In 1999, the leading Indian herbal health care company, Himalaya Drug Company (HDC) launched an advertisement campaign for its range of personal care products branded ‘Ayurvedic Concepts.’ The Rs 120 million1 campaign was extensively covered by the electronic and print media. The television commercials (TVCs) for the brand featured an unusual brand ambassador. Indians, who were used to advertisements featuring celebrities from the world of movies/sports, and young, good-looking models, watched in amusement an old, ‘grandmotherly’ lady promoting the brand. According to the marketing research conducted by Himalaya Drug Company (HDC), most consumers perceived Ayurveda as an age-old branch of medicine, which was revered but not accepted as being reliable for treating ailments. Thus, the two major tasks for HDC in India were to establish an image for itself and promote the message that Ayurveda was as modern and vibrant a science as any other. HDC realized that it needed a campaign, which would be able to destroy the commonly accepted notion of Ayurveda as something developed by ‘sadhus’ (Hindi-language term for saints). The company adopted a strategy to present Ayurveda as a contemporary form of medicine. The company wanted to project that products under the Ayurvedic Concepts range addressed the complete body, and did so better than anything else as they were formulated with R&D support. The brand was promoted with a tagline, ‘Get on with your life,’ which indicated that its products helped people cope better with the pressures of modern life. HDC and its advertising agency, Contract, decided that the product’s positioning had to be conveyed strongly by a protagonist. After considerable deliberations, it was decided that the protagonist would be ‘Dadima’ (grandmother). Soumitro Banerji (Banerji), Executive Vice-President, Consumer Products, HDC, said, “In our institution, the grandmother is still a very warm, loved, trusted and respected figure. The only problem the consumer feels is that the grandmother has to be contemporary before her advice can be listened to.” To address the above ‘problem’, the advertisements very subtly revealed the fact that ‘Dadima’ was a double-doctorate in molecular biology. HDC initially released three TVCs: daily health capsules (airplane), digestive capsule (cafe) and hair care (card shop). In all the three TVCs, the goodness of Ayurveda was projected by the warm and lovable Dadima who knew the present day generation well. For instance, in the advertisement designed for digestive capsules set in a cafe, the brand ambassador spoke to a group of students and informed them of the contents of the capsules, their effect on the body and how they would help them maintain a good digestive system. Moreover, she spoke in English, a language the youngsters use to communicate with each other. The time duration for the three TVCs was 60, 50 and 45 seconds respectively. The campaign was targeted at cable and satellite households. During February-March 1999, HDC ran over 2000 spots on various leading channels including Sony, Star Plus, Star News, Star Movies, ESPN, Channel [V], Raj, Discovery, Sun, Gemini, DD- 7 (Calcutta) and local cable channels in Mumbai and Delhi. After the initial round, the campaign maintained an ‘event-based’ presence all through the following year. Due to its strong R&D, product development and marketing efforts, Ayurvedic Concepts was able to garner business worth Rs 150 million in 1999, Rs 250 million in 2000 and Rs 400 million in 2001.

1. Describe why HDC chose ‘Dadima’ as a protogonist? Desribe also how they faced a problem in projecting and how did they over come the problem? 2. Write briefly about how HDC reached its target market and the difficulties it faced in selling ayurvedic products?