Here’s a question I never thought I’d ask The Grocer’s chief sub-editor: “Is ‘underboob’ hyphenated or one word?”
But ask I did, as I yesterday wrote the story about Unilever’s latest innovation in personal care. It’s a 12-strong lineup of deodorants suitable for the whole body – not just armpits but also intimate and sensitive areas like breasts, testicles and intergluteal cleft (AKA bum crack).
They boast “exclusive Odour Adapt technology that adapts to the varying odours found in different parts of the body”, according to Unilever. Available across Sure, Sure Men and Lynx brands, all are formulated to provide 72-hour freshness while being kind to skin.
The deodorants come in spray, stick and category-first lotion formats, meaning a fragrant underboob or undercarriage is only a squirt, slide or splosh away.
Inevitably, the launch will raise eyebrows and titters among some people, as they affect horror or amusement at the thought of, say, gonads that reek of Coconut & Sandalwood (one of the two Lynx variants).
Such reactions are understandable, to some degree. It’s very easy to summon the uncomfortable/hilarious mental image of a 19-year-old lad freshening his nether regions with Lynx Lower Body Spray while out on the pull.
But past the snickering and pearl-clutching there’s a really rather brilliant innovation. Not least because Unilever research found more than 70% of consumers were self-conscious about their body odour – sometimes to quite an extreme degree – while 45% of men felt they had malodour issues in intimate areas.
Unilever’s ‘pits and bits’ solution
These anxieties have led to one in three people using regular deodorant on their naughty bits or creating “some sort of a homemade solution”, Monique Rossi, Unilever GM for deodorant, tells The Grocer.
“A lot of them are dissatisfied with what they are getting, because the products that currently exist are not really designed to be for all-over body odour protection. They are designed for sweat protection and can cause irritation.”
And it’s not just their most privates that people are concerned about. “Men talk about their lower back, women talk about their underboobs,” Rossi says. ”So, there are different parts of the body, not just intimate parts.” The new products are also usable on feet. Clearly, there’s plenty of demand and many uses for Sure Whole Body Deo and the like.
For Unilever, there’s also the major potential for a bonanza. Rossi points to whole body deodorant being worth around $300m (£244m) in the US. She predicts “it could be about 10% to 15% value” of the overall UK deodorant category “in about three years’ time”. Based on last year’s value sales [NIQ 52 w/e 7 September 2024], that would be as much as £10.3m.
Given Unilever has spent “a few years” developing its posh new deodorants and is about to spend £12.5m on marketing them, the company clearly has confidence in the new launch. They also make sense from a strategic point of view: Unilever has been working since 2022 on improving deodorant technology and premiumising the market. That work continues here.
Oh, and personal care below the belt is clearly a growing trend across fmcg, such as the men’s Intimate range Gillette unveiled in September 2023 for pubic hair trimming and removal. Even the rise of innovative and agile challengers in period care, such as Flo and Wuka, shows suppliers are thinking more carefully about products destined to be used south of the waistline.
It’s an opportunity for grocery that’s not to be laughed at.
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