Behind The Making Of India’s Most Successful Detergent Brand Ft Unilever Diaries
The Launch Story - Pioneering Market Development for a New Category Surf Excel is India's first detergent powder. Hindustan Unilever Limited pioneered Surf as an NSD (non-soapy detergent) powder made from petrochemicals, in 1957. It hit the shelves in 1959 as an alternative for housewives' indiscriminate usage of bar soap. Originally known as Surf, the brand is now synonymous with the word ‘detergent powder’ throughout the country. It was designed for housewives and targeted the country's middle-income group, which accounts for the majority of the continent's population.






