By Chhavi Tyagi
Advertising

Rooh Afza goes for multi-pronged campaign

The flagship brand from Hamdard Laboratories goes for a large scale on-ground campaign to drive live engagement with its existing and prospective consumers

The brand has been around for more than 100 years and as is natural, has faced stiff competition not only from rivals but also from new emerging consumer trends in the liquid concentrate drink segment. However, Rooh Afza, the flagship brand from Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories, has launched a multi-pronged on-ground campaign which addresses the brand's so-called limitations at various levels.

The month long campaign, titled Rooh Afza Summer Festival, went on-ground on June 1, with execution planned mainly for the metros and other strongholds of the brand, including Noida, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad – but the response received made the charitable trust expand the experience to a number of Tier II and Tier III cities.

The campaign offers patrons and prospective consumers the chance to taste Rooh Afza in a variety of new recipes. The campaign has been worked out by Triton Delhi.

Rooh Afza goes for multi-pronged campaign
Rooh Afza goes for multi-pronged campaign
Tarundeep Rana, general manager, marketing, Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories, says, “Rooh Afza is a very unique product in that it can be consumed in different formats, going beyond a regular beverage. It is this feature that we are communicating and displaying to our consumers. Also, we are using this platform to interact and involve a younger set of prospective consumers – a target group that we are actively looking to engage with the brand.”

The campaign addresses the brand's proposition and aspirations at many levels – it reaffirms the brand's pull towards youth as the new targeted section, it communicates to its consumers the different formats in which the product can be used, and also works to counter the brand's limitation of being only a 'drink-at-home' product. The brand, says Rana, has an existing target group which includes women (25+) and seeks to pull the younger generation to start experimenting with the product.

For engaging the consumers, the organisation has mocktail tasting counters at six different malls in all the cities, where people can walk in and try out various mocktails made by using Rooh Afza. Rooh Afza on Wheels, a special branded canter, is travelling across cities, driving sampling of all the innovative desserts and mocktails with the product as a main ingredient.

The organisation has also roped in radio to not just amplify the campaign, but also as one more platform through which the consumers can engage with the product. Consumers are invited to call either Radio Mirchi or Big FM, depending on which operator is part of the campaign in their city, and leave their party schedules, along with an innovative recipe with Rooh Afza as a primary ingredient. Eight-10 winners will then be selected, who will have RJs (radio jockeys) from the respective radio station visiting the house with an offer on Rooh Afza's behalf to sponsor their party.

Rooh Afza goes for multi-pronged campaign
Rooh Afza goes for multi-pronged campaign
As for countering the 'drink-at-home' problem, the organisation is running a pilot initiative of installing Rooh Afza dispensers across high congregation points such as Big Bazaar outlets, malls, hospitals and highways in the major metros. Depending on the response, there will be many more such dispensers put up across other cities as well.

Though there have been several on-ground initiatives taken for the brand in the past, this campaign retains its focus on showcasing Rooh Afza as an additive product, rather than a mere beverage. “The move,” shares Rana, “will also help the brand cut through the perception of being a summer product as the new recipes will enable consumers to taste the product without any seasonal bias, which will help in increasing the shelf life of the product.”

The brand has also tied up with celebrity chef Neeta Mehta, who has launched a booklet which compiles several Rooh Afza recipes. The booklet is also being distributed through the multiple touch points of the campaign.

The Rs 100 crore brand, according to Rana, spends about Rs 10 crore annually on media budget across platforms, out of which roughly 30 per cent is spent on below-the-line (BTL) initiatives. The brand accounts for one third of Hamdard’s revenues and is available in two flavours – lemon and the regular version.

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