Source: The Financial Express
“Advertising forces customers to buy the product!”
“The product shown in advertisements is different from the real product sold”
There are thousands of different ways through which a company promotes its products to boost sales but what about ‘Patanjali’?
While most people may look down upon Patanjali and everyone talks about how advertising manipulates customers to buy products but today the company we’re talking about has achieved success in less than a decade’s time and thrashed many Multinational Companies (MNCs) out of the league without using mainstream marketing techniques.
The years 2016-18 saw a wave of people telling others- “Use Patanjali Shampoo, it's natural and does not contain any chemicals”, “Buy Patanjali fresh Chakki Atta.” Everyone talks about using their products, but no one knows the reason behind their success.
Initially started as ‘Divya Pharmacy’ by Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balakrishna in Haridwar, under the aegis of Swami Shankar Dev’s Ashram (Baba Ramdev’s Guru). To gain popularity they made ayurvedic medicines and sold it for free! And so, did not have money for registration of Divya Pharmacy.
Baba Ramdev was a rising star during the period of 2000-2003 and founded Patanjali in 2006. He had many shows on television where he used to teach Yoga. He had gained media’s attention. He launched many products under the Patanjali brand and many marketing experts of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) thought that this would give a negative impact on the companies’ revenues. Usually, FMCG companies launch one type of products and try to excel in it like Britannia in Biscuits and Bread, Nestle in Instant noodles (Maggi) and Milk products, but Patanjali was different as it kept on launching all types of products- from shampoos to ghee, biscuits to detergents, and even cosmetics.
In the financial year, 2016-17 Patanjali reported a turnover of more than 10,000 crores leaving behind Market players like Nestle.
What is their Aim?
Baba Ramdev says that he only wants to promote Swadeshi Products and leave MNC’s in such a condition that they suffer losses and leave the Market (India).
"We don't want to put anyone down, but we would like to instil swadeshi pride so that Indian money does not go out of the country."
How did they Achieve Success?
Large distribution network consisting of over 1200 distributors in India helps them reach out to the smallest of towns in India. Baba Ramdev being in highlight always due to his knowledge in yoga advertises his owns products which saves money from waste advertising. This can also be termed as free of cost advertising as he himself is the Brand Ambassador.
"Patanjali ko bananey mein ek se 10 per cent humara role hai, baaki role media ka hai (My own role in the rise of Patanjali is just one to 10 per cent, the rest of the credit goes to the media)," he told Business Today.
Are customers satisfied with their products?
Seeing the annual sales and turnover of the company it seems that yes the customers are satisfied and are being loyal to the company.
Patanjali doesn’t directly ask people to buy their products in an advertisement but it shows the negative impacts of using competitors products as it is full of chemicals and showcases their natural products which convince the customers.
Seeing Baba Ramdev promote his products on all advertisements repeatedly on all channels, many might think "Why the hype?" But the question comes, is his aim wrong or are his products not satisfying/matching the quality? Then why do we prefer using goods produced by companies belonging to other countries? Why not use Patanjali?
Even our Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi wants India to be 'Aatmanirbhar (Self Reliant)'. What's wrong in promoting goods made in our own country? Then why do we term Patanjali products as local? Why do we term Baba Ramdev as 'Rashtrabakht (Patriot)' if he is doing something good for the country and why not a great businessman?
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