Summary
Fighting India's jugaad against everyday health issues
Challenge
Dabur is the market leader and category's growth often driven by the brand. Volume growth is the biggest indicator of success in the category and hence became the primary objective. Previous benchmark of volume growth was at 3.3% but Dabur Chyawanprash needed to beat it. In a category that was on a sudden decline, it was critical to rebuild relevance for Dabur Chyawanprash and drive 7% volume growth.
Objective
Natural immunity boosters have long been a part of Indian "health" culture & households. One such immunity booster is Chyawanprash – an ayurvedic concoction of immunity boosting herbs, proven to help fight everyday health issues. Dabur, with its Chyawanprash has been leading this space for decades with more than 60% market share. So much so that it is synonymous with the category itself. Which meant, category's growth was Dabur's growth & vice-versa. But, after years of growing and building the category via product innovation, communication nudges, occasion building etc. the chyawanprash category was in in decline. Market penetration was flat & the category was degrowing by -21%. Which meant, the category was struggling for relevance.
Strategy
To bring a larger shift, we needed to influence and change behavior amongst "serial self-medicators" i.e. men & women in their 30s/40s who were engaging in self-medication regularly. These men & women were not only doing it for themselves, they were also driving self-medication for their families. Popping a pill was a reflex for them. Most self-medication happens on frequently occurring issues such as fever, could, cough, body ache etc. And such repeating issues meant they could easily self-medicate without worrying about risks and therefore delaying diagnosis of any underlining conditions. In fact, their primary source of information on what medicine to take was the local chemist (59%) followed by another self-medicating family member (17%). Self-medicators had near blind trust in the medicine they were taking. And if the source was trusted, they had no reason to question it. Their belief in treating problem with a quick dose of medicine was so high that building immunity became almost unimportant. This is where it was critical for Dabur to influence these self-medicators. Dabur Chyawanprash helps build immunity from within, helping the body fight everyday issues like cough, cold & fever. Issues that even doctors recommend that we should let our immunity tackle. Changing their behavior would mean rebuilding their faith in immunity & hence entering these households.
Data
Changing healthcare related habits are tough. Especially when the audience perceives existing habits to be effective. This case demonstrates the power of social shaming & reframing in driving behavior change. Dabur Chyawanprash's campaign effectively drew attention to India's rampant self-medication epidemic, where 50% of Indians and 70% of households were engaging in the dangerous practice. The approach involved reframing symbols of "self-medication"; traditionally associated with chemists, into a taunt for serial self-medicators. Using micro-influencers, memes, and a social-experiment style TVC featuring Akshay Kumar, the campaign successfully shifted public consciousness, making Dabur Chyawanprash a true champion of immunity and discouraging self-medication.
Solution
Results
India realized their self-medication habit & finally paid attention to the power of immunity. The campaign saw highest ever recall for Dabur at 98%. Offtakes for brand improved significantly despite a decline in the category. The brand saw 3X growth percentage vs previous CAGR of 3.3%. Attributes associated with efficacy, that drive usage and acceptance also improved, giving the brand even more reasons to be present in & consumed by Indian households. Our memes & reels successfully engaged 3 million plus Indians on Instagram in short span. More than 1.3K mothers pushed out our message of giving up self-medication & the power of immunity across whatsapp groups. In just 2 days, more than 2.5K Indians accepted & came out as "DAWAI KI DUKAAN" on social platforms.
