Brand Management
Q1. Patanjali is an Indian brand of Ayurvedic, herbal and wellness products. In 2014 Patanjali was already competing with The Himalaya Drug Company which was then in the Rs 1500 crore turnover range, with targets around 12% growth. Himalaya however, is a much older company than Patanjali, founded in 1937, though it started thinking of itself as an FMCG player only as late as 2009. It has also expanded beyond pharma to wellness and personal care, has its own stores, sells online – a very similar journey in fact. In that context, Patanjali’s growth is indeed commendable. (Biotique is a beauty brand also based on the Ayurveda platform but has not expanded its product range.)
Its growth becomes even more astounding when we look at Patanjali’s revenue declaration for FY 2016-17, where the brand clocked a revenue of INR 10,000 Crore. Baba Ramdev declared that he was on a “MNC bhagao” mission, and that Patanjali would take over as the largest brand in a year or two, eventually wiping out MNCs.
There haven’t been that many new, successful entrants in the FMCG world in the recent past at the national level. Barriers to entry are the high cost of awareness required for a national brand (read celebrity endorsements and mainstream TV advertising), managing a sophisticated network and uniform quality control. A big cost saver for the brand was that they didn’t need to spend on advertising in the initial years because of the high brand recall of Baba Ramdev whose popular TV show and public appearances had gained him mass media awareness at a very low cost. The brand has now launched a series of advertisements about its various products the most famous being the Dant Kanti Ad which openly takes on other toothpaste brands. It is a separate matter that many of Patanjali’s ads are reported for being misleading and challenged in Court.
After entering and expanding in the food and grain market in the last two years. Patanjali has announced to enter in the apparel sector with the prospective launch of Patanjali Jeans and expand its presence in the fast food sector, by opening Quick Service Restaurants which would provide over 400 vegetarian fast food items.
Critically analyze the brand extension strategy of Patanjali with respect to whether it would have positive effects on the brand? What are the risks associated with such a strategy for Patanjali?
Q2. Lenskart is India’s one of the biggest eyewear company. It was founded in 2010 by Peyush Bansal. Lenskart is India’s first eyewear online portal that offers an excellent service of providing eye glasses and lenses. After becoming the number one online store for eyewear in India Lenskart has also started offline stores throughout the country.
Peyush Bansal is the founder and CEO of Lenskart. He was born on 26 April 1985, and went to McGill University, for graduation in the branch of Electrical – IT, Control & Automation. After that, he did his post graduate diploma in entrepreneurship at IIM Bangalore. After his studies, he went to the USA and worked for Microsoft Corporation as a Program Manager. He worked there for one year and came back to India to pursue his dream of becoming an entrepreneur. After returning to India he began his journey as an entrepreneur and started an online classified business with a website called searchmycampus targeted to college students. While this business was going well Peyush conceived an idea of selling specs online in India.
Lenskart also operates in countries like Australia, US, UK and many other countries.The main objective of Lenskart is to providing high-quality eyewear to millions of Indians at affordable prices, giving free eye check ups at home and by extending the services to the remote corners of India.
The biggest challenge that Lenskart faced was to persuade the customers to rely on online store as an alternative way of purchasing. The company needed to change the pre-set traditional mindset of people and instill confidence in them that they sell quality eyewear products at prices better than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. The company raised 4 million Dollars in the first round of funding in 2011 from IDG. Then in 2013 company raised 10 million dollars from Ronnie Screwvala-led Unilazer Ventures Pvt. Ltd. In the third series of funding in 2015 Lenskart had raised 22 million dollars from TPG Growth. Hong Kong-based TR Capital and existing investor IDG Ventures. In the last round of Investment company raised Rs.400 crore from World Bank arm IFC, Ratan Tata, and Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan.
Analyze the marketing strategy of Lenskart? What are some of challenges it faces and how can it overcome them?
Q3. Cinthol, a heritage brand from Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, has prospered in the highly competitive bathing soap market in India as the brand has managed to keep pace with changing consumer preferences through marketing actions. After three decades with a single product under the brand name Cinthol, in 1968, the company introduced New Cinthol in a new package, fragrance an shape. An new advertising campaign was designed for New Cinthol, which was positioned on the freshness platform. Subsequently, variants of the brand, such as Cinthol lime, Cinthol fresh, Cinthol cologne, Cinthol deo and Cinthol Fresh Aqua, were launched. The brand gradually extended to include deodorant sprays and talcum powder.The primary target for the brand has been the Indian male,and the company has used well-known male film stars as brand ambassadors to communicate the brand promise of confidence that comes from the freshness and deodarising properties that Cinthol offers. The brand depicts the active outdoor man as the context for brand communications. Cinthol has changed its portfolio, communication strategy and execution, and the packaging and other marketing mix elements to keep the brand contemporary. The brand core promise of freshness and protection that gives self-confidense to the user, however, has remained consistent.
The current campaign tries hard to push the brand into the youth space. Created by Creativeland Asia, the TVC depicts a few youngsters enjoying the product at various water bodies, highlighting the new tagline, ‘Alive is Awesome’. Sajan Raj Kurup, founder and creative chairman, Creativeland Asia says that the new campaign is an experiential one which will go beyond traditional media. “Over the years, I have seen Cinthol stand for an invigoratingly cool and alive soap brand. I felt that it’s time cinthol claimed back its standing in the experiential era. It celebrates and recognises a more adventurous and international India. And, a less inhibited and intimidated Indian,” he adds. Thus, the insight behind the campaign was to generate a whole new idea with the ‘Alive is Awesome’ tagline.
a. Discuss the branding and marketing strategy used by Cinthol.
b. How has Cinthol managed to survive and thrive over the years?