A detailed case study on how to increase The Body Shop's brand awareness in India through The Saheli Project, a social initiative that will bring together girls from both urban and rural areas while emphasizing the company's core values. Saheli (which stands for female friend in Hindi) will promote unity and togetherness and emphasize women’s empowerment, something that The Body Shop has always advocated.

1. THE BODY SHOP AND INDIA
Priyanka Bose

2. The Body Shop has limited brand awareness in India and
faces stiff competition from established brands and an
extremely diverse media market with different needs.
The Body Shop has always played an active role in social
initiatives. By bringing that culture of advocacy to affluent
young women in urban areas who want to make a difference,
The Body Shop can both increase brand awareness and
continue its legacy of social activism.
The Saheli Project, a social initiative sponsored by The
Body Shop that will bring together girls from both urban and
rural areas. Saheli (which stands for female friend in Hindi)
will promote unity and togetherness and emphasize women’s
empowerment, something that The Body Shop has always
advocated.

5. THE BODY SHOP
Beauty company based in UK, 2500
franchised stores in 61 countries
Products are “inspired by nature” and
feature natural products
The company supports global projects
working in the areas of civil rights and
environmental and animal protection
Came to India in 2006 and is doing well
in urban areas, but is still in 3rd place
behind other beauty companies
Difficulty reaching rural areas
Brand awareness is still low

6. THE BODY SHOP
The company has an active social
media presence
Official Facebook page has 330,000+
fans and official Instagram has
14,000+ followers
Official brand endorser: Jacqueline
Fernandes, popular model and
Bollywood actress
Though the company supports human
rights projects such as S.H.E. (Support
Her Education), there is limited focus
on such initiatives on the main page of
the Indian company website

7. “In India we celebrate the commonality of major differences; we are a land of belonging rather than of blood.”
-Shashi Tharoor

8. FAST FACTS
Earliest (homo sapiens) civilization in India
began 75,000 years ago, but earlier hominids
(homo erectus) were already there 500,000
years ago
Modern Republic of India founded in 1947
after gaining independence from Great Britain
Population: 1,236,344,631 (July 2014 est.)
Religion: 80.5% Hindu, 13.4% Muslim, 2.3%
Christian, 1.9% Sikh, 0.8% Buddhist, 0.4%
Jain, 0.7% Other (Judaism, Zoroastrianism,
Bahai)
Indian film industry has highest annual film
output in the world, annual revenue projected
to rise to $3 billion (Rs 150 billion) by 2016

9. GEOGRAPHY
India’s overall area is 1,222,237 miles,
making it the largest country in South Asia
29 states, 7 Union Territories, and 1
National Capital Region (New Delhi)
2nd largest population in the world and
fastest growing population in the world
3 biggest cities are Mumbai (12 mil), Delhi
(11 mil), and Chennai (9 mil)
70% of the population still lives in villages
located in highly rural areas
There are many different climates:

13. LANGUAGES
22 official languages (Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi,
Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi,
Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu)
1,635 languages recognized overall by the 2011 census

14. Sanskrit
(North Indian languages)
Dravidian
(South Indian languages)

15. LANGUAGES
The two language families
have nothing in common
Therefore, speakers of
different languages cannot
necessarily understand each
other
Hindi and English serve as
the lingua franca in both
North India and South India

16. CULTURAL DIMENSIONS

17. CULTURAL DIMENSIONS
Despite the massive differences across geography,
language, and religion, cultural values are fairly
consistent across India
Power distance is highly respected and people tend to
marry people from the same race, region, social class,
religion
India is a traditionally collectivist culture, placing high
importance on the family and society over the individual,
However, the core philosophy of Hinduism is highly
individual, with fate dependent upon how a person
behaves throughout life
India is also high on sentimentality and its media culture
would most likely be considered to be extremely obvious
and over the top by Westerners, lacking the levels of
subtlety that are typical of media in other countries.

19. BOLLYWOOD, TOLLYWOOD,
KOLLYWOOD, MALLUWOOD,
TELLYWOOD
Thanks to Bollywood
(formally known as the
Hindi film industry)
Bollywood stars are some of
the most high profile
people in India
They sponsor literally
everything

20. BOLLYWOOD, TOLLYWOOD,
KOLLYWOOD, MALLUWOOD,
TELLYWOOD
Tollywood (Telugu),
Kollywood (Tamil), and
Malluwood (Malayalam) are
the South Indian film
industries
Known for both highly artistic
films and masala films
These films are often remade
in Bollywood (Thira —>
Mardaani)

21. BOLLYWOOD, TOLLYWOOD,
KOLLYWOOD, MALLUWOOD,
TELLYWOOD
As of 2012, over 823 channels,
184 of which are pay channels
Doordarshan is a public channel
and the oldest Indian channel
GECs (general entertainment
channels) have most popular
content—daily serials
6 main Hindi language GECs
Tellywood stars are popular faces

22. COMMUNICATIONS
India has emerged as one of the fastest
growing telecommunications markets in
the world
In 2011, total telephone subscribership
exceeded 900 million, with an overall
teledensity of roughly 75%, with
subscribership growing at more than 20
million per month
Urban teledensity now exceeds 100% and
rural teledensity is steadily growing
Mobile advertising volume in India is
growing faster than anywhere else in the
world, rising a record 260% since July
2013

23. COMMUNICATIONS
Internet usage, on the other
hand, is still not as common as
mobile phones
As of 2009, there were only
about 61 million internet users
Even though several years have
passed since this count,
regular internet access is still
mostly limited to those with
more resources

24. ADVERTISING
The beauty and personal care market in India
is a rapidly growing segment of the market,
with sales taking place through many
different channels
Multinational companies have taken the lead
in the beauty and personal care market, with
Hindustan Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive
taking the greatest market share
As is common throughout other parts of Asia,
skin whitening products are still the most
popular products in the marketplace
However, consumers are increasingly willing
to try new products as modern retail chains
expand and internet retail continues to
expand

25. ADVERTISING
Standardization of advertising in India is
difficult to achieve
As an emerging market, India faces the
challenges of variations consumer tastes,
differing product use conditions, differences
in stage of economic and market
development, availability and reach of similar
media, and government regulatory influences
Due to its successful and active presence on
social media networks and success in urban
areas, the best audience for The Body Shop
would be to focus on well-to-do young
women who are interested in great products,
making a difference, and spending their own
money

26. SAHELI

27. PHASE ONE:
THE SAHELI NETWORK
The Saheli Network will connect
affluent urban girls who already love
The Body Shop
They will see wish lists from girls in
rural areas and will be asked to create
teams and come up with a plan to
make the girls’ wishes come true
The campaign will be inter-city,
initially taking place in New Delhi,
Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, and
Bangalore

28. Because of the rapidly growing mobile advertising market, this part of the
campaign will be both digital and mobile, with banner ads that show up on the
official website, the official The Body Shop India Facebook page, and the
official Instagram, that will lead them to the landing page where they can
connect with the other girls and teams.
The hashtag #merisaheli (my friend) will connect everyone participating in the
initiative across all social media platforms.

29. PHASE TWO:
CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT
Tellywood stars are well known across
India and are seen as recognizable and
relatable faces due to the characters they
play and their easy accessibility
In addition to Jacqueline Fernandes, who
is the official brand endorser for The Body
Shop India, Tellywood celebrities such as
Sanaya Irani, a popular actress would
embark on a project of their own
Celebs will also use the #merisaheli tag on
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well
as Youtube videos and appearances on
SBS, a popular daily afternoon show that
keeps tabs on what Tellywood stars are
doing in their free time

30. PHASE THREE:
THE SAHELI SUMMIT
When girls register with their cities as an
official team, they will keep The Body
Shop updated on their progress
throughout the course of several months
The winning teams from each of the five
cities will win a year’s worth of free Body
Shop products, and will also be invited to
the Saheli Summit, a symposium in
Mumbai where they will discuss
solutions to issues facing girls and
women in India
The winning girls will also be invited to
be judges in the following year’s contest,
which will roll out to more cities in India

31. Because women’s issues are constantly at the forefront in India, the
Saheli Summit will not only be on brand and relevant to the human
rights issues The Body Shop has always supported, it will also make
news on other channels and potentially make waves and add
momentum to the movement—not only increasing visibility for the
brand, but also for girls who don’t have a voice.