Increase In Competition Owing to The Pandemic: Sanfe


By Rachit Juneja

June 22, 2021


“Since the inception of the pandemic, competition has upgraded its level. It's no more a friendly knife fight rather than a slit throat competition. We have to be more precise, more conscious and much more attentive to the needs of our customers.” - Nalini Prasad, Sr. Brand Manager, Sanfe.

Sanfe is India’s revolutionary feminine hygiene and period care brand that strives to build a better world for women. Sanfe believes that every time a woman wins a battle, the world becomes a better place, and we are here to help women win. Sanfe creates a portfolio of  female hygiene products such as stand-and-pee devices, intimate care products, panty liners, organic sanitary pads, pain relief roll-ons and menstrual cups. All their products are comfortable, rash-free, natural & organic, safe for the body and the environment.

We got in touch with Ms. Nalini to find out more about their influencer marketing journey and here’s what we found out:


Tell us about your product category, and why have you chosen this messaging for the brand? 


“Choice according to most women is an emotional need. Some of them find looking great is empowering, some find they should be accepted as however they are. 

Hence, In the world of judgement Sanfe gives you a voice to find your choice.

Sanfe encourages women to take a step up towards their health & hygiene. In India, it is still considered a taboo to talk about female hygiene problems. We encourage women to break off the stereotypes and prioritise their health and hygiene needs. 

Recently, we did a campaign #CareForHairThere to get women to talk about their intimate hygiene problems as it is the need of the hour.”

How does your brand stand out? 


India’s revolutionary feminine hygiene and period care brand, Sanfe strives to make the world a better place for women. Adorning deep-rooted values, the brand creates a safe haven for females whilst creating comfortable, rash-free, organic and environment-friendly safe products carried in eco-friendly packaging. Providing solutions to a spectrum of concerns whilst shattering societal taboos, the brand has on offer groundbreaking products such as Period Care products such as reusable sanitary pads, menstrual cups, tampons and more, Intimate Care products like intimate deodorant, intimate scrubs and washes, a medicated menstrual cup wash etc, Personal Hygiene products: stand and pee kits, toilet seat covers, face razors etc, Privy Matters: intimate hair oil, bikini line hair removal cream, intimate stretch mark oil and Breast Care products like a nipple soothing roll-on, a breast tanning oil, a breast hydrating lotion and more.”


What makes your brand unique, in terms of your influencer marketing initiatives? How do you measure the RoI? 


“Our campaign influencers are women who are willing to share their real experiences. 

We focus on the scope of work for the campaign and density of category education 

We measure ROI on the basis of increased share of voice and awareness.”

Tell us about the process of shortlisting influencers? 

“We shortlist influencers who can relate to our brand value considering our TG. There are alot of factors involved like engagement rate, known faces, the connect between the influencer and the brand being the most important one.”

Do you have any long-term associations with influencers? What are the pros/cons of it? 


“Generally, we prefer to work with influencers on a campaign basis. It totally depends upon the need of the campaign. Albeit, if the influencer has managed to generate more reach, likes and other factors of RoI then we tend to build long term relationships with them.

While working with (long term influencers), it has its own pros and cons. These pros and cons compliment each other. For example, if we need more effort, or need more creativity from their part they will go out of the way to make sure that our campaign kicks in the market. Even with long term influencers we tend to act more like a team. It is like a symbiotic relationship where we both go an extra mile to make things better for each other.”

Besides influencer marketing, what are the other 3 most rewarding activities in your marketing campaigns? 

“Alliances 

PR 

Social media marketing”

How has Covid 19 impacted your market?


“Whole world has suffered from a pandemic. Before COVID-19, the competition was out there but people were somehow managing to get upper hand and run their business. I feel after this pandemic, competition has upgraded its level. It's no more a friendly knife fight rather than a slit throat competition. We have to be more precise, more conscious and much more attentive to the needs of our customers. As a team, when we work we tend to assess the risks of implementing new strategies more thoroughly than before. In nutshell, pandemic has shook everyone to become deliberate in their ideas and strategy to test the market. 

Pandemic allowed people to get more real, at this point all we want to see is the real self of brands, influencers and celebrities.” 

What is the most common challenge faced during influencer campaigns? 

“In my view, the biggest obstacle is to find the right fit with organic followers, within the given budget constraint. 

These days a lot of influencers are using different techniques to boost their followers and get a buzz in the industry. Even after scrutinising the influencers, we always feel they should associate with the idea behind the product, brand and taboo persisting in the society.”

What is the recent trend in influencer marketing that you think is here to stay? 

“In my opinion, vertical content creation and audio podcasts are going to have a long journey in this industry.”

Do you see any innovations coming up in the space of influencer marketing? 

Influencer marketing is no more limited to geographies, being AI enabled when it comes to influencer content which will help map brands their KOLs.”

If you were to summarise your influencer marketing strategy in 1 word, what would it be? 

“Human Integrated/ Real-Time”