PGINDIAALUMS NEWSLETTER#2 Continuing in our series of RHL history,we present the next episode of another Marketing success story.

Read on.. TALES OF LONG AGO: Episode # 2:

VICKS COUGH DROPS BECOMES A CRORE RUPEE BRAND!

In our previous episode we brought to you the drama of building our new Kalwa factory.Building something new is like giving birth to a child-painful but an unforgettable experience.The architect was RVI veteran Henry Retter who would spread out his blueprints on the draftsman table and work late into the night at times.

Against the background of the hills,the Plant made a pretty picture.Many years later we planted a row of gulmohar trees on the front lawns and every year,come April/May you could see the beautiful gulmohar in bloom in a line.The plant won a Beautification award from the Thane-Belapur Industries Assn. several years later.I was the Environmental Manager then.Nina Gupta of R&D lent her expertise and we worked closely with our gardening contractor,Singh.He did an excellent job.The compost for the trees came from our plant waste(Recycling).

I moved to Marketing as Marketing Executive in 1967.The RHL office in Tiecicon House had an aura of its own. Our receptionists were handpicked for their grace and elegance. They were beautiful women and it was always a pleasure passing through the lobby. We had Indu and Shahnaz then Sheela,Kavita, Pratibha, Vrinda & Sandra-and others whose names elude me at the moment. RHL Marketing at the time had a great lineup.They were an elite group among the best in India surely. Most had a U.S degree. We had Duggal,Shirish Ponda, Ram Karwa and of course Tony(Dr.Anthony).Also Jagraj Mehta(Jaggy) my colleague from Don Bosco School,Matunga.Advertising Manager Parry Dholakia and Jaggy must be credited with developing the winning strategy for boosting the Vicks Cough Drop(VCD) sales. Incidentally,Kirit Vaidya (Vaporub),Amar Desai(Clearasil),Ross Deas(Formula44),Sunil Thakurdas(Tonos-7),Jaggy and later I represented the next generation of desi product managers. Jaggy was the architect of the Mass Sampling program.We had two types of sampling:MCC and P2P.Trust RHL to come out with great acronyms.Using these we Marketing guys felt a sense of bonding while the non-Marketing

guys were bemused!MCC stood for Mass Consumer Contact and P2P for person to person.An uncharitable person might term MCC as mass hawking but it sure was effective. No other OTC (over the counter) medicine company had sold their products in this way before. P2P stood for Person to Person contact as in personalised selling. Sales skyrocketed and Hot cakes started selling like VCD!

Parry sent me to Calcutta to find out how Bengalis had started buying Vicks. The thinking was that being a Bengali perhaps I would do a better job(several unsuccessful attempts earlier). Daw Bros.were our agents in Calcutta.Vicky Savara was handling operations there until then and he accompanied me on my first visit.Parry had arranged for Rambabu and Joydeep(Daw Bros. top honchos) to meet us at the airport.This was to ensure they took us seriously and that we meant business.We put up at the Great Eastern Hotel then considered only second to the Grand in the pecking order of class hotels in Calcutta at the time.For me it was my first Boeing 707 flight on company business and as a Marketing executive!

Bengalis just didnt buy Vicks (usually the term for Vaporub).They felt that Vaporub dries up cold.No amount of advertising to the contrary or the fact that no other community in India perhaps felt the same way would convince them.They simply refused to buy. Whatever sales we could garner was from the non-Bongs in Calcutta!Remember that at that time(late 60s)we were among the top advertisers in India. The only strategy that showed some success was steam inhalation.Bengalis tried this and were somewhat convinced when it worked.But demonstrating this in a mass way was difficult to implement despite the plastic inhalers we got for the purpose..demonstrating VCD effectiveness was a piece of cake in comparison. Give a free sample to passing pedestrians and coax them to taste it.

Just try it mate! and he was hooked. Try resisting the tasty drop particularly when you have a khich khich throat. Boots Strepsils,our main threat at the time just watched and fumed-with a much more medicinal image they simply couldnt copy our strategy. Brand extensions with delicious other flavours-Lemon,Eucalyptus,Honey-Licorice and the 4s pouch pack in quick succession and we were on the winning track.Market share shot past an unbelievable 40%!Interestingly Strepsils introduced flavours later seeing us-when your competitor copies you you know they are sunk! Their advertising helps us-what better advertising effectiveness can you think of? This was a great Marketing scoop unparalleled perhaps in Indian OTC Marketing history till then.We were the pioneers. It was .simply beautiful! We first sat with Blaze in Bombay planning our ad film screenings in cinemas in the towns chosen for the sampling campaign. We ensured that the stockist was loaded with adequate stock (they were skeptical about the quantity sent-sometimes their previous years sales!). Point of Sale (POS) was put up by our Sales rep in selected outlets all over the city. We had

planned for the VCD ad film to be screened simultaneously in the main cinema halls there.A VCD sample packet(2 samples in an easily openable paper/poly pouch) would be given to each person entering the theatre.The film depicted a lady in a cinema hall coughing and being offered a cough drop by her partner much to the relief of the other theatre-goers!It was brilliant-empathy was established as each one sampled the great taste of the productand got hooked! Theatre sampling was a great success.

After Jaggy left,I took over as Brand Manager for VCD and my first job was to implement the massive sampling blitz.Our sampling plan was to be carried out in 100 towns across India-try to imagine the logistics and detailed planning involved. Liaising with the factory in Kalwa(unheard-of quantities to be made and shipped along with advertising POS materials); with Blaze to ensure the cinemas would screen the VCD films as scheduled and with our stockists-they were skeptical that such quantities could be sold!I can also take credit for organizing All-India Window Display contests at dealer outlets to promote VCD simultaneously. Local press ads heightened the impact.Our campaign became the topic of discussion in the city. Introduction of the delicious new flavours and the affordable pouch pack of 4s kept the excitement going.This was Total Impact Marketing-a lesson in innovative Marketing. Some of the temporary reps we had in our campaign became part of RHL(Prakash Thakker and Anup Bhatnagar whom I had selected in Indore are two names that come to mind).Anup is still with P&G.The biggest acquisition via this route was Samar Mojumdar who was selected by Jaggy

and later rose to head the Eastern region Sales division.Not bad for a temporary VCD promotional rep! Finally our Sampling warriors who would carry out these operations. I had Team leaders Danny(Kanhai Dansinghani),Vicky(Vikram Savara),Anil(Nadkarni ex-J&J),Vijay(Shankar) and Suresh(Goklaney-later became President of Eureka Forbes). Each had a specific set of towns to cover. The actual team of temporary promotional reps.was to be selected from the main metros. This team would travel with the Team leaders.Make no mistake-it was WAR!VCD was in tough competition with other brands which had a much more medicinal image(Strepsils,Peps et al). We had to spend a lot of time in the market place-6 to 8 week tours were common. This did upset our private life particularly for the married folk.It was only the GUNG HO spirit which kept us going! Money advances had to be arranged and accounted for.No mean task in those days when there were no ATMs and cash transactions had to be done. In 1968 VCD became a crore rupee brand-only the second crore plus brand in the Company at that time! All supporting functions of course did their bit making RHL a force to reckon with in the corporate world.I remember the late Vinayak Navelkar,Market research head and his supporting staff(Nimkar,Shrikhande,Waaras,Vasant Shetty et al) not to forget the Sales,Plant,Finance,Purchase & Personnel. The Sales guys particularly were a critical part of our success-veteran Jay Sanghvi and his group. Many years later, I narrated these experiences to my Advertising&Marketing class at Xaviers Institute of Communications(XIC).I got an interesting feedback from a former student-he had applied these lessons in his company(Tata Administrative Services) and had profited hugely from it.He was moving to Tetleys London as Brand Manager.That really warmed my heart!You learn Marketing from the Marketplaceperiod. sitesh dutt/1359/01.09.08) pgindiaalums#2

RHL/P&G Golf Tournament & Reunion Bangalore November 2008

The Crystal Cup is Stylish!

Easy did it? Passion for Golf did it. Bharat won it!!!

P&GIAA Golf 2008 - Bangalore - BGC - Friday 7th November 2008

The first tournament of its kind. Went off perfectly as per plan in the Garden City of Bangalore and in the 128 years old Bangalore Golf Course (BGC) which is known for golfing difficulties and challenges. Six Players Participated. Bharat Patel (17) Deepak Verma (19) Ginil Shirodkar (21) KSRam (24) Arun Chogle (24) Jagdish Kini (24) Some like Sumant Bakshi and Ashok Ramasamy could not participate due unavoidable circumstances. A high standard of golf was exhibited. Stableford format was adopted.The Winner could not take things for granted.

The Winner: He is a passionate Golfer. Mr.Bharat Patel (with 8 handsome PARS) took away the honors. The Runner-up: He is a Delhi Champ. Mr.Deepak Verma was declared a close second. Consolation Prizes were given to all participating golfers. Jagdish Kini made his golf debut and has all the potential to be a winner in the next P&GIAA Golf that could happen in New Delhi 2009. Special mention to be made of Ginil. He specially flew down to participate in this first ever tournament. He had to rush back to Mumbai immediately after the golf game, to enable receive his Life Time Achievement Award for his yeomen services to Human Resources Development in India and abroad.

Both Deepak and Chogle managed a round of Golf in between their business rounds. KSRam sponsored the Trophies. Mr. Arun Bewoor gave away the Stylish Crystal Trophies in the presence of all the golfers and select invitees while many of us were busy sipping what kept the spirits high on the eve of the Reunion followed by dinner on Friday 7th November 08. Special Golf Mementos were given to Mrs.Gayathir Bewoor and Mrs. Girija Rajan for being present at the Golf Venue and gracing the occasion. P&GIAA Golf 2009 : Mr. Deepak Verma has taken the initiative to organise same in New Delhi. Subsequently we will have Pune, Mumbai, Kodaikanal as the venues. WORD-OF-MOUTH and general interest would draw more P&GIAA to participate in the future Golf Events. Tailpiece: P&GIAA Carrom & Chess: 2009 - Sunil Haribal and few others are already thinking of organizing these Events in Mumbai.

Moving on from Golf to the Reunion The long-awaited Reunion of approximately 50 commenced on Saturday November 08 08 from 6.30 PM. The venue was beautiful in Ada-e-Hind wherein everyone present got the feel of Exclusiveness & the Openness. Right at the entrance of the hotel, the banner of RHL & P&G generated immediate Nostalgia.

As the evening slowly dawned, the people started trickling in and right at the first floor entrance was Lax welcoming people and making a quick registration mandatory for all well folks it was important to ensure that money was collected!!! (Did someone quip about DSO being < 5 days?) The P&G Alumni Banner caught the attention of each one on entering the main venue.

All of us felt honored and would thank Bharat Patel & Sanjay Banerjee who came from Mumbai, Arun Chogle who made it from Pune & Deepak Varma who came over from Delhi. Needless to say there were many who came in from Chennai, Kerala, AP and TN. There were some spouses and grown up children who too added to the overall environment and the glamour and youth effects to the beautiful evening as it unfolded. The environment was electric and oozing with enthusiasm and it was something to experience rather than express as to what was the feeling amongst people when they meet people after ages. Many had grayed, while many had lost their proud possession on their heads but recognizing people was not a problem for people were just walking down the memory lanes with nostalgic tidbits. People at large were enjoying the drinks while the starters commenced their entry and from the looks of people and the speed with which the quantity vanished, it was evident that people were enjoying the eats. Once the quorum was in place, all the people took their seats that were arranged neatly. Lax did the welcoming bit and expressed happiness as so many long-lost friends met once again. He then invited Sanjay Banerjee the chief architect & the Secretary of the Alumni to share his thoughts. After his motivating address, Bharat Patel President of the group was invited who too spoke about the initial days of RHL/P&G and how thrilled he was to be with the people who made significant contribution in building the organization. Arun Bewoor then shared his excitement despite being away from the company for over 19 years confirming the fact Once a P&Gite always a P&Gite. Arun Chogle felt as though he was there for a launch of one of the products that is the Pull factor of P&G/RHL for all of us. Deepak Verma felt very proud of his sales team and acknowledged the contributions of so many. He also confirmed that the next event will be in the northern belt the venue is still open. KN Shivdas spoke about how he managed with his team to

produce enough to fulfill the market needs and the whole crowd to could empathize with what was being shared. Thanx is due to Bharat, Bewoor, Arun, Deepak, Sanjay & Shiv for the kind words they had to say during the event. Lax, then invited Ram who created the first level Pull by organizing a GOLF tournament & Achuthan & PK Rajan the two pillars who could reach out to the sales force and got them for this special evening. The whole group acknowledged the team work of the Fabulous Four of Achuthan, Rajan, Ram and Lax. The quorum then paid respect to all the departed souls by observing a 2 minute silence these were the people who had played pivotal roles in building the organization and the various brands. To make the environment a little light at this stage, Lax organized a game called Recognize your colleagues. This was a simple game as some home work was done earlier in terms of collecting the old and current pictures of some of the key members of the RHL/P&G family. The old black and white picture was projected on the screen of one person and the rest of the crowd was to recognize the individual. The right guess won a small token award sponsored by Lax. We had 5 people to be recognized and Bewoor family was the hands-down winners taking 40% of the prizes. The game lightened the environment and created the necessary excitement and impetus and all of us moved from the chairs back to drinks and eats. The dinner was ready in good time and one could observe that people were having a great time. This piece of write-up would be incomplete if it did not cover the wonderful gesture of Hariharan who still is part of P&G made it for the exciting evening and added further colors by sponsoring gift hampers containing some of our assorted products to everyone who participated. Thanx Hari for the same may your tribe increase!!

Tea Mugs with the logo of RHL and P&G Alumni was handed over to each person who participated and this was sponsored by Lax.

One important input is for people to draw out of the Bangalore experience Re-use of the banners that have been printed to be utilized in future events Life Membership fees was collected from the following people: o Narasimhan o Shivaram K o TV Subramaniam o P Venkatraman Entrance fee collected (excluding Life Membership) from those who participated = Rs. 28,800

Cost of Food paid to Ada-e-Hind = Rs. 33,200 (Cost of liquor & gifts excluded)

Organizers of the next event may look at increasing the participation fees. All good things have to come to and end and this one did too, but not without leaving some imprints in the minds of those present the body language of the people clearly indicated YEH DIL MAANGAY MORE Cheers Contributed by Ram, Rajan, Achuthan & Lax