Foraying into the FMCG world

CEO at Cosmo Films, with over 23 years of experience working with large multinational companies, Pankaj Poddar, who is a turnaround specialist, quick decision maker and strategy builder, talks about Fabritizer, the new launch from the Cosmo Films stable

What made you foray into the FMCG segment?

What is the name of your new vertical and what results are you expecting to see?

FABRITIZER IS AN AFTERWASH LAUNDRY SANITISER, WHICH HELPS KILL 99.9 PER CENT OF VIRUSES AND BACTERIA FROM FABRIC

What made you think of a product like Fabritizer?

At Cosmo Films, we have an expert R&D team that comprises doctorates and postdoctorates in Chemical Engineering from all over the world. When the pandemic happened, we felt that we should contribute to society through innovation and worked on multiple new concepts. We eventually liked the idea of a garment wash that could kill viruses, bacteria and germs and is effective against human coronavirus too! Even with the pandemic at its peak, our team worked extra shifts, researched with several chemical compositions and came up with Fabritizer. This is a unique product in itself, and helps kill 99.9 per cent of bacteria and viruses and forms a protective layer on garments for several days even after ironing.

The name of the subsidiary is Cosmo Speciality Chemicals and we are looking to expand the vertical in both the B2B and B2C markets for textile chemicals. In the B2B space, the company has already launched 18 new and unique chemicals for pre-treatment, dyeing and finishing applications.

Fabritizer is the first product we have launched in the B2C category and it’s fast catching up since it is the only product in the market, which assures a 99.9 per cent protection, even after the seventh day, against viruses and bacteria on clothes, and is verified to kill the novel coronavirus as well.

FABRITIZER

A unique product

Truly speaking, it was the need of the hour. With the pandemic not going away anytime soon, we thought of providing a solution that would help people fight this war against the virus. We did initially start manufacturing masks and PPE kits as well, but that involved a lot of raw material procurement from third party vendors. With an expert chemical team in-house, we thought of creating a product which could help the public at large and aid in the fight against Covid-19 and several of its variants. The product will be useful even after the pandemic as we will always want to keep the germs, bacteria and viruses away.

How does Fabritizer work? Tell us some more about this product.

Fabritizer is an after-wash laundry sanitiser, which helps kill 99.9 per cent of viruses and bacteria from fabric. It forms a unique protective layer that stays up to seven days even after ironing, and is AATCC 100: 2012 and 2019 Standard certified (tested at a Mumbai laboratory), making it a superior product. While there are several products in the market under the laundry sanitiser segment, none of them claims to provide seven day protection and none of them claims protection against the coronavirus.

Yes we have. Fabritizer is very effective in destroying even human Coronavirus. This has been tested as per ISO 18184 standards at a Us-based laboratory. Here’s how it works. It is absorbed into each fibre of the cloth where it forms a protective layer and provides protection against bacteria and viruses by rupturing the cell walls of the pathogens.

This product has a huge potential in the market, since it will work as an essential product for customers in the months to come. Every person who goes out to work, play sports, travel etc., will

CEO, COSMO FILMS Pankaj Poddar find this product extremely helpful. We will also start selling Fabritizer through modern retail and in the future there will be other products under the same product category as well.

You claim that this product works against Covid-19? Have you done any trials to show its effectiveness in this regard?

What is the potential of this product and are you limiting yourself to Fabritizer alone or are there any other products in the pipeline?

How is your marketing for this product structured?

At the moment, we are targeting e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart to sell the product online. We will also soon start selling on other e-commerce platforms as well as modern retail stores and supermarkets. Currently, all our marketing activities are focused on online selling and brand awareness of the product via social media channels, digital display advertisements and videos.

We will start ATL & BTL activities as well, once the product is live in modern retail stores.

Where is Fabritizer currently available?

The product is currently available for purchase on Amazon, Flipkart, Needs and Modern Bazaar in two stock keeping units. It will soon appear on the shelves of major retail stores in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities across the country as well.

The first time I got my periods or ‘chums’ as we named it in school, someone equally naïve told me I was dying because something had exploded inside my tummy. I waited for my mom to come home from work and when I told her, I remember she burst out laughing. Even though I studied in a girls’ school in the capital, we weren’t really told about female health till we studied it in class 12.

Now, one of the many online collaborations the pandemic has sparked off hopes to normalise talking about women’s health. It started when four women met virtually at a hackathon in 2020, and a casual chat between four 20-somethings turned into one about the lack of menstrual and women’s health awareness in India.

Navya Naveli Nanda, 23, Mallika Sahney, 26, Ahilya Mehta, 26, and Pragya Saboo, 27, had never met before they got on their first Zoom call in the first week of April 2020. Neither did they know that at the end of it they would be planning to bring their dream – Aara Health, an online platform that addresses women’s health and issues and hopes to give rise to a safe community – to life. This includes medically verified content on social media and bimonthly virtual community gatherings where women discuss everything from mental health to sex.

START NORMALISING MENSTRUAL HEALTH

Each of the four had different points in their lives when they realised the stigma associated with talking about women’s health, even though they all come from privileged, educated and broad-minded families. For Navya, it was gynaecologist visits with her mom when she felt uncomfortable talking about sexual health and birth control.

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