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Indian Social Media For Brands

Expert Opinion: Does brand Patanjali spell success on social media?

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Sarmistha Neogy
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With Patanjali's recent foray into e-commerce, Social Samosa takes a look at how Brand Patanjali is positioned on the digital front.

Patanjali has recently forayed into the  e-commerce space, by tying up with 8 major players. So now, besides their own website, the brand will be selling the products through Amazon, ShopClues, Flipkart, Paytm, Big Basket, Grofers, and online medicine sellers like Netmed and 1MG. This strategy is in line with their thought of taking Patanjali products from Haridwar to Har Dwar.

As the announcement took place through a press conference on Tuesday, there was a lot of noise on social media. The concerned e-commerce players informed their  customers about the association with Patanjali through posts on social media. Baba Ramdev's Twitter account was also being used to share glimpses of the press conference.

Also Read: How long can a brand sustain itself on the patriotism bandwagon?

Social Conversation:

The hashtag #PatanjaliOnline was used extensively to share news related to Patanjali's association withthe  e-comm brands. The brand also used few online influencers to spread the news and create noise on social media.

According to KEYHOLE, the hashtag tracking tool, #PatanjaliOnline  reached 3,921,225 users and has clocked 4,449,009 impressions on the internet.

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The general sentiment of the hashtag has been neutral (81.6 percent), positive (15.5 percent) and negative (2.9 percent) on social media.

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Experts View: Brand Patanjali on Social Media 

According to reports, at the press conference held recently, Baba Ramdev said that Patanjali aims to cross Rs 20,000-25,000 crore in sales by 31 March 2018. It had reported sales of Rs 10,561 crore for the year ended 31 March 2017. He also informed about the company's plans of overtaking HUL in terms of revenues in the next year.

We spoke to Hormaz Mistry from Hormaz Marketing & Brand Consultancy, Dr Rutu Mody-Kamdar from Jigsaw Brand Consultants and Brand Comm's Ramanujam Sridhar to understand their views on this impacts their competition.

publive-imageHormaz Mistry, Founder & Owner, Hormaz Marketing & Brand Consultancy said, "The retail presence of Patanjali in metros has not been a great success till now. Due to poor distribution strategy, it has resulted in majority of the population wanting Patanjali, but not being able to get their hands on it. Their major audience has been in the tier ii and tier iii cities, but we will have to ascertain that how much of tier ii and tier iii crowd is actually using e-commerce as a medium to purchase FMCG products. Plus, there is also lack of data penetration in these cities."

 

"It is not going to go against them because Patanjali is known as a brand, which is already discounted. They are already at the right price point for the market to appreciate. At best what they can do from a marketing point of view is, they can personalize their marketing campaigns for specific region with a multi-cultural bent. Like if they are making a campaign for Maharashtra, then it should be more bent towards the Marathi side of things. I believe, this is the one of the strategies which will help them to stand out," opines Mistry.

publive-imageRamanujam Sridhar, CEO, Brand Comm, shares, "Initially the big players didn't take Patanjali seriously, but I think they have been all hit in the market place because if you look at the numbers Patanjali is claiming, they are huge. In the last couple of years, consumers as well as competition has started accepting Patanjali. HUL for e.g have upped their ante on Ayurvedic products. So yes, there is serious competition because it is hurting the other players in the category."

 

"New set of consumers are adapting to Patanjali, people across the strata, irrespective of their income group have started showing their faith in Patanjali. So the brand is already a game-changer in the market. Earlier P&G and HUL were the only ones who were in a state to talk to the market, but today the scene is different. Patanjali is posing as a serious threat to the other big established players," adds Sridhar.

According to reports Patanjali has always complained of other MNCs' looting' India for years in their commercials and now it has tied up with e-comm players, who are mostly owned by foreign investors or entities.

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Giving her views, Dr Rutu Mody-Kamdar, Founder, Jigsaw Brand Consultants says, "It's an opportunist move by Patanjali rightly so because that's where the market is. It would be foolish for them to maintain a higher ground and not cater to the pulse of the market. Marrying culture with contemporary practices is the mantra for any homegrown business today."

Patanjali Products' Facebook Page has over 7 lakh followers while Baba Ramdev's Facebook page has over 9 million followers. Twitter too narrates a similar tale with Patanjali's official handle stating a few thousand followers and Baba Ramdev with over 1.5 million followers.  With a stronger brand strategy, Patanjali can definitely create a rock solid digital front.

From creating curiosity about their association with the e-commerce players to having online influencers to create noise and spread the news, Patanjali has made a strong impact on the digital space. It will be interesting to watch how other FMCG players respond to this with competitive marketing tactics. 

Social media Digital Flipkart Big basket amazon Baba Ramdev Brand Comm brand Patanjali brand Patanjali digital brand Patanjali social media Dr Rutu Mody-Kamdar e-commerce fmcg Grofers hashtag tracker Hormaz Marketing & Brand Consultancy Hormaz Mistry Jigsaw Brand Consultants Keyhole Netmeds Patanjali Ramanujam Sridhar