Brand Ramdev

My recent visit to the Patanjali Chikitsalaya, to fetch some medicines for a relative, surprised me to the core. I was amazed to see that Patanjali Chikitsalaya, official store under which all the products and services of Baba Ramdev are sold, sell not only Ayurvedic Medicines, but almost all categories of FMCG products. Well this wasn't  something new that I discovered but to be frank I wasn't aware of the scale and depth of his business.

What surprised me more was a long queue of people wanting to buy different categories of products, confectioneries, health drinks,food items,cosmetics etc. Each product line was explored intensively, for example in the types of biscuits, there were equivalent variants of Monaco, Marie Gold, Multigrain and what not. Shampoo category had a product for  hairfall, dandruff etc.If someone was asking for a packet of biscuit he would say I want the one like Monaco,and also the one like Marie Gold.

Now this is the contradiction that I noticed a person buying a product from Patanjali Chikitsalaya, of a brand named Divya, and showing a brand recall for different brands.The brand recall  Monaco or Marie Gold have created for a particular type of biscuit is actually used to buy the similar product but from a different brand. This might seem a very small thing at a glance but it challenges the traditional concept of branding that the more we are able to create a positive brand recall the more influence we are going to have on the consumer's purchase decision. Now here hardly two or three people showing this behavior might not challenge the market share and branding initiatives of the above mentioned brands who have far more better reach and presence, but it certainly creates a question where this more than 1200 crore of turnover is coming from for Patanjali Chikitsalaya, is it another Giant in the making, to challenge the huge corporates like HUL and Nestle.

Isn't it the time that these FMCG giants start considering this small emerging business, who has accumulated a brand equity perhaps more then these companies, if not in numbers but at least in comparison to the cost they incur every year to build and sustain their brand versus I am just guessing what cost Baba Ramdev has incurred in creating  a brand for its products. Baba Ramdev is at advantage as his personal brand is so strong among rural and non metro Indians, and to a certain extent overseas that he is virtually incurring no cost and leveraging his existing brand equity.

This event and understanding has once again proved one point that a product to sustain in this fierce competitive market has not just to deliver what it is supposed to but something more than that. It has to create a legacy of where it is coming from and what its intentions are, and going beyond what are the founders of the company like, being untainted is not enough, are you there for satisfying a need or you have serious business to do, how much concerned you are for the consumer and are your products the manifestations of your concern towards a consumer, a society and a nation at large.Of course these brands spend crores of rupees to build the same perception and create the same legacy, but in this race the winner will be surely the one who looks real, whom consumer considers one of us and who seems honest.

it will not take a long time to see where this Brand Ramdev reaches, but for sure  Ramdev resides in the hearts of rural urban Indian middle class, and a little bit of conscious branding might make him reach the hearts of class conscious urban Indian, who look forward to him now atleast for the pure bottle of Honey.