Himalaya Chyavanaprasha takes a different route to brand building

How different can Chyavanaprasha advertising get from the strong-even-though-old or healthier-than-the-rest-of-the-kids stereotypes thronging television and print?

Well, the latest entrant into the market - Himalaya Chyavanaprasha from Himalaya Drug Company - wants to be precisely that - different - with the help of its agency Contract Advertising, Bangalore. It is trying to pump up excitement in the otherwise staid category by using brand ambassadors "who represent the brand values best'. Sources say the investment on the exercise is between Rs 3-4 crore.

According to Dipak Marwah, senior vice-president, Contract, "The communication (for Himalaya Chyavanaprasha) is different in two ways. First, we are not talking to the mother as most other brands do. We are talking to the kid directly and through the kid, to the mother. Second, most others talk about immunity from cough and cold and the health angle only. In contrast, we have ascribed a value, which is intrinsic to both the product and the consumer."

The value, in this case, is that there are "no shortcuts" to success and to health. The whole creative strategy and its subsequent presentations are built around this core value. The agency feels that it would be able to strike an emotional bond with the consumer because they are likely to readily empathise with this brand proposition. According to Marwah, the company hasn't taken to short cuts while making the product. "They have stuck to the original formulation as prescribed by the ayurvedic formulary of India and have been extremely strict with their selection of herbs and processes to come up with a quality product," he says. Thus by marrying the product values with the expectation of the consumer, the agency has come up with the baseline, "Himalaya Chyavanaprasha. Sehat ho ya kaamyabi, no short cuts."

To add weight to its differentiation strategy, Himalaya Chyavanaprasha offers a honey-like taste, in stark contrast to its competitors in the Rs 350-crore Chyavanaprasha market. Alongside, the company expects the brand's bright orange packaging to help it stand out in the cluttered shop shelves. Contract has of course retained the all-too-familiar Dadima in the two theme ads currently on air. In these ads, Dadima is seen exhorting her grandchildren not to take shortcuts. The next set of ads that have brand endorsers Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan championing the "no shortcuts" theme will break next month.

The company is looking at a big burst in media, especially on TV, which would include sponsoring a number of programmes across channels. In store are direct contact programmes as well. The agency plans to organise school-level activities wherein kids would be invited to sample the product. All this, however, will happen in the next stage of its communication plan. © 2002 agencyfaqs!