Mumbai: Sleep is definitely the most underrated source of energy, joy and contentment. It comes as no surprise that India is the second most sleep-deprived country. P&G Healthcare recently forayed into the sleep aid category and launched Vicks ZzzQuil Natura – the world’s number one sleep aid brand in India.
Committed to addressing the unmet needs of Indians, P&G Health’s latest addition to the House of Vicks is a nutraceutical (non-prescription) melatonin sleep supplement which is non-addictive, suitable for occasional sleeplessness with no next-day drowsiness and helps you wake up regenerated.
Indiantelevison.com caught up with P&G India senior marketing director & category leader – Health Care Sahil Sethi to figure out P&G’s objective behind launching Vicks ZzzQuil Natura, the ZzzQuil India National Sleep Survey, the advertising and marketing strategy for the same, and more.
Edited excerpts:
On the objective behind P&G Healthcare’s foray into the sleep aid category
As a pioneer in Consumer Health, P&G is fully committed to addressing some of the toughest unmet consumer needs. One such unmet need is the deprivation of quality sleep. While sleep is vital to one’s well-being, a good night’s sleep is an unmet need for many Indians, with the ZzzQuil India National Sleep Survey with Kantar stating that 6 out of 10 Indians are facing occasional sleeplessness. The sleep aids market has also shown strong growth as a result of pandemic-induced occasional sleeplessness and the rise in consumer awareness of the need of a sleeping aid. This context makes the launch of the product quite timely, as it seeks to help Indian consumers with the rest they deserve.
On what is ZzzQuil and how it will help solve India’s sleep woes
Vicks ZzzQuil Natura available in India has been designed for Indian consumers looking at consumer needs and preferences. It contains Melatonin, which is your body’s natural sleep signal and helps reduce the time taken to fall asleep with no next-day drowsiness. Together, with Vitamin B6 which helps to relieve body’s tiredness and fatigue, it supports your night’s rest to help you wake up refreshed. We have also added some locally relevant herbal ingredients like lavender and chamomile keeping our Indian consumer’s taste and preference in mind.
With only 15 per cent Indians reported they get good sleep – there is a huge opportunity to create awareness and the need to act on this issue. The ZzzQuil India National Sleep Survey also revealed that consumers are looking for support for occasional sleeplessness.
Hence, ZzzQuil awareness initiatives are aimed at addressing sleep-related challenges by educating and equipping our audience with the right support through three stages:
1. Build Awareness on this problem and how occasional sleeplessness impacts the quality of life
2. Equip consumers with the right information and the right support
3. Share the experiences of others who have benefitted from this product
On your advertising and marketing strategy for a brand such as this which has never been advertised in the market
The sleep category does require a lot of awareness creation because as I said the issue is widespread as 85% of Indians today say that they don’t get a good night’s sleep or 60% say they suffer from occasional sleeplessness. But we don’t tend to talk about it enough and we tend to normalize it in our country that occasional sleeplessness is not an issue that we need to address. So, the key objective at this stage is to drive awareness about the category and the importance of good sleep and how it impacts somebody’s day-to-day activities if they don’t get a good night’s sleep. This is something that we are striving to do one consumer at a time.
ZzzQuil from P&G is a pioneer in this category and stands as the World’s No.1 Sleep Aid Brand. P&G’s strategy across markets is based on the ‘5 Vectors of Superiority’ – superior product, packaging, consumer communication, retail execution and super consumer value equation where we compete. We continue to put in extensive efforts across all fronts to improve awareness and accessibility of the category and brand through scientifically backed communications disseminated through media, consumer websites, digital platforms and education programmes towards empowering people to identify symptoms, and seek timely treatment to live healthier and more vibrant lives.
On the sleep aid category which has usually been in the form of medicines – these are addictive and make one feel extremely drowsy. How do you plan to bring a change in the category with such a launch?
With more and more consumers seeking to understand and address occasional sleeplessness, we are presently focused on improving education and awareness of the category and the product.
We want to equip our consumers with the right information and right support. Right information in terms of what all they can do to improve their sleep cycles and from a support point of view, highlighting how ZzzQuil Natura can help them fall asleep better and get refreshed or wake up refreshed the next morning.
We also want people to share their stories to encourage others to identify sleep related challenges and take steps to address them.
On the ZzzQuil India National Sleep Survey
Our ZzzQuil India National Sleep Survey by Kantar in association with P&G Health reveals that only 15 per cent of Indians get good sleep, while a vast majority (85 per cent) reported sleeplessness or not sleeping well. 60 per cent reported occasional sleeplessness. Among them, close to 60 per cent reported when they have poor sleep, it interfered with their daily activities. 40 per cent of employed individuals agree strongly that lack of sleep caused job stresses to be much harder to handle and it also distracted them from enjoying work .70 per cent individuals acknowledge staying up longer than expected, almost every night or a few nights a week and 54 per cent cite social media habits as the key reason.
On the media mix that would you be focusing on for ZzzQuil
For this, we are following a multichannel and integrated approach across all media including digital, tv, print, on-ground activations including scientific discussions and public awareness initiatives, and e-commerce platforms, all aimed at improving identification of sleep issues, good sleeping habits and ways to address occasional sleeplessness to be able to be your best selves.
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