Memories refreshed

BY IMPACT Staff

Can a century-old brand transition successfully to the digital age? Tarundeep Singh Rana, Sr General Manager & Head Marketing, Hamdard Laboratories, is hopeful as the brand turns to Social Media to refresh old memories as well as create new ones

Q] How has Hamdard reinvented itself to cater to today’s consumer?

Hamdard, with brands like Rooh Afza and Safi in its portfolio has survived fragmentation, due to emergence of new categories and formats, and we’ve become stronger today. Rooh Afza and Safi are market leaders in their respective segments with more than 25 million bottles of Rooh Afza sold per annum, and clocking CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 20% over the last five years.

For Rooh Afza to stay relevant with today’s youth, we created a new integrated marketing campaign to reinforce the brand’s ‘natural refresher’ positioning and build a connect with influencers.

A key challenge is prolonging the product’s shelf life beyond summer months, and we have aggressively pushed the brand as an additive and taste maker. So we commissioned cookbook author Nita Mehta to devise 30 recipes inspired by the product. We’ve also used experiential marketing initiatives like Mocktail Tasting Counters at shopping malls, Rooh Afza On Wheels where vans travel across key markets with samples of desserts and mocktails, and Rooh Afza Kitty Parties in markets like Delhi, Punjab, UP, AP, Karnataka and Mumbai.

Q] Your latest TVC, ‘Meri Rooh Afza Story’, features crowd-sourced consumer experiences. Why did you decide to take this route? Similar campaigns have been undertaken by brands like Maggi with Amitabh Bachchan.

Most Indian consumers have grown up with Rooh Afza and have their own memories of the drink. We wanted to re-ignite these memories and get them to talk about them. The campaign has been planned in two stages. The first invites people to share their stories — which was driven through an integrated marketing campaign comprising of TV, Print, Radio, Outdoor and Digital media. In the second phase, the brand will use Print, OOH and Digital media to announce the winners and their stories via new TVC which will air on August 15.

Credible celebrities, like Mr Bachchan, can make a credible product even more so. On the other hand, the common man reflected in our communication makes our products more credible, because our products are for the masses.

Q] You have used Digital media aggressively to promote ‘Meri Rooh Afza Story’. What has been the response so far?

Apart from creating the Meri Rooh Afza App, we promoted the contest extensively through content on Facebook and Social Ads. We’re also trying to leverage participation, by way of user engagement and conversations, user-queryresponse and brand building around RoohAfza on social media channels.

The ‘Meri RoohAfza Story’ contest has seen overwhelming participation so far, and the brand visibility has increased. The positive buzz has helped the brand connect with consumers and induce conversations about the brand.

Q] What was the brief conveyed to the creative agency? What is the positioning and target group that you are looking at?

The brief was to engage the consumer in a way that is instantly relatable. The intent was to reinforce the brand’s positioning of ‘naturally refreshing’. The agency came up with the idea of ‘refreshing nostalgia’, something only a 100-yearold brand can rightfully claim under the sun. There’s no restriction with our target audience, since everyone over the years would have had memories of the brand.

Q] What are the fundamental principles of your marketing strategy?

We spend around 10% of our revenues on advertising. Although on a pan-portfolio level we are active through the year, we get 60% of our revenues between March and October, which is also our peak marketing and advertising season.

We have an integrated marketing communication approach. While TV remains the lead medium, we actively deploy other platforms like Print, Outdoor, Social Media and activation to amplify our communication connect and outreach. Going forward, we plan to increase round-the year footprint for our star brands, with Social Media and outreach forming a key component of the marketing mix. We also plan to increase our investments in consumer activation and experiential marketing initiatives. Our Social Media spends are also going up significantly and we believe that Digital will form the core of all our communications in the future.

Q] How is Hamdard looking to counter competition from other OTC brands?

Hamdard continues to stay relevant to existing users even post the advent of newer formats, because of unmatched purity and safety, 100% natural origin, unique formulations, innovative consumer communication and outreach initiatives and continuous thrust on improving our direct retail footprint. With categories that we have created, like blood purifiers, no other brand has been able to make inroads in that space. We create our own flavours and make our own content. Q] What has been the growth YoY? Which region contributes the maximum traction? Looking ahead, what are the focus areas?

In the last five years, Hamdard’s top line revenues multiplied by around 2.5 times. RoohAfza is one of our key drivers, with around Rs 200 cr turnover, contributes close to 45% to our total revenue and has clocked CAGR of 20% over the last five years. Rooh Afza is the market leader with a market share of over 40%, in the Squashes, Crushes, Cordials and Soft drink covert category valued at approximately Rs 500 cr*. Safi, Roghan Badam Shirin and Sualin have managed to build their unique positioning and are market leaders in their respective segments.

The North and West regions account for 85% of total sales, 55% of all India sales come from the top 35 metros. We’ve made inroads in South India with the focus on Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, where growth is almost double the average national growth rate.

Looking ahead, there are different strategies put in place to drive growth for all our brands. To drive growth in OTC, we have launched products, for cholesterol/diabetes management in the lifestyle space. There are a slew of extensions planned in the FMCG space as well. 

(*Data source: Nielsen RSA Data 2012 for Squashes & Soft Drink Converts Segment)

Q] What are the changes you’ve made in distribution to help achieve your growth targets?

We overhauled the distribution setup from a three-tiered structure to a more manageable two tiered layer. Earlier, executives had no idea where products went after it reached the warehouse of the primary distributor. Now, in a two-tiered set up with 15 CFAs (Carrying & Forwarding Agent) through a network of about 1,300 stockists has helped improve direct retail footprint and save 4% in overheads.

We also remodeled the distribution structure into category-focused laterals. The H1 (Hamdard 1) division is the FMCG wing of the company and comprises RoohAfza along with Sualin, Safi, Roghan Badam Shirin and a clutch of fast moving OTC products. The H2 segment deals with traditional medicines and had a portfolio consisting of Cinkara, Masturin and Joshina, among others.

Q] What initiatives are you undertaking to promote brands other than Rooh Afza?

Our new campaign for Safi will hit the market soon, with a possible change in the brand’s strategy and positioning. With this campaign we aim to venture into Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

Feedback: simran.sabherwal@exchange4media.com

Tags : CMO Interview