 "Rooh Afza")
Rooh Afza, the century-old drink concentrate from Hamdard Laboratories and one among a handful of pre-Independence homegrown brands still operational in the country, is going in for a makeover. The company has launched a new line of products in the burgeoning ready-to-drink (RTD) category and released a campaign that attempts to create a more youthful avatar for the brand while leveraging its traditional hold over Indian tastes.
Hamdard has launched five RTD variants of Rooh Afza in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Labeled Rooh Afza Fusion, the product has been designed as an 'on the go' drink, to be consumed chilled. "Fusion in RTD category is still new to Indian consumers. While, we have kept the red colour - a trademark - the new products provide the flavour of fruit with the typical taste of Rooh Afza", said Mansoor Ali, chief sales and marketing officer, Hamdard Laboratories. The company's big advantage is familiarity with Indian tastes, it believes. But given that there is a new breed of entrepreneurs, also plying to the Indian palate, the brand is in for a tough battle.
Few among the new brands, however, have the legacy that Hamdard has to fall back on. Founded by Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed in 1906 as a small Unani clinic (a traditional form of medicines still popular in some parts of the country) in Delhi, Hamdard was a medicine shop in its original avatar. Within a year of setting it Majeed saw the potential in a market that few even knew existed at the time, mass producing popular home-brewed beverages. He launched Rooh Afza, a refreshing drink for the hot summers of Delhi and gradually, for much of North India. Hamdard's renown as a purveyor of traditional medicines helped the brand gain currency in the initial years.
Over the years, Hamdard has held its own, although its significance has shrunk substantially with consumer tastes changing and the rise of multinational players in the same space. The company says that it notches up sales of around Rs 300 crore annually but, the promoters believe that it is now time to take the brand to the next level. And hence the foray into the new category with small packs that are easy to take away. The 200 ml tetra packs are priced at Rs 20 and come in fruit-based variants which Hamdard says is unique. For the consumer however it will sit in the same category as say a brand such as Paperboat that uses traditional recipes and offers its products in attractive, on-the-go packs.
The company says its aim is to place the iconic brand on shelves alongside increasing number of RTD beverage brands and inveigle its way into the Rs 15,000-crore market. And as this category holds out maximum appeal for the youth, it is time for the brand to reach out to them too, Ali says.
"Building bridges is never easy, especially when you are looking at transcending traditional formats, mindsets or generations. The task on Rooh Afza was clear: To build an extension to reach out to a completely new set of consumers - The young and the millennial, while retaining the huge mass of loyalists of the brand," says Ali.
The firm has set aside 20,000 packs for sampling at 120 locations. It has already reached 13,000 selling points and plans to go pan-India by March 2017. The firm is also leveraging modern trade channels like Spencer's Retail, Easy Day, More, Big Bazar and WalMart. Institutional supplies like school canteens and railway catering services are on the target list too.
During the initial rolling out, it has plans to supply some seven million packs and closely monitoring the offtake pattern to chalk out plans for the country-wide launch. It aims to cover any town with population of over 100,000 through direct distribution outlets. In a competitive market environment where brands are popping up every other day, a strong distribution network will be crucial, Ali says.
Looks matter too and the brand managers have paid close attention to packaging and communication. Suman Varma, head operations (North) RediffusionY&R said, "Even in designing the packaging, we were very clear it had to look unique. The graphic style resonates with the youth and flavours are exciting."
Hamdard has also planned a multimedia campaign to promote Rooh Afza's new avatar. With an initial budget of Rs 50 million it is going up on radio, print, digital and social media. Films on the campaign that has been labelled 'Go Red'are being released in movie theatres. The aim is to capture up to 1.5 percent of the market within a year. Pranav Sharma, ECD, North-West, RediffusionY&R said that the term 'go red' was the bridge for between Rooh Afza and Fusion in terms of communication. "I was surprised to see that all the flavours, be it mango or lemon; they are all red in colour. And that's the starting point, which eventually became the end point giving us the brand line- Go Red," he said.
Success of the endeavour with Roof Afza, which generates nearly half of Hamdard's annual sales currently will be a turning point in the firm's journey and could even lead it to a new identity; some distance away from its Unani origins.
