Fortified water

I GOT THE ABOVE IMAGE FROM HERE.

JUST THINK FOR A MOMENT... WHICH IS THE LARGEST ORALLY CONSUMED SUBSTANCE? IS IT SUGAR, COFFEE, TEA, RICE, BEER, ... IT IS OF COURSE - WATER - EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY THROUGH OTHER FOODS AND BEVERAGES.

WATER IS ORALLY, THE MOST CONSUMED SUBSTANCE. SO LOGIC DICTATES THAT THIS BASIC SUBSTANCE OF LIFE SHOULD BE THE LARGEST BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY!! IT ONLY REQUIRES SOME IDEAS AND CONCEPTS TO BRING FORTH A NEW MOMENTUM IN THE DRINKING WATER BUSINESS.

THE DRINKING WATER BUSINESS IS AN EVERGREEN BUSINESS. AS LONG AS THE HUMAN BEING LIVES, THERE WILL BE A NEED FOR WATER, AS PLAIN WATER, COLD WATER, FORTIFIED WATER, WATER-IN-BEER, WATER-IN-TEA, WATER-IN-COFFEE, WATER-WITH-SODA ETC.

Momentum is an important word in business. Momentum implies change, it indicates a sequence of events. And the right momentum in businesses leads to increased profits and customer delight – the two important end points of every business activity. Creating momentum in business activities makes exceptional growth of business possible. So the concept is 'momentum leadership'.

Packaged and Drinking Water Business in India

Water is at an exciting phase of business activity in India. Earlier the emphasis in India was provision of clean and potable water through the drinking water taps. Then came the packaged drinking water concept to the masses. And along with it the water purifier equipment market grew. Today, this emphasis continues – however, parts of the drinking water market in India are ready for a momentum – something new to take it forwards. To create the buzz and expand the market further.

The packaged water drinking market is slated to shoot to Rs. 10000 crores by 2010. Bisleri and Bailey dominate. However, this market is commoditized with lots of regional players. The market is set to expand further, given the fact that prosperity levels are increasing, health consciousness is ever increasing, and along with it aspiration levels in India are also on the rise. The confidence on the growth of the packaged drinking water is also because comparatively, South East Asian countries with a similar climate profile and a smaller population have a larger market for packaged drinking water!

Water purification systems like Aquagard, Kent RO, and Pure It are creating waves and the market is increasing fast. In fact, Pure It has targeted doctor clinics. Pure It is kept in patient waiting rooms, where the product serves to fulfil the thirst needs of patients and is a great advertisement for the product too, since the opinion builders of Indian society on healthcare products, ie., doctors themselves use the product.

Modern lifestyle is characterized by a sedentary lifestyle, increased creature comforts - conveniences, comforts and luxuries; and increased consumption of fatty foods, sugar, salt, and meat. And this has led to the so called lifestyle diseases – cancer, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and endothelial dysfunction (which are vascular diseases – in the former blood vessels become inflamed, hardened, thick, with loss of elasticity; the latter is the first stage of atherosclerosis, where in the inner most layer of blood vessels become dysfunctional). In fact, obesity particularly abdominal obesity too is a disease of the modern society.

The modern era has redefined the consumption of water. Water with caffeine and kola nut ext., ie., the cola drinks sell in large volumes. The energy drinks market too is promising. Thus, the need for water in various forms or avatars is universal. Water is indeed great business, and a very profitable one provided it undergoes value addition. Today, packaged drinking water and the mineral water business is ever expanding. Besides, water purification systems like Pure It and Aquagard have created a water business segment in the home segment. Today, the drinking water business is mature enough to evolve further value added segments.

Fortification of food and water

Fortification of food is a well established approach. Fortification creates talking points for the brand and consumer pull. For instance, folic acid fortification in bread is an approach that has contributed to avoiding neural tube defects.

The Indian packaged drinking water market and the water purifier market is ready for WATER FORTIFICATION.

Water fortification is the addition of micronutrients to packaged water or through water purifiers to create additional value in the water for the customer, so that the products can command premium pricing and ensure higher customer delight.

The most common concept is water fortification with vitamins. These vitaminized waters have a health attribute. Flavor is an important tool to increase water consumption, satisfy thirst, and enhance 'water brand loyalty'. Flavor comes through natural and artificial sources. Flavor, salts (including common salt), minerals, vitamins, and other micronutrients can create a product to ensure brand differentiation and strengthen brand markets. In fact, the category of electrolyte energy drinks is an avatar of the basic need of humanity - water. After all, which mother wouldn't like to give her children vitaminized waters, or which wife wouldn't want her husband to drink healthy waters?!

Water fortification has gone to a new high in USA. There are special branded waters for menopausal women, for heart patients, and even special waters for enhancing sex activity!

An open for all market in India: the Eldorado is waiting to be tapped!

The demand by the market to use water as a medium to deliver micronutrients and functional ingredients will only increase in India, as prosperity and health consciousness rises. Today, this enhanced waters market is an open field in India. There is an opportunity of first-mover advantage available for the bold and entrepreneurial pioneers. The trick is to enter through opinion builders and the OTX format. So you look to healthcare professionals to indirectly or directly endorse and recommend the product, and look for over-the-counter sales and 'through prescription' (a-la-Revital) sales. This will create the demand and the market pull. The market is there for cherry picking!!

India is the home to the largest diabetic population. And these people are health conscious. Many of them are obese. This segment is susceptible to diabetic complications like kidney damage, and eye damage. These patients are already primed to receive healthcare concepts - so products like antioxidant waters, vitaminized waters, or waters with extracts that help reduce blood sugar (eg., Gurmar or Gymnema sylvestra extracts in water) or waters with extracts to help slim (eg., Malabar tamarind or Garcinia cambogia extracts in water)... will find takers in the diabetic segment.

India is also a home for cardiovascular diseases. And here is the Magnesium in water concept. The advantage is a fund of good benefits of magnesium (along with calcium) in atherosclerosis. Or one can consider heart friendly herbal extracts in water.

Can water purification systems use water fortification strategies? The answer is YES! The concept is to have a system to have a dispenser put in contact with the water in the purifier, that will slowly diffuse out water soluble vitamins like Vitamin C and low levels of folic acid or vitamin B complex (provided taste is not unpalatable). The blessing is that water soluble vitamins will not cause toxicity. Particularly Vitamin C is required in high amounts and can even slow down aging through antioxidant action. There! You have antiaging water through a water purifier!! The technology is already available. Consider Flushkleen, this product is a system that has a dispenser which is put in to the flush tank. The dispenser slowly releases the antiseptic substance and pigment through diffusion out of the dispenser. The same system can be applied to permit diffusion of water soluble vitamins from the dispenser in to the water purifier's water tank. This is a concept I am elucidating. This addition to Aquagard, or Kent will only increase its importance in a home. So one can expect this water purifier home appliance to be as ubiquitous as the iron box, TV, washing machine or refrigerator, when the health benefits are appreciated by the target buyers.

Value addition in water has, as we see above, a vast scope. WATER FOR LIFE AND WATER FOR A GOOD BUSINESS!!

Thnks for reading this blog post, please scroll down and read other including by clicking on OLDER POSTS, wherever required.

The 24 hour VACCINATION BOOTH AND VACCINATION ADVISORS

I got the above interesting image of HIV vaccines (Indo-Jap collaboration) from here.

After completing a century of blogposts, here is my 101st blogpost! The focus is on the vaccines market in this blogpost.

As things stand now, the highly commoditized vaccine market of India is a pure doctor-centric business. The main focus is on pediatricians and and to a lesser extent, the GPs. Global majors and Indian companies who manufacture and market vaccines are in a sort of conundrum - although the potential is very high (India is the largest human vaccines market), thanks to the population and the demographic picture of India, commodity vaccines sell more than the unique ones and there is a high cost of sale. The leader Indian companies not only supply vaccines (veterinary, poultry, and human) to the Indian market, they are leaders in export too. The global vaccines market is estimated to be about 10 billion USD, and growing in double digit figures.

Marketing vaccines is mostly a freebie based CRM approach. The focus is on pediatricians and loading the target doctor with as much vaccines stock as possible based on a lot of freebies like a free refrigerator, or free goods along with sales stock. This will block the entry of other competitor vaccine products or brands for some time at the concerned doctor clinic. The normal practice is for the doctor to administer the vaccines from the stock he or she has. The practice of giving prescriptions for specific vaccine brands is rare. So the vaccine marketing concept is doctor-centric. In case, the doctor does not stock the vaccine. It is the adjoining chemist who does it. This chemist or pharmacist is invariably hand-in-glove with the doctor in the sense, there is financial understanding between the doctor and the chemist retailer.

The Hepatitis B vaccine marketing saw a new era with a HEPATITIS B VACCINATION CAMP marketing approach. The thrust of all the Hepatitis B vaccine marketers was to organize mass vaccination camps in collaboration with the doctor(s) and sometimes with social organizations like the Rotary club and Lions club. The net result was MARKET BUILDING for the Hepatitis B vaccine product. Doctors particularly pediatricians saw this as a social marketing opportunity for thier clinics, through the Hepatitis B vaccination camps. Hence, today there is a great acceptance of Hepatitis B vaccination and in large part has possibly influenced IAP (Indian Academy of Pediatrics) to include this as a must-to-be administered vaccine. In all, some 25 vaccines are available in India with a major focus on the pediatric segment. Tetanus toxoid, polio, DPT, typhoid and Hepatitis B vaccines are the biggest markets in Inda.

How to grow the vaccine market?

Vaccines undoubtedly have a great role to play in healthcare. These products contain live (attenuated ie., weakened) or dead antigens of pathogens. On administration, the immune system is primed to produce specific antibodies. The primed immune system thus has circulating antibodies and can produce more antibodies on reexposure to the antigen. This gaurds the body from the disease attributable to the antigen. Thus, Hepatitis B vaccine gaurds people who have taken the vaccine from the dreaded Hepatitis B disease.

The first quest is to popularize the true concept of vaccines. For a majority of Indians, the idea of a vaccine is that it is a product meant primarily for infants and children, as a protective agent. However, we ought to know, vaccines are available for adults too. Today vaccines are being developed for various diseases. For instance, Cuba has a vaccine against lung cancer. SO TO GROW THE VACCINE MARKET, THE FIRST APPROACH IS TO MASS EDUCATE THE COMPLETE POTENTIAL BENEFITS of vaccines. For eg., the awareness of Wyeth's pneumococcal vaccine is not as high as the Hepatitis B vaccine. It just one of the optional vaccines...

The current marketing communication approach is aimed mainly through the pediatrician, by the vaccine marketers. The visible aspects of this approach is posters and patient information leaflets kept in clinics. This is read by some of the patients. And that is it. The doctor administers the vaccine brand he or she wishes to. The patient does not practically have a choice. Even doctors are wary of over-recommending any optional vaccine or specific brand. If doctors do this, it is possible that he or she may lose the patient.

IT IS HOWEVER, IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE NATION, PATIENT, AND MARKETER THAT MORE AND MORE AWARENESS NEEDS TO BE CREATED ON THE VACCINATION CONCEPT AND THE PLETHORA OF VACCINE BRAND CHOICES AVAILABLE.

Thus, a marketing approach would be:

a) for a comprehensive website that provides details of vaccination and each and every vaccine brand available. This website ought to serve as a single window of information on the vaccination concept and vaccine brands in India.

b) the next is to have 24 HOUR VACCINATION BOOTHS, that provide information, vaccine brands, and facilities to administer vaccines to interested people. This would really create market building for vaccines.

c) the third important approach is to have VACCINATION ADVISORS manning these booths. The vaccination advisors concept is similar to education counsellors of computer education companies, beauty advisors of companies like Lakme, and insurance advisors of various insurance companies. The vaccination advisors should be informed and trained personnel who will advise interested people on various vaccination issues, and even conduct seminars or go about visiting 'new parents' to talk on vaccination issues and help make a proper vaccination choice for thier new born. It should be noted that vaccination is often a once in a life time affair and can make a big difference to the future of the neonate. So a proper ecosystem for information and vaccination administration should be created and the VACCINATION ADVISORS along with 24 HOUR VACCINATION BOOTHS concept WILL HELP in this direction.

It is not healthy to have a purely freebie based CRM approach to vaccination. And it is impractical to expect that the pediatrician or the GP will have time to educate the patient on various vaccine brand options and help the patient make his or her choice.

IN INDIA, 24 HOUR VACCINATION BOOTHS AND VACCINATION ADVISORS WILL SERVE AS VITAL LINKS AS DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER ADVERTISING ON VACCINE BRANDS IS NOT PERMISSIBLE UNDER LAW.

Thus, to build a robust market for vaccines the actual consumption of the brands should take place, for this the market should expand. If this is to happen, then, patient empowerment is a must. The road to patient empowerment and vaccine market expansion is through VACCINATION BOOTHS AND VACCINATION ADVISORS, and a knowledge campaign through dedicated workers. Such vaccination knowledge dissemination cannot happen through busy doctors, a bunch of patient information leaflets, and posters on some clinics.
There is a lot of ignorance regarding the CHICKEN POX VACCINE AND TYPHOID VACCINE. Pushing more patient information leaflets and posters on these vaccines is not going to help the cause of marketing these vaccines nor is it going to help the prospective patients who would benefit from these vaccines. A lot of persuasive information needs to go through specific trustworthy personnel such as vaccination advisors.

Will vaccination advisors be trusted?

As long as the pitch of the vaccination advisors is related towards information and empowerment, it will work, and any selling activity is best left to the sales persons.

A good vaccination empowerment ecosystem is vital for the future

In years to come, quite a few breakthrough vaccines will be introduced in India. For instance, Gardasil, the cervical cancer vaccine. There are segments in the Indian society who will be benefited by these vaccine, and there could be more useful vaccines forthcoming in to India. How to market them? The vaccination advisors and 24 hour vaccination booths will help the cause.

Thanks for reading this blogpost, feel free to read all other blogposts, please scroll down and click on OLDER POSTS, wherever required.

Post 61st anniv. of Indian independence: start of a new era of Technology in Pharma India

We have just celebrated the 61st anniversary of Indian independence. The golden lining (not silver lining!) is that AB (not Amitabh Bacchan, but ABHINAV BINDRA) got our country the first ever individual gold medal in modern Olympics at the Beijing Olympics in the 10 m Air rifle shooting event (on 11.8.2008). This gold medal win has a great lesson for us in India. One that we can be winners on the world stage. And, two, it requires great nurturing of talent to make a world-class winner. Full credit goes to the devoted wealthy parents of Abhinav for creating this victorious moment for us Indians (you can see the photo of AB with his parents above). It also shows the way to the lakhs of wealthy crorepathy Indian families on how they can use their wealth intelligently to create good children - very often children of the wealthy are spoilt ... spending most of their time with beer (alcoholic beverages) and negative activities. The victory showcased by AB is a lesson to all wealthy crorepathy Indian parents!

The dawn of AN ERA OF PHARMA TECHNOLOGY IN INDIA

Today, Indian pharma industry is highly commoditized. It is an era where CRM power is the muscle power of a company. The marketing orientation is towards intense CRM activities. The marketing and sales cycle is simple: contact the doctor-detail-sample-gift-negotiate and provide specific gifts and sponsorships (including celebrations of birthdays and anniversaries) in return for prescriptions or POBs (personal order booking) related sales. The moot point is how long can this go on and to what extent? Pharma companies today provide prescribing doctors with groceries, provisions, movie tickets at multiplexes, white goods (like DVD players, washing machines and refridgerators), sponsored vacations under the garb of seminars and symposia, clinical oriented gifts, pens, payment of electricity bills, cash, samples, schemes (ie., free goods with sales stocks) and what not... Earlier it was a minority of pharma companies that indulged in no-holds barred CRM and it was a minority set of doctors who indulged in taking any and every thing that a pharma company provided. Today, the situation is converse. Almost all pharma companies do intense CRM and majority of doctors demand the kind of items (gifts and freebies) they want to be serviced with. Doctors themselves lament that today the situation is not what it was say in the 1970s ... SO WHAT IS THE NET RESULT FOR PHARMA COMPANIES? Events like the sale of Ranbaxy to Daiichi Sankyo ... C'MON, THAT IS FAR FETCHED!! HOW CAN CRM RELATED SALES AND MARKETING ACTIVITIES MAKE A COMPANY WEAK ENOUGH TO BE TAKEN OVER BY ANOTHER COMPANY? THE ANSWER IS HERE...

When any pharma company gives CRM the highest in the priority in terms of revenue generating business activities, the focus of the entire company (right from the top management to MR level) goes towards CRM. Everything else becomes secondary. The casualty of a hyperfocus on CRM is profits. When marketing value is perceived in terms of freebies and gifts given to the prescribers the product per-se takes the back seat. And with that there is an erosion of profitability.

The medical profession too feels the pain today... doctors have seen the erosion of trust between the doctor and patient. When trust and profitability get eroded, it means business processes are becoming less effective and efficient.

Peter Drucker says that profits are a measure of effectiveness and efficiency. So what will the pharma entrepreneur do to improve profitability? Cut down on CRM budgets overnight! NO!! THAT WILL BE SUICIDAL!!!

THE ERA OF PHARMA TECHNOLOGY IN INDIA WILL BEGIN NOW (as a force of circumstance)...

The sagacious pharma entrepreneur will start putting the focus on technology - either packaging technology (for instance Juggat Pharma's ingenious application of tetra pak technology to create the product category of ELECTROLYTE ENERGY DRINKS for Rx support, for more details: info@jagdale.com) , or new drug development programs or new dosage delivery systems.... Pharma companies will exploit science further - to apply scientific precepts, concepts, and tools to improve the pharma product's safety, utility, and application. This in turn will create unique features in brands. This certainly will provide USPs (unique selling points) for the brand. This will ensure new and attractive talking points while detailing the brand to the target audience. And when a product is presented as different and better, the focus on gift based or freebie based CRM will decrease. This will ensure that profits will be better.

Without growth in real profits, a company's decline will begin. The pharma company will enter in to a vicious cycle of a freebie based CRM trap, from which it will not be able to get out fast. Today, let us say a doctor gets satisfied with a TV for his clinic and he gives a bonanza of prescriptions for a brand. However, the opium of the freebie will fade away fast, the doctor's need will rise further - he will want a LCD TV or plasma TV next. If a doctor is offered a 5 star room for his sponsored stay during a symposia, he will want the next time a seven star room facility.

Hence, the sagacious pharma company will start producing pharma goods that will create brand differentiation through technology. For instance, Zydus Cadila has collaborated for a little known technology to differentiate their erythropoietin offering - they are offering erythropoeitin which is pegylated. It is an interesting technology of combining erythropoietin with polyethylene glycol. It is described as a low hanging fruit on the technology tree. Not a very complex technology, but nevertheless a technology that can give brands some more power and real marketing value.

Another little step in this direction is the resin based system in Becosules Z (from Pfizer) to enhance the absorption and bioavailability of B complex vitamins. This differentiates the brand further from other B complex products. NOW IMAGINE, IF PFIZER LAUNCHES A BECOSULES NANO, WHERE IN THEY PROVIDE A MULTIVITAMIN USING NANO SPHERES (VITAMINS ARE PRESENT IN THE NANOSPHERES) AND THAT THIS ENHANCES ABSORPTION ... THE RESULT IS HIGHER PERCEIVED VALUE FOR BECOSULES Z AND MORE PRESCRIPTIONS. Imagine a nano based tech product for rifampicin or isoniazid that enhances absorption and bioavailability - thus, lesser drug can be used for the patient and the side effect (particularly liver toxicity) can be reduced. Value delivery through technology in pharma is better marketing sense than an overemphasis on freebie based CRM.

Application of technology in pharma will increase with the interdisciplinary approach in pharma.

End note

It is well known that technology provides companies with more financial might than freebies based CRM. Imagine for a moment - if Ranbaxy had provided as much focus on technology as it has provided for freebie based CRM, in its marketing operations right from the beginning, today probably Ranbaxy would not have got sold out to Daiichi Sankyo.

RECOLLECT THE ASIAD DAYS IN INDIA (1982), WE HAD TV BRANDS IN INDIA LIKE DYANORA, TEXLA, CROWN, EC TV, KELTRON, KEONICS, ETC. TODAY, AFTER ECONOMIC LIBERALIZATION, WHERE ARE THOSE TV BRANDS? THEY HAVE BEEN GOBBLED UP BY THE TECH GIANTS - MAINLY THE JAPANESE. TECH COMPANIES HAVE FAR MORE FINANCIAL MUSCLE. THE SAME THING HAS STARTED HAPPENING IN INDIA, DAICHII SANKYO HAS BOUGHT OUT RANBAXY ( I ESTIMATE THAT IN 3 TO 4 YEARS, IE. BETWEEN 2011 AND 2015, THE INTEGRATION BETWEEN RANBAXY AND DAIICHI WILL BE COMPLETE, AND MOST LIKELY, THE NAME RANBAXY WILL VANISH IN TO OBLIVION OR WILL BE THERE ONLY FOR NAMESAKE). AS THE INDIAN PATENTS ACT, 1970 HAS BEEN AMENDED, PRODUCT PATENTS ARE NOW VALID IN INDIA. HENCE, TECH COMPANIES WILL HAVE THE UPPER HAND SLOWLY BUT SURELY. SO THE SAGACIOUS ACT WILL BE TO PUT THE FOCUS ON TECH ASPECTS IN PHARMA COMPANIES - IT SHOULD HAVE AS MUCH PRIORITY AS MUCH AS 'FREEBIE BASED CRM' HAS IN INDIAN PHARMA COMPANIES. This is more important in current times when world over the focus is on BRIC countries. Right now, America is in a recession and Brandweek says that even the drug industry in America is in a recession, another net poll (at John Mack's blog) too says this. So where will these tech rich companies of USA focus? Yes ... of course India and China for growth. So expect more buy outs and shakeouts. Already there are reports that Takeda the #1 Jap pharma company is tryin' to buy out Torrent.

Thnks for reading this blogpost, please scroll down and read all others too, please click on OLDER POSTS wherever required, to access all posts.

CHANGE - the greatest motivator

I GOT THE ABOVE IMAGE FROM HERE.

How to motivate a person or a group of people towards a goal? This is a constant challenge for a manager (a person designated to manage people and other resources to achieve organizational objectives), or - a politician, a leader, an entrepreneur, a teacher, and just about anybody else in society. And the answer lies in a simple word – CHANGE. In fact, this word is the platform on which Barack Obama has centred his entire electoral campaign, truly, Barack has hit the nail on the head. CHANGE is in fact the greatest motivator.

When a pharmaceutical sales manager ponders on his communication to put across new targets to his team, when a politician crafts his electoral strategy, and when an entrepreneur puts together a business plan – all are working to create a CHANGE. If you can sell the proposed CHANGE as a hope or as a benefit to the target audience, the CHANGE will motivate the target group to work to create the change. When an entrepreneur crafts a taut business plan and successfully convinces that the plan will work to produce the required CHANGE, it will motivate his financiers to put the money in line with his talk. This was Dhirubhai Ambani's success mantra too. Dhirubhai convinced financiers and potential shareholders that his business plans will produce an attractive change - products will be created that will rake in profits to increase shareholder value and produce juicy dividend yields. Dhirubhai Ambani won through the change he was confident of producing. ABILITY TO CREATE CHANGE, MANAGE CHANGE, AND BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IS WHAT CREATES SUCCESS.

Late Mr. Nagaraja Rao Jagdale (of Jagdale Ind. Ltd., Bangalore; info@jagdale.com) believed in the change that electrolyte energy drink concept in tetra pak can produce - this created success for him. Bhai Mohan Singh believed taking over Ranbaxy from Gurbax Singh and Ranjit Singh was a positive change, John Mack passionately believes that his online activities like pharma marketing network will contribute to positive change in pharmaceutical marketing, Mr. M Manal founder of The Himalaya Drug Company was dedicated to changing healthcare through marketing of Ayurvedic products, Swami Ramdev (of Patanjali Yog Peeth, Hardwar) believes that Yoga and Pranayama can bring about certain positive changes in healthcare and the belief, the conviction, and the logic in a certain CHANGE has motivated these individuals and their target audience in a certain direction of action. It was Mr. Narayan Murthy's confidence that IT will produce a change in society and that there was a good business opportunity - this motivated him to found Infosys. When Bill Gates was studying, he realized software will create profound changes in society and he dedicated himself to this change. The result for Bill Gates has been astonishing - he has become the world's richest person. Mrs. Kiran Majumdar believed that enzymes and biotech can produce a significant change and the change can help create a successful business enterprise for her - the result is, she is one of the richest women in India. VERILY, CHANGE IS THE TRUTH AND THE GREATEST MOTIVATOR.

Dettol: unparalleled brand, unchallenged change

Dettol is an unusual brand. Dettol is the unchallenged leader brand in India in the area of disinfection or the antiseptic product category. This is unusual for a healthcare brand in India. Normally, in India, leader brands will spawn numerous me-too brands and create a fragmented market. After all the product DETTOL is not complex. It is simple and plain chloroxylenol - an antiseptic. But the brand building activity is legendary. After achieving good penetration with antiseptic Dettol liquid in the Indian market, Dettol has played on its product theme SHIELD OF PROTECTION and extended it to various sister categories like antiseptic healthcare soaps, antiseptic handwash, shaving cream .... In fact, the banner of Dettol is extending itself to HYGIENE. The most attractive aspect of Dettol market is that it is an OTX (a combination of over-the-counter and prescription) market - with a heavy focus on OTC (over-the-counter). The Dettol market is one with a long life - perhaps Dettol will be there as long as there will be humans! There is no stopping the growth of Dettol - one will not be surprised if Dettol launches new line extensions for kids, veterinary use, and other related fields of antiseptic use! DETTOL has a very interesting web site to engage prospects and customers in UK, it is a very effective approach of online marketing CLICK HERE. All the quizzes, activities for kids, and information campaigns on infections like avian influenza are very engaging and they subtly promote the goodness of antiseptic Dettol in hygiene and infection management. IT IS TRULY UNUSUAL TO OBSERVE THAT IN INDIA WHERE ALMOST 30% OF THE PHARMA MARKET IS FOR ANTIBIOTICS, THIS MEANS INFECTION MANAGEMENT IS BIG BUSINESS, AND UNUSUALLY IN INDIA, DETTOL IS HAVING AN EASY RUN WITHOUT THE USUAL AVALANCHE OF ME-TOO BRANDS BITING IN TO THE MARKETSHARE OF DETTOL. Perhaps, with pharma and healthcare marketers (particularly consumer healthcare divisions like Mankind's new consumer healthcare division) in India looking for products with a long life in a growing market, will see the antiseptic Dettol market as attractive and will eventually challenge the collossal presence of Dettol in this market. What makes Dettol a very aggressive brand is not only the line extensions but also the wide range of packs to suit both small consumers, home consumers, and also the large volume consumers like hospitals.

Regarding the Rs. 1000 crore Dettol brand - here is an interesting net reference:

Dettol is the leader in the antiseptic market with 85 per cent market share. Liquid hand wash created a new market and lords over 60 per cent of the market in the category, while the various Dettol soaps account for 18 per cent of the health soap division . Reckitt Benickiser the MNC is the owner of the mega Dettol brand.

CONCLUSION: believe in change and experience success

It is important to identify the correct change, work on it, and success will ride on the change.

Thnks for reading this blogpost, please scroll down and click on OLDER POSTS whenever required, to read other blogposts.

Who is a manager?

I got the above interesting image from here.

One cannot forget the office boy who used to regularly talk to me - even coming out of the way to meet up, and talk a few words with me. At that time I was a Product Manager. One fine day, he came to me excitedly and said, "Sir, I am a manager now!" A little amused at his child-like excitement I congratulated him. He continued, "Sir, I am now a manager at the CMD's house. All the workers there are reporting to me. I have a cabin, table, chair, and buzzer!" Ah! I understood then that his vision of a manager was one who has a cabin, table, chair, and a buzzer (to buzz and summon the office boys).

During Managers' development and training programs, it is interesting to start off by asking who is a manager? The range of responses are interesting: One says that a manager is a person who has reportees and gets work done through them. Another participant adds, a manager is a person who plans and organizes the limited resources to achieve the company objectives. Still another states a manager is a person who has obedient subordinates.

When asked, 'give an example of a successful field manager', it invariably leads to a particular gentleman field manager from north east and another from the west. And what do they have in common? Well, they are the epitomes of what Peter Drucker has to say about a manager:

The best fit description of a manager is given by Peter Drucker, he says: MANAGERS' ARE THOSE WHO BUILD BUSINESS. How right!!

These gentlemen referred to above as examples have built the business of the organization, and one has done it from scratch and taken it to great heights.

And to build a business, managers' have to do the following: planning, organizing, staffing, measuring, integrating, leading, and development of people.

Besides to build successful businesses, MANAGERS HAVE TO MANAGE CHANGE. If anything is constant in this dynamic world, it is change! Either you can surrender to change, adapt to change, or be the change you want to see happen. And the last aspect, differentiates the boys from the real managers. One has to be a leader to be good change manager.

Who is a leader? When this question is put to the participants, very interesting responses are generated. Some say a leader is fearless. Another person adds leaders instill courage in people. Yet another gentleman reiterates, that a leader is one who has followers. It is like saying a guru is one who has chelas (ie., a teacher is one who has students).

The best description I have come across of a leader: A PERSON WHO MAKES OTHERS WORK ENTHUSIASTICALLY AND WILLINGLY TOWARDS COMPANY OBJECTIVES.

And that is easier said than done!!

Managers as terrorists':

Another unusual display of managership is bullying or terrorizing subordinates. It ranges from verbal abuse to threats. This has given to a new form of behavior from nonmanagers and subordinates. Defensiveness, loss of trust, and militant unionism ... and now even taking the battle to personal level on the street so as to say. The nonmanagers or subordinate victims are becoming Khalis to take on terrorizing bosses. Many of the terrorizing managers' have two faces and are wedged between the upper managers and subordinates. These Janus headed managers display a coy and presentable behavior to their bosses, while to their subordinates they are the opposite.

With increasing competition and stretch targets, which is common to all pharma and healthcare companies in India and abroad, sometimes people issues are swept under the carpet, sacrificed on the alter of sales. However, HR issues are becoming very important. Moreover, getting good people on board has become an onerous task as candidates are ready to change companies and even the field of work itself. Globalization, immigration, and free market economy are throwing new challenges to companies - it is increasingly difficult to get good candidates, develop them, and retain them. Unless, pharma and healthcare organizations start putting as much emphasis on the means and company culture to achieving the end goals ... the long term harm to organizations will be difficult to manage.

Thnks for reading this blogpost, please do scroll down to read all other blogposts. Click on OLDER POSTS, wherever required.