How Hamdard is keeping Rooh Afza flowing without tinkering with taste

How its 111-year-old flagship brand, Rooh Afza, defies age and evolving tastes to stay on the table

In recent weeks Rooh Afza, the Rs 400-crore brand that began its journey as a medicinal drink to beat the dry heat of North India has found itself in the middle of an Internet storm. As stocks ran out across the country, rumours flew thick and fast ascribing the shortage to everything from a family feud to sabotage, earning the brand enviable traction in a medium that still gets a meagre fraction of its significant advertising budgets. 

As social media buzzed with memes and jokes and cross-border tweets offering help, the company stepped in to say that there was nothing more to the mystery of the missing brand than an unexpected shortage of ingredients. Rooh Afza was not dying out, Hamdard reassured its legion of fans. “The speculations about family dispute are rumours and the reason for the scarcity was the temporary shortage of some herbal ingredients. The faith of the customers in us ensured that the brand is now back,” said the company spokesperson.

Sandeep Goyal, chairman of Mogae Media who worked on the Rooh Afza account briefly, 33 years ago, says the brand has a huge emotional bond with consumers. This is why its disappearance created a social media dust storm, especially since it went off the shelves during Ramzaan when Rooh Afza sits at every Iftar (a meal to break the fast in the evening) table. Sales shoot up by at least 25 per cent every year during this month. 

Such was the frenzy that some customers said they spent three times the price (it sells at around Rs 150 a bottle) to buy it off e-commerce platforms. Hamdard Pakistan, set up by the brother of Indian founder, Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed, even offered to help its Indian counterpart but that wasn’t necessary in the end.  

Medicine for the soul

With a share of over 40 per cent in the Rs 1,000-odd crore herbal syrups, concentrates and powders market (close competitors would be fruit-based concentrates from private and state-run units) Rooh Afza started its life as a Unani  medicinal drink to counter heat strokes, bring down palpitation and prevent water loss. In Urdu, the name means a refresher for the soul.

The herbal brew tasted success soon after its launch and within a couple of years, the Majeed family began packaging it for the market. Mirza Noor Ahmad, an artist, drew the labels of Rooh Afza in several colours in 1910. As such colourful prints could not be processed in Delhi at the time, they were printed under special arrangement by the Bolton Press of the Parsees of Bombay. A few decades later, Abdul Majeed decided to turn into an everyday summer drink and the rest they say is history.

Early converts to the power of advertising, Hamdard is a big spender in language media and print. The company said that the brand has a healthy double-digit percentage in terms of advertising to sales ratio. Its digital spends are increasing and this will continue as a focus area. 

Goyal says, “Its colour and the taste have remained unvarying. This is important and the biggest reason for it having retained customer loyalty.” The Rooh Afza taste is branded into the childhood memories of many, although not all may love it, those that do are passionate about their drink. 

Keeping with the times

Rooh Afza was not dying out, Hamdard reassured its legion of fans

The company said that while it is aware of its heritage, it has done everything to keep up with the times. “To ensure that we keep on growing, we have always emphasised on investing more in direct distribution, activation in rural areas along with the urban parts and building communication strategies that interact with our potential consumers on their playing fields assuring that we are moving in-line with the changing times,” says the spokesperson.

Without tinkering with taste, it has adopted newer forms of packaging and taken to smaller packs for greater penetration. The marketing strategy has also transformed into more insight based advertising to connect with the consumer at an emotive level, the company said. 

Its campaigns reflect the vision of togetherness which is what the ads with the tagline, ‘Laalach ek kala hai’ (Greed is an art) attempt to convey the company said. Ditto for the ads around the tagline ‘Ghulke jiyo’ (live together). Recently, the brand piloted a ready-to-drink extension — Rooh Afza Fusion aimed at the young. For a brand that has weathered many summers, it still has some time in the sun.