about the brand. According to Miss Doris Uchenna, a consumer, Tura Supreme had disappeared from shelves and even though she had been seeing adverts of the product, she had not seen the actual product in a very long while.

  Nevertheless, major shop owners in different parts of Lagos could not say what the present position of the brand is in the market.Mr. Donatus, a shop owner in Lawanson, Suru-lere said that after a few supplies he got from his distributor which took a very long time to sell, he has not been able get subsequent supplies. “It was very difficult to convince my customers about the brand. Right now, I cannot tell what is happening to the brand”, he concluded.

 It has been proved that what sounds right in the boardroom often doesn't make sense in the marketplace. More often than not, what rigorous branding built, subbranding or line extension had destroyed.Tura Medicated soap has been a big success for so long. One has to wonder if there is a law of marketing that says success in one brand expressly guarantees success in everything the brand is identified with. Consumers are dynamic and therefore have a cornucopia of choice. But subbranders think otherwise.

  Why would a consumer expect Tura Medicated soap to have a Non Medicated brand that sells as low as #30 while Tura Medicated soap even on the heels of its comeback pegged its price a little above other existing brands like Delta soap and Dettol and yet labeled the subbrand Tura Supreme? Where lies the supremacy of Tura Supreme when Tura Medicated, objectively embodies all supremacy within the Tura range? What a disastrous nomenclature?

  Though leading edge practitioners can call it master brand strategy, the kernel of fact is that the success of Tura Medicated soap mesmerized the brand owners' attention probably because of what it promises, not necessarily because of what Tura Supreme can deliver. Who knows, the brand would have delivered if branded from the non medicated category it comes from?

  According to experts, you can't apply your own branding system to a market that sees things differently. Sometimes what the manufacturer sees as a brand, the customer sees as a model. What the manufacturer sees as Megabrand, the customer sees as a brand. The frequently asked question has always been; can a brand be marketed in more than one model? Most professionals say yes, so long as those models don't detract from the essence of the brand, that singular idea or concept that sets it apart from all other brands.

  The foregoing therefore suggests that Tura Medicated soap erroneously felt the need to create subbrands thereby chasing the market and building the brand. The real essence of a brand is to create a market segment it can own in the minds of consumers. Extending to Tura Supreme and a lower one at that is exactly in the opposite direction and will either destroy the existing brand or permanently perpetuate the subbrand in marketing doldrums. From all marketing indications, Tura Supreme has no meaning in the minds of Nigerian consumers and might have ended up as one of those gross marketing blunders in the dustbin of history.