A brand recall like no other: What Lalitaji's character did to Surf Excel's market share

It was at a time of crisis that Surf’s Lalitaji debuted on television screens in the 1980s. After dominating the market for about two decades, the detergent powder was facing extreme competition from a newer brand that claimed it had the same results but at a much lower price. The market for detergent powders was increasing, but Surf’s share was being captured by the cheaper option. 

Shunu Sen, the former marketing director of Hindustan Lever, the brand’s parent company, approached advertising company Lintas for a solution. 

How the tagline came about

Lintas, (now MullenLowe Lintas Group), then headed by ad guru Alyque Padamsee, conducted in-depth research to find out why some would continue preferring Surf over other brands. This way, Surf’s values could be underlined without demeaning its competitor. 

It turned out that Surf offered better quality washing with no harmful side effects. The advertising agency decided to highlight the detergent powder’s value for money and sideline its higher price through the Lalitaji ad campaigns. 

This gave birth to the much-recalled tagline of the ads: “Surf ki kharidari mein hi samajhdari hai.”
However, for the tagline to resonate with the crowd, it had to be delivered by a character who would be identifiable to the biggest buyers of the product of that time—housewives. 

The advertising company decided to have a middle-class homemaker as their representative and justify her decision to choose Surf over others as the reason others should follow suit. The name ‘Lalitaji’ was chosen because it was a common name that all housewives could relate to. 

The birth of Lalitaji

Kavita Chaudhry was already an established actress before she became Lalitaji. She had acted in a play, Pagal Khana, which was directed by Alyque Padamsee. Padamsee asked her to audition for the role, and while hundreds auditioned, it was Chaudhry who was chosen. 

While the crisp, white saree-clad homemaker with a red bindi was coming to life in the advertising company’s creative chambers, Chaudhry gave some insights into the character that became essential to the character’s popularity. In her audition script, she noticed that Lalitaji was too quick to jump to the brand’s praise. With permission from the creative groups involved, she changed the script in such a way that the focus of her bargaining with the vegetable seller to get the right price was highlighted, before she decided that the costlier Surf was worth buying over a cheaper alternative. She also added some bodily gestures, like tapping her head, that became the character’s trademark later. 

To give Lalitaji more authority, Padamsee decided that Chaudhry’s voice, which was high-pitched, would be dubbed over by voice-over artist and Doordarshan reader Sarita Sethi. 

Surf’s ad debuted on television in 1984, around the time of the broadcast of the Summer Olympics, and ran for 18 months. 

Lalitaji’s impact

The advertisements were so successful that they were produced in 16 other languages. It achieved the goal that it had set out for: Surf’s market share increased from low numbers, and its competitor’s growth was impeded. 

In a Day After Recall (DAR) done by Hindustan Lever, Lalitaji’s numbers were the highest. Her wit and straightforward attitude had won everyone’s hearts. 

The character’s popularity ran beyond the detergent market. It spread to the two-wheeler ad market campaigns and even election campaigns, with candidates appealing to the masses that voting for him would be a decision of “samajhdari.”
With the Surf campaign, Lalitaji became one of the success stories of the advertising industry in India. 

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