Brand Saga: Prega News, a journey of progressive approach towards pregnancy

Bringing ‘good news’ to the to-be-mothers, Prega News has established itself as a reliable brand with a modern approach. We take a look at Prega News advertising journey & its role in brand building.

Remember the times when a newly married woman in a movie or series was notified about her pregnancy only after she puked or passed out? And the woman's family would go ‘hmmmm’ after seeing her throwing up? Times have changed and how. Pregnancy detection kits get manufactured in factories now & occupy a prominent place in a woman’s life. Movies too started showing pregnancy detection sticks instead of the good old 'hmmm'. Mankind Pharma’s Prega News has synonymyzed itself with ‘good news’. This Thursday, let’s do a quick throwback of the exceptional Prega News advertising journey as the brand completes 10 years.

Prega News - a ‘Good’ Start

Mankind Pharmaceuticals began its journey in 1995 with a motto of ‘Serving Life’ encompassing three major pillars - quality, affordability, and availability, making medicine accessible to all at affordable prices.

With a pan India presence and offerings spanning in Antibiotics, Antifungals, Gastrointestinal, NSAIDs, Anthelmintics, Cardiovascular, Dermal, and Erectile Dysfunction categories, Mankind Pharma imbibes products ranging from Pharma to popular OTC & FMCG brands – Manforce Condoms, Unwanted72, Prega News, Acnestar, Gas-O-Fast, and Kabz.

Prega News - manufacturers of home pregnancy test kits took birth in the year 2007. Since then through its marketing and communication efforts, the brand has been creating awareness around various aspects of pregnancy in line with purpose-driven initiatives.

Prega News Advertising Journey

The company, in 2010, decided to foray into the over-the-counter (OTC) market and launched various products.

Initially, the brand was hooked to the traditional medium of advertising through newspapers and magazines. However, Prega News advertising journey took pace on formal grounds in 2010 when it roped in actor Neha Marda, fame Balika Vadhu, as the brand ambassador.

Marda worked as one of the protagonists in popular Hindi drama Balika Vadhu which aired on Colors during the time, dealing with the atrocities of child marriage. The commercial conceptualised by Prachar Communication. revolved around her confused situation and clarity about pregnancy where she is introduced to Prega News. The message targeted at married women was simple - it will take just 5 minutes for you to clear all doubts when you miss your periods, with Prega News detection card.

In 2011, Grey bagged the creative duties for Mankind Pharma’s three brands including Prega News. This was the first time the company had appointed a creative agency.

“The brand intent has always been to be a part of user’s life. We want them to feel special, heard, and most of all loved when they are experiencing a special phase in their life.  In all our advertising campaigns, we have been conscious of raising pertinent issues related to pregnancy or childbirth in the country,” shares Joy Chatterjee, Deputy General Manager, Mankind Pharma.

Celebrity Mothers

A new chapter began when Bollywood diva Shilpa Shetty came on board as the face of the brand in 2012. This was the same time when Shetty and her husband welcomed their first child, Viaan. The communication featuring the celebrity mother depicted her feelings of being a mother and the little joys the ‘good news’ brings.

The brand is also quite popular for sharing BTS shots of its ad shoots and what goes behind the making of the campaign.

There are two parts to the Prega News advertising journey - first being functional which educates people about the tangible benefits of the product. In the beginning, this was done using semi-celebrity moms and later with big celebrity mothers.

In 2014, ADK Fortune, a WPP company, won the creative duties of Mankind Pharma following a multi-agency pitch. for the entire portfolio. During that time, DDB Mudra was the incumbent agency on account.

2015 was the year when Prega News roped in Kareena Kapoor Khan introducing their new tagline ‘Prega News means Good News’.

When mom-to-be Kareena Kapoor walked the ramp as a showstopper for a leading designer in 2016, she stated, “Pregnant woman can walk and fly and for me, it's absolutely normal. When it comes to my work, acting is my passion and I will work till I die. As long as I am doing what I love, I am going to do that.” This also formed the grounding base for Prega News to bring the ever sassy and confident face on board.

While Bebo was seen sharing her heartfelt experiences on pregnancy and celebrating the very personal joy in the ad film ‘Ehsaas’, the brand also offered an official sneak peek into the making of the ad. The association couldn’t have been more timely.

Being a category leader with about 80% market share, the marketing strategy was driven by two clear objectives. First, how does Prega News make more women feel comfortable in taking a pregnancy test in the privacy of their homes? Secondly, make them feel reassured with the accuracy of the test.

To build on its promise of convenience, the company has also divided the website into three sections – Pre, During, and Post Pregnancy – as a one-stop-solution for all women. “In fact, we have also set up a gynecologist with a 24-hour TAT who responds to all the queries we get on our website,” he informs.

Also Read: Prega News Campaigns that passed the test

Romancing Cause Marketing & Storytelling

Adopting a ‘Social Good’ Content Strategy as the second pillar of its communication, Prega News highlighted the issues surrounding soon-to-be mothers - workplace bias towards pregnant women or new moms, physical issues faced by expectant mothers, and more.

Primary TG for the brand has always been the pregnant woman or the ones planning to start a family followed by the people around her who will help her during the pregnancy. On the occasion of Mother’s Day in 2017, Preganews launched, #YourSecondHome highlight how to ease the lives of pregnant women at work. The ad was conceptualized and executed by ADK Fortune and the film produced by Absolute Productions.

Sharing the insight behind their maiden content marketing campaign campaign, Uday Rao, Executive Creative Director, ADK-Fortune, Gurgaon says, “ The #YourSecondHomeseries was to sensitize the general public and corporates towards the needs of working women who are pregnant or have just come back to work from their maternity leave to their workplaces (their second home).”

“The idea for the campaign actually came from our Preganews Marketing Manager who was herself pregnant at the time. It came from a very real insight leading up to a memorable campaign that changed the game for PregaNews’ content marketing ever since,” shares Chatterjee”.

The first ad under #YourSecondHome focuses on the difficulties faced by pregnant women working in the corporate world. The second ad in the series takes the conversation forward from pregnancy to post-pregnancy dealing with Postpartum Depression. With a series of long-format campaigns, the brand urged viewers to mold a comfortable environment during such phases for women around them.

“The campaign was
an instant hit, and the video went viral within the first few hours of release.
Even the campaign website crashed due to an immediate surge in traffic,”
recalls Rao.  

Prega News also took the #YourSecondHome initiative offline by partnering with SpiceJet, to make air travel comfortable for expecting mothers. Twitter users lauded the brand for the initiative. 

As part of this initiative, a SpiceJet aircraft Boeing 737-800 Series was fully body wrapped with Prega News branding. From the time tickets are booked until they reach their destinations, expecting mothers were pampered and cared for with utmost attention by the SpiceJet team.

Taking #YourSecondHome to next level, Prega News envisioned #QuitBeforeYouStart for Father’s Day 2018 with an aim to expand their reach by shifting our focus from the professional sphere to the personal world.

Strategically released between ‘World No Tobacco Day’ and Father’s Day, the communication was directed to fathers, elaborating on the harmful effects of smoking on a fetus. The motive was to include not only mothers but also fathers, who plays a major role in a child’s life.

Later came the path-breaking narration of #GoodNewsIsGenderFree in 2019. Gender discrimination is a prevalent issue in our country and the creative idea for this campaign stemmed from a cultural insight. In India, after a baby is born, the first question everyone asks is “ladka hua ya ladki?” (is it a boy or a girl?). ‘A girl’ is often met with expressions of disappointment and even sympathy. Questions on the health of the baby and the mother come much later.

The campaign was released a week before Mother’s Day. “Conversations started with 34 million views and nearly 300 thousand interactions within the first month of the campaign. It was appreciated on different platforms and Google labeled this campaign as “one of the rarest”. It achieved the highest Brand Interest Lift Google had ever recorded and they went ahead to make this as a case study to be showcased across different global markets,” exclaims Rao.

Taking the thought of gender equality further, in May 2020,  the brand launched #ImwithYELLOW - an initiative to rise against the alarming issue of sex discrimination. It urged people to do away with the clichés of gender stereotyping and focus on the health of the baby by standing with Yellow- a color that symbolizes its health and happiness.

Conceptualized by Havas & executed by ADK Fortune Communications, the campaign shuns the concept of color in gender discrimination, such as ‘blue for boys’ and ‘pink for girls’ and instead stands with Yellow, which is a neutral color for both genders and stands for equality. 

Brand ambassadors Kareena Kapoor and Priyamani (South) also joined the initiative along with Neha Dhupia, Soha Ali Khan, Mahi Vij, and Karan Mehra undertaking a video pledge. Apart from this, the company also partnered with ‘Momspressoo’ - where around 15 moms made shareable videos with their own stories.

To promote the campaign, Prega News also tied up with many brands and influencers such as RJ Raunac, who raised the issue in his famous parody ‘Bauaa’ on Red FM. Prega News also tied up with First Cry & Inox and film “Thappad” which dealt with gender bias.

Celebrating 10 years of its existence in the Indian market, Prega News, recently rolled out its digital campaign #PregaMoment. The brand has witnessed an over 20% spike in its usage during the lockdown.

Joy highlights, “Our latest campaign has been quite close to our hearts too. Not only is it a momentous milestone in our brand’s journey but it’s celebrating the real stories we received from consumers. One of the actors could relate to these moments too and got emotional on the sets.”

The campaign has recreated some special moments shared by its users and showcased how each woman has a different story to tell about the time they received the news of their pregnancy.

The series of three films capture a gamut of emotions to express the best 'good news' one can receive in their lives.

The campaign comes in the trying times of the pandemic as a ray of hope for expecting mothers and as a beautiful memory for others. The brand's objective is to cheer up couples all over and connect with them once again as they undertake the glorious journey.

Commenting on the agency’s fruitful association with the brand and describing Prega News advertising journey so far, Subroto Pradhan, Managing Partner, ADK-Fortune says, “It has been an absolute privilege to be associated with this iconic brand for the past six years. What makes us proud is the consistency of the work and the passion of the entire team to keep raising the bar every time. Can’t thank Team Prega enough for this wonderful journey.”   

Prega News’ efforts over the years, therefore, have been single-mindedly focussed to tackle issues and build certain credibility around the brand regarding its accuracy and convenience.

“When you are a market leader by a large margin, the only way left for the brand to grow is by expanding the market itself and, thus, getting more and more women to use the product confidently,” notes Chatterjee.

Sharing one of the
cutest on-set memories, Chatterjee shares that the moment has to be the one
where Taimur came to visit his mother on the sets. “We actually got to see the
real and reel mother, Kareena Kapoor, in action,” he shares.  

Digital First brand

Digital Marketing gives you a leverage to reach out to your consumers better with its niche targeting and long-format content structure. According to Chatterjee, this wasn’t possible before with traditional media due to high costs and time constraints.

Right from the beginning, Prega News has talked about all topics concerning an expecting mother. The range is quite vast – right from highlighting issues that mothers might face in their offices, postpartum depression, gender equality issues - the messages are delivered through creative posts and videos on social media.

Chatterjee further informs that content is always designed by keeping in mind its consumers and what the brand feels resonates with them the most. “For instance, when we received the data that "How to Use A Pregnancy Detection Card/PregaNews" is quite high on the Google and YouTube, we created a content piece around the same,” he adds.

Prega News does not only leverages moments and occassions to churn out topicals but also makes use of influencer marketing by tying up with many Mom Communities on digital platforms.

It has also tapped on regional markets by collaborating with Priyamani (for South), Neeru Bajwa (for Punjab), Monalisa (for Bihar) to connect with it’s consumers in a language they are comfortable in.

From timely associations and forming new bonds to leveraging popular faces to amplify the core brand values and its message to stand up for the right and bring about a change, Prega News advertising journey is a path breaking feat in itself.