Brands & Marketing: Known and unknown

INDEPENDENCE SPECIAL

The Godrej logo is actually the founder Ardeshir Godrej's signature

Dabur was founded in 1884 when Dr S K Burman's medicines became famous and he came to be known as Daktar in Bengal. The name Dabur is derived from the Devnagiri rendition of Daktar

Vanaspati or hydrogenated vegetable oil was launched in India in 1918. However, the iconic Dalda brand was introduced only in 1937, six years after Unilever set up its first Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company

Parry's was the first company to manufacture sweets in India. The company started importing sweets from UK in the early 1900s, as was the norm then, before setting up its own manufacturing unit in 1914 in Nellikuppam, Tamil Nadu.

Lakmé, India's first beauty brand, was set up by the Tatas in 1952 at the invitation of Jawaharlal Nehru. The name is derived from Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.

Lifebuoy is India's first bathing soap. It was launched in India in 1895 in Bombay. But the soap shed its carbolic red-brick shape only in 2002.

Philips started operations in 1930 at Kolkata as a sales outlet to sell imported lamps.

Ad man Alyque Padamsee has worked on the launch of fairness brands by rival companies Hindustan Lever Limited and Emami. He was involved with HLL's Fair & Lovely in the 1970s and with Emami's offering for men, Fair & Handsome, in 2005.

Cuticura was a top-selling toilet soap much before its rise in popularity as a talcum powder. Similarly, beauty bar Lux was preceded by a soap flakes brand.

Before 30-second television commercials, audio-visual advertising was mainly 66-seconders shot for advertising during film intervals.

Radio was the first medium for branded programming in India. Among the prominent brands that were built through radio were "Binaca Sangeet Mala", the toothpaste brand's countdown show, "Inspector Eagle", a detective show from the manufacturers of Eagle flasks, and the "Bournvita Quiz Show".