Lever relaunches Radion to take on Bold

Lever Brothers is relaunching its Radion washing detergent to take on rival Procter & Gamble’s Bold, in a move to forestall the axing of the brand.

It is the second time the brand has been relaunched since it was first introduced in 1989.

Lever is understood to have considered ditching the brand, which has seen its market share slump from a high of seven per cent to 2.2 per cent.

Radion is being repositioned in the “freshness” sector, currently occupied by Procter & Gamble’s fast growing brand Bold. The relaunch will shun the use of television advertising , but it will be supported with posters, direct marketing and radio advertising.

It will contain a new deodoriser called Sunfresh, and its formulation will be changed.

The pack is being redesigned, and the number of lines in the range is being reduced from ten to five.

In 1994, the brand was relaunched with the newly formulated concentrated sub-brand Radion Micro Active. It was supported by a television advertising campaign through Ogilvy & Mather using Mr Motivator. However, O&M is not being used for the relaunch.

The Micro Active sub-brand is being dropped and the concentrated version will be referred to simply as concentrated Radion.

Radion is Lever’s third largest laundry detergent, in sales, after Persil and Surf.