Dr Pradeep Salgaonkar speaks about Branding and businesses introducing newer products under their brand name, keeping the present needs of consumers in mind.
Pre-Covid period, whenever I rode a bike, I always used a handkerchief to cover my face so as to protect it from heat and dust on sunny days, although the ISI mark helmet with a tinted face cover flap covered most part of my face. I had never imagined then, that wearing a face mask would become order of the day enforced by law, and personally, if I need to protect myself from the deadly virus. I was the odd man out then, but today it’s a part of everyone’s life and is the accepted ‘new normal’. The good part of this is that the mask has become a big business opportunity in terms of manufacturing and selling designer masks in addition to using the masks in brand building by using the little space available to advertise company logos or products.
World famous brands like Disney and the NFL are placing their logo on cloth masks to make them attractive and fun to wear.Some masks feature famous characters such as Mickey & Minnie Mouse. Smaller businesses too are trying to feature their logo or a fast selling product on the face mask. It is a style statement and at the same time a branding exercise deliberately designed. Using the tiny space available on the face mask as advertising space makes great sense as the advertisement goes places and gets in close visible proximity to many with a direct view of the advertisement.
Face masks could be an innovative business idea for the future as well. In addition to branded and designer masks, we may get to see ‘Smart Masks’. The Covid times demand three things to be followed by mankind very seriously if one wants to protect himself, ‘SMS’ i.e ‘Sanitization’ time and again, ‘Mask’ to be worn throughout when one is in public places and ‘Social Distancing’ to avoid contracting the virus. So the face mask is going to be an integral part of everyone’s life at least till the scare of Covid is around. As such this requirement in the new normal may see an innovative ‘Smart Mask’ being launched which could carry a battery powered smart chip that would automatically trigger a sound or a shock wave to the intruder in one’s personal space of two meters. This chip could also do other functions like maintain the air quality, control temperature under the covered area, release mouth freshener as and when required and send signals to the mobile device. And yes, this product will make good business, especially if it comes for an established and trusted brand name in the market.
Besides the face masks, we have seen a host of business solutions and products emerging in these times revolving around fighting Covid. The famous Patanjali Ayurveda, backed by strong Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, launched ‘Coronil Kit’ and are marketing it as an immunity booster after it faced strong legal objection for marketing it as a cure for Covid. Dabur has introduced ‘Dabur Immunity Kit’ comprising of six products, besides promoting various immunity boosting products such as Tulsi drops, Chyawanprash and Glucose -D on television and digital platforms.
Host of FMCG companies have modified their product offerings around the theme ‘Immunity boosters’. Many businesses have introduced all together new products to build immunity of people. One can find a host of branded Khadas, Teilas, Nasal drops, Tea mixtures, Biscuits, Herbal meals and even milk & milk products being marketed as immunity boosters. The famous milk brand Amul, in addition to its ‘Haldi’ doodh, has launched two special variants ‘Ginger’ and ‘Tulsi’ doodh in order to boost immunity of people. That’s a great business in the name of fighting Covid and a strong branding exercise too. And yes, these products are being bought by consumers giving good earnings to companies. Businesses taking advantage of their umbrella brand name are introducing newer products or rebranding their products around the present need of people and consumers are buying them for improving overall health.
It is quite rational for people to buy these immunity boosters coming from reputed brands whom they have trusted over years. Moreover people don’t have a choice as they don’t have control over the pandemic, nor there is any definite cure and the only option left with them is to take control of this situation by resorting to boosting immunity and improving overall health. As such whether it’s a new offering or an old offering adroitly rebranded & repositioned as an immunity booster, people are going to buy it simply because they trust their parent brand. Hamdard for example which deals withUnani medicine products is re-launching some of their earlier products, like ‘Hamdard Chyawanprash’ and ‘Ayush Joshanda’ – a health boosting product. The company is running a new campaign ‘#StrongWithHamdard’ that focuses on adopting an alternate medicine system to boost immunity and also has launched ‘Aapka Hamdard’ on radio to amplify the reach and rekindle the love & trust to an age old brand among people.
There is a shift happening in the content consumption among people as well, with many people shifting to the OTT (Over-The-Top) platform, and as such the advertising and promotion too have moved to this platform. Many brands are aggressively promoting their new and rebranded offerings on this platform. It’s cheaper as well, compared to print and Television, and accessible as and when required by consumers on demand. And thus OTT serves as a good platform to carry on the branding exercise.
Introducing new products or rebranding products to fulfill immunity boosting and improving overall health & wellness needs of people is easy for well-established and trusted brands under the umbrella brand name. They can easily ride on the already existing brand equity and see the new introductions succeed in market. Nestle may introduce herbal immunity boosting noodles and easily succeed as the brand Maggi noodles is enormous and very popular among the youth. Similarly an immunity boosting chocolate variant could be a new craze among children and parents alike. And a platform such as OTT for promotion would be a perfect match for the target segment.
Whether it is the advertising platform such as the tiny space on face mask or the emerging OTT platform, or it is a new product like the smart mask or herbal immunity boosting noodles or chocolate, what is important is how astutely the umbrella brand is being used for generating sales to the new entrant. Whether these products will really serve as immunity boosters and improve health & wellbeing or no may remain as an unexplored question, but the reality is that it’s all in branding. The stronger is the umbrella brand, more trusted and acceptable will be the new offering coming from this stable. Thus businesses should earn trust and build strong brands to make profits, as ultimately ‘It’s all in Branding’.
