Mortein Vaporizer

Executive Summary

Reckitt Benckiser launched Mortein in India in 1993. It was a leader in coils category in India but later faced tough competition from Good Knight and Maxo. Mortein Vaporizer, which is a product of Reckitt Benckiser is facing lot of problems in Indian market. It is not able to create a positive impact amongst the consumers; hence its sales are comparatively less than All Out and Good Knight which are its fierce competitors. Hari Panda, the Brand Manager of Mortein Vaporizer is trying to understand the perception which is created in the minds of consumers. Some advertising agencies had described Mortein as a negative product because of its association with irritation and fear of diseases. Hari felt, their product was not communicated effectively.

India was an untapped market in case of mosquito repellent products as majority of population was not used to it before. There were different forms of mosquito repellents that were introduced in India were Mosquito Repellent coil, Mat Vaporizer and Liquid Vaporizer. Liquid Vaporizers are considered to be more effective than Mats and Coils. Mortein PowerGuard Vaporizer was seven times more powerful than ordinary vaporizers because it was effective against both mosquitoes and houseflies.

Godrej Sara Lee Ltd (GSLL) and Reckitt Benckiser (RB) led sales within the highly competitive insecticides segment, recording the value shares of 30% and 24% respectively, in 2008. There were no prominent packaging innovations in insecticide, vaporizer, spray and coils. Premium and economic products were only differentiated by price and format. Till 2009-10 Mortein was with stable shares whereas other major players like All Out and Good Knight shown tremendous growth in their shares. The local market was largely segmented and all players were trying to create