At the Inaugural Industry Conclave at Goafest 2017, Patanjali Ayurved CEO Acharya Balkrishna began his speech by telling everyone how the brand disrupted the market place by being aggressively customer centric rather than being driven by profitability alone.
According to Balkrishna, “The big difference between Patanjali and others is in what we stand for. Many brands project a dual image and are largely inconsistent when it comes to brand value. But Patanjali products are exactly how we project them, no more or no less in any way.”
Crediting Patanjali for creating new advertising trends, Balkrishna added, “I remember when Patanjali started advertising its products; we featured all our products in one ad, which according to many marketers was not the right approach. However, now we see the same marketers following our approach by showcasing more than one product in their ads.”
“To understand brand Patanjali, it’s important to set the story in some perspective. Patanjali’s journey is not that old. A decade ago when we started to manufacture Amla juice, the idea was to benefit the poor farmer who was on the verge of bankruptcy and had no means to market the produce. With the help of Baba Ramdev’s idea, we turned this loss-making farming segment into a profitable industry. This is just an example of how Patanjali has tried to make a real difference unlike other companies that decide their business based on the market size. Patanjali is a people’s brand first, and market share comes after for us,” added Balkrishna.
Equating Patanjali with a national movement, he said, “Patanjali is a movement to build a new India. The idea is to build a formidable brand that has a strong Indian identity and benefits consumers in a real way. Our products have resulted in a disruption of a different kind that has forced others to rationalise product pricing.”
Underlining the importance of holding on to the Indian cultural identity when marketing brands, Balkrishna said, “Many people ask me about the role of advertising in creating a brand. Though we value the high impact that right advertising can create, Patanjali as a policy will never advertise if it clashes with our cultural values. Patanjali ads will always uphold our cultural values. This is the reason you won’t see Patanjali objectifying women, like many brands do to sell products, and as a policy we will never do that.”
“Many people tell us that we have taken on some big brands, but that is not the case. We are just doing what we are supposed to do. With an honest endeavour we are contributing to nation building. That is how we have grown so far in such short time. There is no other secret to it. Patanjali is not trying to create a monopoly. We are just creating better products and forcing others to follow suit, and in all this once again the end beneficiary is the consumer alone and that is our motto too,” said Balkrishna.
