MUMBAI: Protinex in association with Filter Coffee Co is conducting an aggressive influencer marketing campaign to promote its Immuno Nutrient Calculator.
The activity, which started during Protein Week, has received tremendous response via various sets of influencers, with demand growing especially on Instagram. Filter Coffee Co, which holds a strong foothold in influencer marketing campaigns, is strategically using a mix of macro, micro, and nano influencers and phasing the campaign to build engagement and brand value. The agency has also included a mix of celebrities, non-celebrities, and digital content creators to provide a wider reach and ensure the message on raising awareness around tracking health and immunity reaches maximum people.
Protinex has also got on board expert nutritionist Mitushi Ajmera for professional advice and reliability of the calculator. The adult nutritional supplement protein brand’s calculator helps track the level of immuno nutrients that help in building immunity, such as Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, B12, Zinc, etc in one’s diet.
Using Instagram as one of the key platforms and engaging influencers to amplify the campaign, Protinex aims at raising awareness and driving traffic towards its new feature, which is also providing a free consultation with a 30-day personalised diet.
Till date the brand message has been supported by Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Riteish, and Genelia Deshmukh, content creators like House of Misu, Roshni Chopra, Nisha Aggarwal, Shrima Rai, Priyanka Kalantri, Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya, Vivek Dahiya, amongst others, across platforms like Instagram, YouTube, etc.
The campaign is being conducted on Instagram using multiple features like static posts, videos, IGTV, stories, and reels. Protinex has also been impressive in gaining traction on YouTube for the initiative.
Madhuri Dixit – https://www.instagram.com/p/CDGpGH8HoLY/
“In the past few months, we all have realised the importance of a good immunity system and with the launch of our new Immuno Nutrient Calculator, we want more and more people to be able to sit at home and track their health at ease. The entire influence marketing activity which we are conducting has helped us build this awareness and we are glad people are waking up to it. With the demand of influencer marketing having shot up in the past few months, we are glad to partner with Filter Coffee Co., who bring in detailing and the correct set of influencers for our brand. Our partnership with trusted Influencers to drive the importance of a nutrient-filled diet, has got us great brand recall, and more importantly, it helped us inspire healthier eating and drinking choices while building consumer trust,” Danone India MD Himanshu Bakshi said.
FilterCoffee founder and CEO Anuja DeoraSanctis said, "With more and more people getting health conscious and looking to adapt newer lifestyle habits, our aim was to create a buzz around the same and help them understand their immunity levels. A healthy lifestyle is imperative in today’s fast world, and with our network of influencers, we look forward to continuing to reach out to maximum people possible.”
Till date, the brand has reached over 20 million users, witnessing an engagement of over 7 lakh and an average engagement rate of 5.2 per cent.
MUMBAI: Protinex, the leading nutritional supplement brand from the house of Danone, has awarded its creative duties to DDB Mudra, following a multi-agency pitch. DDB Mudra will bring in its expertise to strengthen the brand’s communication and architecture.
Indian diet is primarily carbohydrate-heavy and protein deficient. A 2017 research by Indian Market Research Bureau* revealed that protein deficiency in India was more than 70 per cent. Until a few years ago, adult nutrition was an ignored topic. Indians are now considering their health and wellbeing seriously.
They are gradually making themselves aware of protein deficiency and its underlaying effects on human health. Building on this insight, DDB Mudra researched this category deeply to map all the touchpoints of a consumer journey and lifecycle.
Danone India MD Himanshu Bakshi said, “Protein awareness is an important part of our brand commitment since the understanding about Protein is very nascent in India. Effective communication is a vehicle through which we deliver our promise of inspiring healthier eating& drinking habits. DDB Mudra will help us translate this promise to action as we embark on an exciting journey to create impactful communication around Protein”.
DDB Mudra West managing partner Anurag Tandon said, “Adult nutrition is a category withgrowth potential. Working with a name like Protinex is a matter of pride for us, since they not only have a long-standing reputation in the market but also a vision to further the brand in multiple ways. Our fresh perspective inhow to create consumer awareness about protein deficiency resonated well with Protinex’s goal to create relevance in this segment.”
MUMBAI: Nutricia International (Danone India) has elevated Himanshi Bakshi as managing director of India operations. He will resume his duties in the new role from 1 April 2019. In his new role, Bakshi will be responsible for steering the company into its next phase of growth, as a leading nutrition company.
Bakshi had joined Danone as marketing director in 2013 with more than 19 years of marketing and sales experience.
Commenting on the new role, Danone India managing director Himanshu Bakshi said, "I am grateful for the expansion in my responsibilities and look forward to lead the enthusiastic and dynamic team at Danone in the next phase of transformation as we establish ourselves in India as a leading Nutrition company responding to local needs. Danone has a unique vision of bringing health through food to consumers, and I am excited to deliver this promise to consumers through our unique portfolio of Indian and global products".
Himanshu began his career with Dabur and moved to Pepsi. He started his brand marketing journey with Reckitt Benckiser responsible for marketing of brands like Lizol and Dettol followed by Danone where he handled various responsibilities in marketing and sales.
MUMBAI: In line with its mission ‘to educate Indians about the relevance of daily intake of protein’, Protinex has roped in South India’s superstar, Mahesh Babu, as the brand ambassador.
With its high-decibel, 360-campaign, Protinex has been on a journey to educate consumers about the relevance of protein in daily diet. With this association, Protinex intends to amplify the protein message in its key markets of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka with the influence of Mahesh Babu.
Danone India director of marketing Himanshu Bakshi says, “More than 70 per cent urban Indian diets are protein deficient, in fact 93 per cent of Indians are unaware of their ideal protein requirement and believe that they are getting enough protein in their diet. South is a highly penetrated region for health food drinks category with multiple established brands. Hence, as thought leaders in the protein category, it becomes even more important for us to intervene, educate Indians about the relevance of protein and enable them to make the right choice. Hence, with the intent to reach as many people as possible, Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu was an obvious choice. Truly a Protinator. Mahesh Babu is widely admired by audience across age groups and resonates very well with brand’s promise. We believe his association will support the brand drive the message of protein rich diet for active lifestyle & good health. We are truly proud of this association.”
MUMBAI: It is a challenge for any brand to bust myths around itself that it once thrived upon.
If one were to wake up one fine day and discover that their favourite face-wash brand can also be used as a kitchen cleaner, consumers would hardly buy it; (pun intended). Categories exist for reason, after all. Breaking away from this typecast in the marketing world is one of the biggest challenges a brand can take on. And yet, if it’s done right, the returns are promising. Nutrition and wellness label Danone Nutricia’s Indian marketing director Himanshu Bakshi can testify to that.
Protinex was by and large a heritage brand; been around in the country for some 60 years now and is well known among its niche consumer in the medical circle. Historically the brand has always been prescription driven, which is to say its sales was driven through doctor recommendations and prescriptions. Around three years ago when Danone Nutricia acquired Wockhardt Group, brands such as Dexolac, Farex, Nusobee and Protinex brands, came under its purview and kindled a scope for Protinex to enter the over the counter market.
“That is when we decided to take our brand OTC, or over the counter,” recollects Bakshi. When you think about it, Protein in itself doesn’t require doctor’s prescription per say to be consumed, and it is a requirement for everyone.
To ensure that their thought process was backed by facts, Protinex did a huge round of consumer research. What came out of it was that people knew what protein is, people knew what Protinex is, but they weren’t aware why they should consume it without being asked by a doctor. “Clearly, we realised that the relevance of protein in everyday life was missing among the consumers,” Bakshi remembers.
There were lots of myths associated with the product, the primary one being its use for body builders. Several assumed that if they were not into body building, protein and Protinex didn’t concern them. There were also those that believed that Protinex was limited to specific occasions, such as when one is recovering from any sickness.
“To test the waters, we did a pilot campaign in south India starting with Andhra Pradesh back in 2014. It did exceedingly well for us in that market, both in terms of brand awareness and shelf life of the product in retail stores. Following which in 2015, we went all out with our national campaign including, television ad spots, newspaper visibility, out-of-home campaigns and of course digital,” shares Bakshi.
While Taproot Dentsu has the brand’s creative mandate, GroupM has managed the planning and buying of all media for Protinex as its media agency ever since.
The first campaign was straightforward awareness building on the brand’s part that laid down facts and figures on protein deficiency in the country, upholding it as an issue that affects the everyday consumer. The campaign touched upon the fact that common illnesses like fatigue and weakness can be tied down to deficiency of adequate protein in one’s everyday diet.
The brand custodians claim that it was not only a first time for Protinex reach out to consumers directly through TV, radio, print and digital, but the campaign was a novelty in the category itself.
But grabbing the retail consumer’s attention was just the start of the multifold challenge that the brand and its marketing team was taking on. “Gaining penetration in a market like this isn’t an easy task. It takes time and consistent effort through brand communication. We did make inroads when it comes to adoption figures going up as gathered from our sales study in the areas where the campaign did well,” states Bakshi.
He, however, has no qualms in facing the reality that when the overall health food and food supplements market is looked at — which is dominated by the Horlicks’ and Complans of the world– Protinex has a long way to go.
Where in comes the need for a differentiated communication that will cut above the noise. The brand’s second campaign is a sea removed from what it attempted at first to generate awareness. It was more about building unique brand identity than educating consumers.
“Generally health and wellness is considered a boring category and not much innovation is seen when it comes to marketing it. People don’t really tweet and share about it as enthusiastically as they would for an automobile brand for example. Therefore the key to it is to create a point of engagement. If you look at the campaigns done in the category so far, every brand is talking about ‘kids growing taller and smarter.’ Claims are really overdone. A plain vanila ad on health will just not cut it, especially for us, because we are still very small when it comes to market share. That is why we have willed ourselves to think out of the box and come up with truly engaging ideas, including the involvement with Mumbai dabbawallahs,” Bakshi says, referring to its latest campaign.
Having said that, the current ongoing campaign is a bud up on the first one. “While the first campaign was very functional in nature, the second is way more engaging for the consumer. We have blended in fun elements along with indian values, so that the consumers can relate and own the message. Above all the message shouldn’t sound like a sermon, if we wanted consumers to listen,” he says.
“We took the insights from our study that ä huge chunk of the Indian demography has a deficiency in protein, and instead of outright saying it in their face, we took a queue from the fact that most people think it’s good enough. We built the campaign ‘something missing’ around it using the dabba or the Indian lunchbox as the key visual for it,” Bakshi explains.
It started with a teaser for the first few days on the major news channels on TV, followed by visibility at bus shelters. The most innovative was the involvement of the Mumbai dabba wallas in the campaign. The scale at which the campaign is being attempted is a first for the brand, and therefore overwhelming but it feedback makes it worth it, Bakshi says.
Currently the campaign has been launched nationally and an entire 360 degree conversation has been chalked out which includes TV spots, radio spots, print coverage and digital penetration through various social media and VOD platforms.
When it comes to buying media on television news channels are the preferred genre for the brand given its target audience and its limited penetration in that market.
“We have been sponsoring news shows on Times Now, for example, for News Hour. Apart from that we have been buying slots in India TV and some regional news channels as well, “ reveals Bakshi. “Given the male-female skew to the brand, we also buy slots in GECs to cater to the housewives in the target profile. We are also somewhat present in sports channels, although we don’t go overboard with it as the intention remains to make Protinex a mainstream consumption product rather than niche consumption by sports enthusiasts.”
Based on the same analogy, the brand has looked away from roping in a sports celebrity to endorse its product as well, as it doesn’t want to just build a niche consumer base for itself.
A key touch point of the campaign is out-of-home engagement with consumers which includes billboards and on-ground activations at malls and other retail points.
The mall activation was tied to the brand’s digital initiatives, where the brand encouraged mall goers to click selfies with their dabbas against the giant lunchbox installations. The campaign garnered a fair amount of traction for the brand on social media. “Apart from this we are also tying up with few airlines to reach out to the captive audience onboard flights,” Bakshi adds.
As per Bakshi, digital has proven to be a useful media for the brand. “We have realised since last year that digital has become one of the primary mediums for us especially in terms of getting feedback and therefore, even our digital ad spends have doubled since last year. Apart from social media, we are also exploring multiple avenues of engagement with our consumers digitally. For example we have an advertising tie up with Hotstar as well,” he informs.
Currently for Protinex, the digital ad spends constitute 10 to 15 percent of its total advertising budget for this financial year.
It is not just the company’s internal benchmarks that hint at the definite ROI from the campaigns, but also how the campaign has impacted the brand on a macroeconomic level. “Our consumption numbers, household penetration numbers and share numbers show that our marketing efforts have been very fruitful in gaining new loyal consumers. While there was brand awareness initially, there were very few new trails that took place earlier. Post the campaign, we have gained many new trialists, and that helps in gaining new markets for the brand,” shares a confident Bakshi, while withholding from revealing any specific numbers.
The brand has also expanded its footprint through sales by adding new outlets. “When we were predominantly prescription driven, we were only available in pharmacies, but now we are largely available in groceries and with general merchants.”
The scale at which the brand has attempted its latest campaign is albeit overwhelming for it, but last year’s feedback and the high double digit growth rate as a result of the campaign has made it worth it for the brand. The brand custodians are hopeful that this campaign, which is to continue throughout the current financial year, would also help its market penetration as well as sales grow exponentially.
MUMBAI: It is a challenge for any brand to bust myths around itself that it once thrived upon.
If one were to wake up one fine day and discover that their favourite face-wash brand can also be used as a kitchen cleaner, consumers would hardly buy it; (pun intended). Categories exist for reason, after all. Breaking away from this typecast in the marketing world is one of the biggest challenges a brand can take on. And yet, if it’s done right, the returns are promising. Nutrition and wellness label Danone Nutricia’s Indian marketing director Himanshu Bakshi can testify to that.
Protinex was by and large a heritage brand; been around in the country for some 60 years now and is well known among its niche consumer in the medical circle. Historically the brand has always been prescription driven, which is to say its sales was driven through doctor recommendations and prescriptions. Around three years ago when Danone Nutricia acquired Wockhardt Group, brands such as Dexolac, Farex, Nusobee and Protinex brands, came under its purview and kindled a scope for Protinex to enter the over the counter market.
“That is when we decided to take our brand OTC, or over the counter,” recollects Bakshi. When you think about it, Protein in itself doesn’t require doctor’s prescription per say to be consumed, and it is a requirement for everyone.
To ensure that their thought process was backed by facts, Protinex did a huge round of consumer research. What came out of it was that people knew what protein is, people knew what Protinex is, but they weren’t aware why they should consume it without being asked by a doctor. “Clearly, we realised that the relevance of protein in everyday life was missing among the consumers,” Bakshi remembers.
There were lots of myths associated with the product, the primary one being its use for body builders. Several assumed that if they were not into body building, protein and Protinex didn’t concern them. There were also those that believed that Protinex was limited to specific occasions, such as when one is recovering from any sickness.
“To test the waters, we did a pilot campaign in south India starting with Andhra Pradesh back in 2014. It did exceedingly well for us in that market, both in terms of brand awareness and shelf life of the product in retail stores. Following which in 2015, we went all out with our national campaign including, television ad spots, newspaper visibility, out-of-home campaigns and of course digital,” shares Bakshi.
While Taproot Dentsu has the brand’s creative mandate, GroupM has managed the planning and buying of all media for Protinex as its media agency ever since.
The first campaign was straightforward awareness building on the brand’s part that laid down facts and figures on protein deficiency in the country, upholding it as an issue that affects the everyday consumer. The campaign touched upon the fact that common illnesses like fatigue and weakness can be tied down to deficiency of adequate protein in one’s everyday diet.
The brand custodians claim that it was not only a first time for Protinex reach out to consumers directly through TV, radio, print and digital, but the campaign was a novelty in the category itself.
But grabbing the retail consumer’s attention was just the start of the multifold challenge that the brand and its marketing team was taking on. “Gaining penetration in a market like this isn’t an easy task. It takes time and consistent effort through brand communication. We did make inroads when it comes to adoption figures going up as gathered from our sales study in the areas where the campaign did well,” states Bakshi.
He, however, has no qualms in facing the reality that when the overall health food and food supplements market is looked at — which is dominated by the Horlicks’ and Complans of the world– Protinex has a long way to go.
Where in comes the need for a differentiated communication that will cut above the noise. The brand’s second campaign is a sea removed from what it attempted at first to generate awareness. It was more about building unique brand identity than educating consumers.
“Generally health and wellness is considered a boring category and not much innovation is seen when it comes to marketing it. People don’t really tweet and share about it as enthusiastically as they would for an automobile brand for example. Therefore the key to it is to create a point of engagement. If you look at the campaigns done in the category so far, every brand is talking about ‘kids growing taller and smarter.’ Claims are really overdone. A plain vanila ad on health will just not cut it, especially for us, because we are still very small when it comes to market share. That is why we have willed ourselves to think out of the box and come up with truly engaging ideas, including the involvement with Mumbai dabbawallahs,” Bakshi says, referring to its latest campaign.
Having said that, the current ongoing campaign is a bud up on the first one. “While the first campaign was very functional in nature, the second is way more engaging for the consumer. We have blended in fun elements along with indian values, so that the consumers can relate and own the message. Above all the message shouldn’t sound like a sermon, if we wanted consumers to listen,” he says.
“We took the insights from our study that ä huge chunk of the Indian demography has a deficiency in protein, and instead of outright saying it in their face, we took a queue from the fact that most people think it’s good enough. We built the campaign ‘something missing’ around it using the dabba or the Indian lunchbox as the key visual for it,” Bakshi explains.
It started with a teaser for the first few days on the major news channels on TV, followed by visibility at bus shelters. The most innovative was the involvement of the Mumbai dabba wallas in the campaign. The scale at which the campaign is being attempted is a first for the brand, and therefore overwhelming but it feedback makes it worth it, Bakshi says.
Currently the campaign has been launched nationally and an entire 360 degree conversation has been chalked out which includes TV spots, radio spots, print coverage and digital penetration through various social media and VOD platforms.
When it comes to buying media on television news channels are the preferred genre for the brand given its target audience and its limited penetration in that market.
“We have been sponsoring news shows on Times Now, for example, for News Hour. Apart from that we have been buying slots in India TV and some regional news channels as well, “ reveals Bakshi. “Given the male-female skew to the brand, we also buy slots in GECs to cater to the housewives in the target profile. We are also somewhat present in sports channels, although we don’t go overboard with it as the intention remains to make Protinex a mainstream consumption product rather than niche consumption by sports enthusiasts.”
Based on the same analogy, the brand has looked away from roping in a sports celebrity to endorse its product as well, as it doesn’t want to just build a niche consumer base for itself.
A key touch point of the campaign is out-of-home engagement with consumers which includes billboards and on-ground activations at malls and other retail points.
The mall activation was tied to the brand’s digital initiatives, where the brand encouraged mall goers to click selfies with their dabbas against the giant lunchbox installations. The campaign garnered a fair amount of traction for the brand on social media. “Apart from this we are also tying up with few airlines to reach out to the captive audience onboard flights,” Bakshi adds.
As per Bakshi, digital has proven to be a useful media for the brand. “We have realised since last year that digital has become one of the primary mediums for us especially in terms of getting feedback and therefore, even our digital ad spends have doubled since last year. Apart from social media, we are also exploring multiple avenues of engagement with our consumers digitally. For example we have an advertising tie up with Hotstar as well,” he informs.
Currently for Protinex, the digital ad spends constitute 10 to 15 percent of its total advertising budget for this financial year.
It is not just the company’s internal benchmarks that hint at the definite ROI from the campaigns, but also how the campaign has impacted the brand on a macroeconomic level. “Our consumption numbers, household penetration numbers and share numbers show that our marketing efforts have been very fruitful in gaining new loyal consumers. While there was brand awareness initially, there were very few new trails that took place earlier. Post the campaign, we have gained many new trialists, and that helps in gaining new markets for the brand,” shares a confident Bakshi, while withholding from revealing any specific numbers.
The brand has also expanded its footprint through sales by adding new outlets. “When we were predominantly prescription driven, we were only available in pharmacies, but now we are largely available in groceries and with general merchants.”
The scale at which the brand has attempted its latest campaign is albeit overwhelming for it, but last year’s feedback and the high double digit growth rate as a result of the campaign has made it worth it for the brand. The brand custodians are hopeful that this campaign, which is to continue throughout the current financial year, would also help its market penetration as well as sales grow exponentially.
