While pursuing my management education, I was always fascinated with those case studies which talked about smaller companies taking on the bigger ones and that too successfully! Most of us enjoy the anecdotes where the underdogs beat the biggies. So I was very excited to know that Patanjali is giving a tough time to the established FMCG players in India which will certainly make Patanjali a part of management folklore in times to come! There is a news site which features an article everyday ‘what changed while you were sleeping’ which basically tracks news across the globe (in different time zones) that could have an impact on our lives in one way or the other. So this one goes out to all the FMCG companies: While ‘you were sleeping’ Patanjali became one of the fastest growing FMCG companies in India and the worst part is this is going to give you ‘sleepless’ nights in coming months.
Couple of factors that may have worked in its favour: personally I am tired of seeing the superstars promoting FMCG products and trying to prove to the viewers that they owe their lives to the brands they endorse! While their acting talent is very much appreciated on big screens, the same acting in advertisements is not moving the viewers! I mean, it is so funny to see an actor say that a particular hair oil/soap/toothpaste is the reason for his silky hair/nice skin/shinier teeth! It just doesn’t connect. One will have to be really stupid to base his consumer products buying decisions on the brand ambassadors. If companies really think having a big star endorsing a daily use product will have a huge impact on sales, then they are insulting our intelligence. May be it worked in the past and may still work today in certain cases but thankfully it is losing relevance overall, courtesy consumers becoming more informed and the superstars becoming less popular due to their untimely dialogue delivery off screen! In case of Patanjali, the founder himself is the brand ambassador and we know for a fact that he does practice what he preaches so we believe him.
Also interesting to note is that Patanjali was one of the biggest advertisers last year. It just goes to reemphasize the fact that you may have a good product but it is equally important to market the same, especially when you are new in the industry. Patanjali may have won the race in the last few months but it will be interesting to see who wins the marathon in the long run.
Note: I have restricted myself to just a general view in this blog as this is a huge subject. Related and specific topics which are not part of this blog but interesting to follow could be ‘Patanjali creating newer product categories’, ‘Patanjali’s marketing strategies vis-à-vis rest of the FMCG players’ etc.
