integrated marketing communication strategy of patanjali

7/23/2019 Integrated Marketing Communication Strategy of Patanjali

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An Analysis of the Integrated Marketing Communication Strategy

Patanjali Ayurveda Limited (PAL), which was founded as a small pharmacy has

emerged as leader in FMCG (fast moving consumable goods) sector in India. fter

surpassing !imalaya "rugs Company and other yurveda and herbal based

manufacturers, #atan$ali is set to pose a stif competition or various FMCG

giants like industan !nilever" P#G and others with already surpassed $mami

and %yot&i La'oratories Ltd .

It is a brand hosting health, food and self%care products. From medicines to cosmetics

to food products li&e biscuits, noodles, corn'a&es etc #atan$ali presents an alternative

to all the established players in the mar&et. ll this, at a comparatively lower price.

he brand has over *+, outlets across India and its -*%*/ revenue was 0s. *-

crore. #atan$ali claims to have raised the bar to 0s. - crore this year.

1ut before I go into more details about Patanjali , it is very important to introduce the

man responsible for setting up this company (call it phenomenon)% a'a amdev .

Baba Ramdev 2 A Spiritual Guru, Strategist

Extraordinaire & Marketing Genius

renowned public 3gure in India, a'a amdev

(born as Ramkrishna Yadav in !aryana) is a spiritual

guru who is best &nown for reviving yoga and

Ayurveda in the Indian households and made it a

part of their lifestyle.

In *445 1aba 0amdev founded #atan$ali as a

pharmacy but it was only in -5 that Patanjali

Ayurveda Ltd* was listed as a public company and



#atan$ali yurvedic 6td2#roduct 6ines

#atan$ali yurvedic 6td2#roduct #ortfolio

7tarted initially as an yurvedaic pharmacy, #6 now operates in t&ree broad

business segments % oods (foods, supplements, digestives, dairy, $uices, etc), FMCG

(cosmetics% shampoo, soaps, facewash home care% detergent ca&es, powder, li8uid,

etc) and Ayurvedic products (healthcare products for blood pressure, s&in diseases,

$oint pain, etc). It is the most diversi+ed consumer goods +rm in ,ndia.

So why this hype around atan!ali"##



6et us now have a loo& at the reasons what ma&es #atan$ali so special and why I

chose this topic for my pro$ect.

• 7tarted as a pharmacy, Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd* has diversi+ed into

multiple categories and has become a popular mass choice in various

categories. giving toug& competition to giants like !L" P#G etc. -&e

dramatic gro.t& &as 'een ac&ieved in less t&an a decade.

• It has given rise to many ne. categories amla !uice, aloevera !uice etc) and

has emerged as one of India9s more successful brands, especially in the

otherwise less penetrated rural markets something "hich all the #M$G

giants have been eyeing %or so long)

• Many Indian manufacturers li&e /andu P&armaceuticals" aidyanat&"

0a'ur ,ndia Limited" amdard etc. have been supplying various ayurvedic

and herbal based products in the consumer mar&et for over a century but none

o t&em &ave got suc& penetration in ,ndian consumer market as

Patanjali .

• ccording to 12is& you .ere listed3 Patanjali Ayurveda: ; a report by

multinational 'rokerage CL4A ; Patanjali is 'igger

t&an $mami and %yot&y La's and is < per&aps t&e astest gro.ing ast

moving consumer company in ,ndia .it& revenues in e5cess o s

6"788 crore or 689:;97.

• #atan$ali:s revenues have more than 8uadrupled in the past three years. "espite

undercutting competitors, PAL1s operating margin is around 68< = &ig&er

t&an many o its peers .&ic& advertise aggressively .

• t a time when most FMCG companies are still sceptical about a pic&%up in

consumption resulting in improvement in revenues and pro3tability, PAL is



eyeing 678< revenue gro.t& in #Y' (7ource( Edel"eiss Research report co)

authored by Abneesh Roy, *oo!a +ath and anmay Sharma).

• he company9s products are not $ust limited in the Indian mar&et. hey are

present in many markets across t&e .orld too 'ot& o>ine and online

(!A$" $urope" !4).

• 0ecent tie;ups .it& Future group to increase presence in the modern retail

channel and with the 0eence esearc& and 0evelopment ?rganisation to

manufacture and mar&et herbal supplements and food products in India and

abroad are evidences of the rising glory of #atan$ali.

nd all this success at almost negligi'le e5penditure on Advertising #

Promotions(A#P)* versus ot&er consumer companies t&at &ave A#P

spends ranging rom 98;97<" as a percentage o revenues*

http://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=Revenue


http://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=Edelweiss+Research


http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/drdo-ties-up-with-ramdev-to-market-supplements-food-products-115082300759_1.html








-&is is somet&ing t&at &as 'een 'ot&ering everyone t&at &o. a 'rand led 'y

a person .it& no ormal 'usiness education could c&allenge t&e ;sc&ool led

FMCG giants and 'ecome so successul in suc& a s&ort span o time* All t&is

success .it&out any meaningul A#P investments unlike all ot&er FMCG

companies .&ic& set aside &uge 'udget or 'randing # advertising* 2&at is

t&e ,MC strategy t&at &as &elped it succeed in suc& a s&ort .&ile@ Lets

analyBe it*

Patanjali Ayurveda Limited 3 An Analysis o t&e ,MC 4trategy so ar

Patanjali3 A Personality; Led rand

#atan$ali is a personality%led brand with 1aba 0amdev being its ambassador. -&e

connection is so strong t&at or majority o t&e consumers" a'a amdev is

t&e 'rand . a'a amdev em'odies .&at Patanjali is all a'out* -&e

diference 'et.een &im and regular 'rand am'assadors is &e lives t&e

'rand* -&ere is no gap 'et.een .&at &e espouses and .&at Patanjali .is&es

to communicate* -hile personality)led brands aren.t uncommon in advertising ) the

late Steve /obs personi0ed "hat Apple stood %or and Richard 1ranson lends his

charisma and charm to 2irgin ) 3 don.t think there are any examples o% it in ayurveda,<

says =iran =halap, co%founder, Chlorophyll 1rand and Communications Consultancy.

1aba 0amdev is the face of >oga in India. part from this, the activists of 1harat

7wabhiman, a social organi?ation run by 1aba 0amdev also promote #atan$ali

products. ccording to reports, + la&h trainers of the guru have conducted >oga

classes for about - Crore Indians@ his is a ripe mar&et that is convinced about the

eAectiveness of 1aba 0amdev9s methods. he man himself is a huge brand@ It is this

trust that propels #atan$ali as a reliable name in the FMCG sector.



Pre Launc& Latent Preparation

close loo& at the $ourney of both #atan$ali and 1aba 0amdev and we get to &now

that there has been a rigorous yet latent preparation in setting up a target

market and propagating to t&em t&e values t&at Patanjali .ould eventually

em'ody*

7uccess root of #atan$ali yurveda goes bac& decades when 1aba 0amdev started his

campaign of Doga E &arat 4.a'&iman E 4.ades&i A'&iyan. "uring his campaign,

a latent message was seeded deeply in the subconscious mind of the consumers

over the years by ma&ing aware people for healthy life with swadeshi

products. ence a Psyc&ological latent need .as created .ell years 'eore in

consumers mind or suc& products .&ic& can provide &im and later on

conversion o t&is latent cues into active triggers to accept Patanjali &ence

movement o consumers to purc&ase t&e same*

1efore going into further details about the IMC strategy of #atan$ali, let us 3rst

understand the values propagated by 1aba 0amdev and how eAectively are they

communicated by the brand #atan$ali.



alues t&at Patanjali 4tands For; -&e Foundation o its ,MC 4trategy

1aba 0amdev has always been the propagator of two ma$or concepts2 4.ades&i and

Ayurveda. From the very beginning, 1aba 0amdev has always advocated the

audience at his yoga shivirs and otherwise to resort to ayurveda and herbal products

for treatment of diseases. !e has also brought the 7wadeshi wave in India% advocating

people to shun the products made by international companies and use the products

made Indian industries% to help the country9s economy grow.

7o this is how 0amdev 3rst instilled these values in the Indian consumers and then

launc&ed t&e Patanjali 'rand to +ll t&e void % advance Psyc&ological 'locking

o Consumer mind to in&i'it purc&ase o e5isting 'rand s and indirectly

pursuing consumers to ollo. &is 'rand . Bery intelligently, 1aba 0amdev

communicated to the masses that #atan$ali was a 7wadeshi brand, a brand that

belonged to the Indian people. !ence #atan$ali was able to leverage the feeling of

nationalism fostered by 0amdev as people eperienced emotional satisfaction and a

feeling of pride on purchasing #atan$ali9s products (i.e. we are using our own product D

we are using natural product D we are contributing for our country Dculture by non

purchasing MEC9s #roducts).

bove all, 1aba 0amdev was successful to develop a self actuali?ation and

contributing feeling to building Country. his feeling was well developed in advance by

7wadeshi Movement campaigns across the decades.

atan!ali $ogo



#atan$ali9s logo clearly communicates all the values that 1aba 0amdev and the

company stands for. he simple design and white bac&ground spea& for the simplicity

and purity of the brand9s products. he logo has the following main components, each

signifying a diAerent value.

he symbol of H?m9% the core of the !indu religion and Indian traditions

forms the core of #atan$ali9s logo% representative of a &ey value propagated

by 0amdev% Go 'ack to Ayurveda*

picture of a yogi net to the m, represents 1aba 0amdev% the face of the

brand (It ma&es easier for #atan$ali to win the trust of people% through

0amdev9s fan following)

sapling , right net to the yogi is indicative of the herbal and natural

products of #atan$ali

he strokes o green" .&ite and safron colours in the bottom right

corner are the colours o t&e ,ndian ag% signifying the most important

value that both 0amdev and #atan$ali stand for%4.ades&i i.e eing ,ndian.

Content Marketing3 -&e Core o Patanjalis rat&er a'a amdevs ,MC

4trategy



6et9s begin with understanding what content marketing is. It is creating and

distri'uting relevant and valua'le content to attract" acHuire" and engage a

clearly de+ned and understood target audience. In simpler terms, Hattracting

consumers to our product" not 'y 'om'arding t&em .it& incessant ads 'ut

'y educating t&em on t&e general sp&ere .&ere .e operate9. he &eyword

here is Hgeneral sp&ere9@ If we &eep harping about our product, we can only epect

the target consumers to be bored to death. #lus this is what every other company is

doing. 7o would a company be able to stand out to its consumersJ And &ere"

e5actly" is .&ere a'a amdev proved to 'e p&enomenal*

For the last decade, 1aba 0amdev did not focus on proclaiming that his brand was the

best. Instead, he told people about the evils of MECs, the virtues of products made in

India, the corruption of corporates, the eploitation of farmers, the cancerous eAects

of fertilisers and chemicals and $ust about everything that surrounded his products. !e

$ust showed the reasons and left people on their own to eplore his products.

his was brilliant. !e was following a Ion;Pus&y communication strategy . Khen

someone forces us to try out a product we might have a bias to re$ect it as

Hoverselling9. 1ut here no%one was pushing anything, only an environment was created

where consumers wanted to see if the alternative to the above evils was usable.

Consumers might have been in'uenced by the fear of diseases or might $ust have

been patriotic enough to shun all evil L7 3rms. 2&atever t&e reason" t&ey

already &ad a positive environment to try t&e Patanjali products*

4o t&ats &o. t&e Patanjali 'rand &ad a .illing consumer . 1ut was this

enoughJ bviously not, they still had to deliver. nd how did they do thatJ 1y

delivering t&roug& rilliant product Huality at c&eaper prices (exactly "hat a

typical 3ndian customer looks %or) alue For Money ). >es, they were not the panacea

of everything as (often) claimed but the toothpaste was as good as any other in the



mar&et, as were the oils, as were the etracts, and as was everything else. nd all this

priced at around *+N%N discount with respect to competition. nd guess what,

#atan$ali overdid even its own stupendous record in t&e distri'ution

department . here is hardly any village, any city in India where one cannot 3nd

these products.

Advertising and at t&e same time" not advertising

Khile most of the FMCG companies opt for traditional mediums of communication (B

ads, newspaper etc), 1aba 0amdev opted for direct interaction with consumers during

his yoga shivirs in diAerent parts of the country. From the stage bac&drop to the entry

gates, there are banners of Patanjali everywhere. 0amdev promotes Patanjali

products during &is yoga sessions and discourses ("hich are aired on Aast&a

c&annel ) a spiritual channel in 3ndia and this is ho" 1aba Ramdev developed a

massive %an %ollo"ing), weaving it cleverly into his narrative and ensuring his followers

also become users of his products. 0irect communication is ar more efective to

put it convincing impressions in consumers mind 'ecause an emotional



eeling can 'e transerred and elt 'y communicator and consumer 'ot&

resulting &ig&er degree E c&ances o consumer tending to act or

communicated message4

his way of communication is so eAective that all his followers tend to turn into future

potential consumers and this is the reason that when #atan$ali products were

launched, a huge number of potential consumers were already available.

part from the shivirs, #atan$ali entered the traditional media (B) through astha

channel. Information about #atan$ali products was 'ashed during the brea& slots

during the telecast of 1aba 0amdev9s yoga shows on the channel. Millions of people

across the country follow his show and hence this guaranteed a vast reach to

#atan$ali.

Going -raditional Finally

hough #atan$ali had always focussed more on word of mouth and promotion of

products by 1aba 0amdev9s followers, but lately they did start to move to traditional

medium of communication, though in a restricted, unconventional manner.



he 3rm 'elieves in t&e policy o inormative campaigns" not commercial

campaigns. lso it wants to restrict ad spend to a maimum of - N of its turnover.

?t&er companies spend &eavily to persuade people to 'uy t&eir products*

2e simply .ant to inorm t&em a'out our products, the yoga guru told

1usiness +ine. s a part of this policy, there have been the following recent

developments2 he company started featuring short, informative advertisements on astha

channel and various other news channels. -&e advertisements are s&ort"

strictly inormative and t&e storyline &as a traditional" amily;

oriented 'ackdrop; to promote Patanjali as a 4.ades&i 'rand"

deeply rooted in ,ndian culture* o cash in the popularity of 1aba 0amdev in Indian politics, the company also

came up with a special campaign during the -*- elections. It sponsored

many election%based programmes aired on various news channels. It was

during this time that the company launched its four new product lines

(chya"anprash, dental care, hair)care and body cleansers) and used these

election programmes to popularise them.

Modernising 4trategies .it& -ime

he company has its own online portal to order products in India and abroad.

Its also in tal&s with ma?on. From franchise based model, the company has entered the traditional retail

model (recent tie%up with 1ig 1a?aar ma&ing way for entry of #atan$ali into

modern retail) he fundamental philosophy of #atan$ali has always been to target families

and the older generation but they have started changing their strategy to

attract the youth too.• Benturing into product categories that youth and &ids are attracted to%

noodles(especially when Maggi was banned), biscuits etc. ( At the

launch o% *atan!ali Ayurved.s atta noodles on hursday, 1aba Ramdev,

yoga guru and co)%ounder o% the company, "as not only seen having



the noodles himsel% but urging others to do so4 hough a yoga guru

having instant noodles might seem at odds, it points to the savvy

marketer that Ramdev is)

• rgani?ing yoga shivirs and releasing "B"s in collaboration with

1ollywood actresses• rgani?ing digital yoga sessions, for youth especially

Social Media Statistics

atan!ali Ayurveda

-*.5& 6i&es O+P Followers

*.& 7ubscribers

Baba Ramdev

+./ Mn 6i&es /= Followers

/4.+& 7ubscribers

hough 1aba 0amdev has got a good following on social media but the numbers are

not that good for #atan$ali. lso the Faceboo& page and other social media assets of

the company lac& much user generated content and activity. his is where the

company needs to wor& on. 4o &o. successul &as t&e strategy 'een so ar

he popularity of the company9s products in households (I saw the eample at my

home. My family which was never a brand loyalist, is now an ardent follower of the

brand), tie%ups with retail giants li&e 1ig 1a?aar, partnerships with "0" and =hadi

1handar and ma?on, presence in international mar&ets with almost negligible

ependiture on advertising and promotion% all this shows how successful the company

has been. -&e 'est part a'out t&e companys strategy &as 'een t&at it &as



gained customers 'y afecting t&eir core 'elies; and t&is is t&e ideal .ay o

gaining long;term customers* Its content has been consistent and the company

has always been persistent despite a number of ups and downs.

ecommendations

he company has been doing well till now because it has been into a franchise model

and the fan following of 1aba 0amdev has helped reach the company such heights.

1ut this model and the current target mar&et (the fan base) is on the point of reaching

saturation. his is why the company has decided to enter the traditional retail model.

o succeed in this sphere, the company will have to change its policy. Kith such stiA

competition, the company will have to move towards traditional mediums of

communication, with more focus on B advertisements. he company also needs to pay more attention towards its social media assets%

generate more user activity. hese assets can be of great value especially to connect

to the youth, something that #atan$ali has not been able to do so well till now.

Patanjali Ayurveda is one o t&e untold startup success stories in ,ndia" and

it is all set to pose strong competition to esta'lis&ed players very soon*

I would li&e to end by saying the following about 1aba 0amdev2J-&ere are 'usinessmen" t&ere are entrepreneurs and t&en t&ere are people

.&o leave you t&inking" J2&at just &appenedK*

integrated marketing communication strategy of patanjali

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