Axe falls on ‘underperforming’ Persil Revive
Unilever is axing its Persil Revive home dry-cleaning product, less than two years after its launch.
The decision is thought to result from the product underperforming. It follows a similar decision by rival Procter & Gamble to halt the roll-out of its Dryel home dry-cleaning brand in the UK and continental Europe. P&G tested Dryel in Ireland for two years (MW June 21, 2001).
Persil Revive, which allows consumers to refresh their dry-clean-only clothes at home in their machine dryers, was launched with a &£6.5m advertising and marketing push in August 2000. J Walter Thompson created the ads.
Unilever will stop supplying Persil Revive,which costs &£4.99 for five sheets, from April 1.
A household goods buyer says: “Persil Revive is on its way out because the product has just not performed. Also the packaging was such that it took up a lot of shelf space, and retailers do not want to stock bulky products that are not a hit with customers. Unilever’s intention of extending Persil into a complete clothes care brand has clearly not worked.”
In 1994, Unilever had to ditch its Persil Power brand, when P&G claimed that the product’s accelerated cleaning agent rotted clothes (MW January 20, 1995).
