According to N Gupta, director (marketing), a month's stock of Sun will be given away exclusively to all consumers buying Videocon's newly launched dishwasher. The dishwasher created by Videocon is a floor model and the company plans to sell around 30,000 units in the first year in the metros and mini-metro markets.

Realising that past attempts by other companies with a dishwasher have been fairly unsuccessful, Videocon will be focusing on the adaptability of its dishwasher to Indian household requirements as its USP. Also, the giving away of Sun will help the company ensure proper usage of the product. The formulation of Sun hasbeen customised to suit Indian cooking.

A multilingual press campaign will be unveiled in the next fortnight which will then be followed by an audiovisual film on major channels. A budget of nearly Rs 10 crore has been earmarked by Videocon to promote the product. Videocon will also be organising product demonstration in housing complexes and direct mail pitches to attract enquiries. The initial launch is in Mumbai, Pune and Delhi. Priced at Rs 19,990, the dishwaser comes atleast Rs 10,000 cheaper than its rival products.

According to the agreement between HLL and Videocon, the latter would inform Levers well in advance about the new markets it is tapping and Sun will be distributed in those areas thereby ensuring a ready market for itself.

Dealers, however, say that Sun was actually launched by HLL a year back and was being sold for direct consumption targeted at select consumers.

The tie-up is, therefore, meant to be a win-win situation for both with Levers launching Sun at the retail level inmarkets already identified and developed by Videocon, clearly saving precious time and investment in scouring market possibilities. At the retail level, the dishwash product comes in two forms of a 500 ml liquid priced at Rs 100 and a 250 gm powder priced at Rs 45. Major players in the dishwash segment in India are Balsara with Odopic, Colgate-Palmolive with Axion and HLL with Vim. However, none of them have a specific product positioned for dishwashers.

While an upgradation to dishwash liquids is yet a far cry, consumers are seen graduating to pastes from bars. A graduation from powders to bars had taken place in 1994 when HLL entered and built the bars segment, before which it was largely dominated by powders. The tie-up, therefore should help HLL scope and build the market for liquid detergents in the Rs 186-crore dishwash market.