ONE-MAN BRAND
Yoga guru becomes India’s biggest advertiser
An unlikely candidate has emerged to take the wind out of sails of multinationals and established Indian companies selling consumer goods and is threatening to rewrite the rules of business in the market. Swami Ramdev, an ascetic in a saffron loincloth, best known for popularising yoga in the country, has launched a media blitzkrieg to position his ayurveda products, processed foods and cosmetics manufactured under the Patanjali brand against multinationals and major Indian brands.
Ramdev has not only opened franchised brand stores in cities across the country in recent months but has also become India’s largest advertiser in less than a year on television, print and radio. He promotes some 400 products as indigenous-made and says the focus of Patanjali, unlike the multinationals, is to use profits for charity within the country and attain economic freedom from multinationals.
According to the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC India), a joint body set up by broadcasters, advertisers and ad agencies, Patanjali ran 26,579 commercials on television in the week from Sept 3-9 — far more than Fair & Lovely, Lakme, Cadbury and a half-dozen other international brands that are among the top advertisers in India. The figure rose from 12,069 commercials in the week from Nov 21-27, 2015 when Patanjali stood behind Cadbury and Fair & Lovely. The face of the Patanjali brand, Ramdev hopes to double the turnover of his company to US$1.5 billion in the 2016-17 financial year.
“Ramdev has come from nowhere. He has done enough to make established brands worry and is entering multiple areas,” says Dilip Cherian, a prominent image consultant, referring to Ramdev’s announcement on Sept 11 that he would soon start manufacturing swadeshi jeans (denims made from homemade cloth).
Cherian told Asia Focus that the current mood in India made the market receptive to Ramdev’s swadeshi pitch. “He will give an Indian touch to his products and designs. There is a groundswell of support for such things,” he said.
A number of companies have charged Ramdev with misleading consumers by pitching his products as indigenous. They have accused him of denigrating his adversaries by claiming that they adulterated their brands with cancer-causing ingredients and other harmful minerals.
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Union Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, told Parliament in July that the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) found 25 out of 33 complaints received against Patanjali between April 2015 and July 2016 to be in violation of the advertising code.
In September, the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC), a wing of the ASCI, asked Patanjali to withdraw or modify its television commercials for honey following a complaint by Dabur India Ltd, a skin and healthcare product maker that has a dominant share in $90.2-million branded honey market.
Ramdev has termed the ASCI orders against him part of a conspiracy. He has challenged the constitutionality of the ASCI, citing a Bombay High Court order of 2015 which refused to accept the council as a regulator.
“The ASCI’s actions are nothing but a collective conspiracy by some multinational companies, who have a great deal of influence on the ASCI,” the guru said last month in New Delhi.
Ramdev draws a parallel between multinationals and the East India Company, the British firm that entered India in the 16th century for trade and was instrumental in establishing English rule in the country.
Santosh Desai, managing director of Futurebrands, a brand and consumer consultancy, said he did not see anything wrong with Ramdev invoking swadeshi to market his products or stressing a charity link to hit back at multinationals. Desai said Ramdev marketed his products in an unconventional way. “He rides on the back of himself. What is wrong if he says he represents the pride of India?” he asked rhetorically.
Desai told Asia Focus that all companies “inflated, amplified and exaggerated” the qualities of their products and Patanjali was no different. He also did not find it new that charity was being marketed. He said that Patanjali, like other companies, could be tested for its claims before a regulatory body.
The CCC also rejected a complaint from Bareilly-based lawyer Mohammad Khalid Jilani in May this year that Patanjali’s use of a swadeshi pitch gave an unfair advantage to Patanjali’s fruit juices and toothpaste.
“‘Join the movement of Swadeshi to realise the Swadeshi Dream of Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh and Ram Prasad Bismil (leaders of the Indian freedom struggle)’ is an appeal made by the advertiser to promote India-made products and is not objectionable,” the CCC order said.
Ironically, a Patanjali advertisement in May inviting distributors for its products also invoked patriotism and love for India.
“The goal of Patanjali is not only business, rather this is the most sacred mission for Swadeshi,” the advertisement said. “In the coming few years Patanjali will be a bigger brand than these multinationals. Patanjali will use the profits for education, medical and other social, religious and spiritual fields and help in the expansion of these through charitable work. Therefore, only able, patriotic persons should become part of this mission.”
Swami Ramdev has been teaching yoga on television since 2003. In 2006, he started Patanjali Ayurved in Haridwar, a city in northern India, with his associate and Patanjali chief executive officer Acharya Balkrishan. The Chinese magazine Hurun recently ranked Balkrishan as the 25th richest person on a list of 399 Indian industrialists.
Over the years, Patanjali has expanded into packaged food products, groceries, hair- and skin-care products. It has 5,000 franchised stores and also sells its products through Biz Bazaar stores in 250 cities.
Besides Haridwar, Patanjali has set up manufacturing units in Nepal and Bangladesh. It is in the process of establishing units in Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra states.
The company hopes to grow to achieve sales of $750 million in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market alone. This could pit it against international and Indian giants in the processed foods segment.
India is the second largest producer of food and vegetables in the world. However, Sagar Kurade, president of the All India Food Processors’ Association (AIFPA), does not see any threat from Patanjali’s emphasis on India-made goods.
“What Ramdev says is not reflective of government policy. The government supports 100% FDI (foreign direct investment) in food processing. Ultimately it is for the customers to believe and judge,” Kurade told
“He rides on the back of himself. What is wrong if he says he represents the pride of India?” SANTOSH DESAI Brand consultant