The iconic 90s’ overall health drink brand Complan, greatest identified for its tagline ‘I’m a Complan boy/girl’, appears to have lost its way more than the years. The brand’s share in the malt-based beverages category, which stood at more than 15% in the early years of the final decade, has dwindled to just 5% in 2021. The malt-based beverages marketplace in India is sized at Rs 11,000 crore, according to specialists.
To regain lost marketplace share, Complan’s parent firm Zydus Wellness has crafted a revival technique. On one hand, the customer goods firm is swiftly expanding the attain of the brand in smaller sized towns, whereas on the other, it has reinstated its original positioning, which provided ‘two times faster growth for growing kids’.
Complan’s downward spiral began in 2013 when it was outrun by Bournvita, which took more than the second spot in the segment following the marketplace leader, Horlicks. Complan’s try to obtain lost ground by rehashing its item formulation in 2014 also backfired as specialists say it produced the drink “less healthy than before”. The brand has been on a slide due to the fact and subsequently, it was taken more than by Zydus Wellness in 2018, when the firm acquired its then-owner Heinz’s India for Rs 4,595 crore. The modify of hands may possibly also have impacted its functionality.
“When we had acquired the brand, its distribution had fallen to 4.5 lakh outlets from the peak of 6.5 lakh outlets,” says Tarun Arora, CEO, Zydus Wellness. The firm is now striving to raise the attain of the brand and has currently added more than 50,000 outlets. The concentrate is on going deep in the Indian marketplace and therefore, final year it introduced an 18-gram sachet of the item, priced at Rs 5.
Though the company’s advertising and marketing technique is extremely strongly led by tv, it is also searching at digital media platforms such as OTT services, YouTube and influencer advertising and marketing to obtain eyeballs, whilst banking on nostalgia with its original tagline in spot.
Zydus Wellness, even so, may possibly have a difficult time acquiring back into the game, provided the sluggish development becoming witnessed by the category. According to Mohit Yadav, founder, business enterprise intelligence platform Altinfo, the marketplace for malt-based beverages was developing at 10-12% and has now declined to 5-7%. Even the marketplace leaders have felt the heat and therefore GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare went for a merger with HUL in 2018, bringing Horlicks and Boost into the latter’s fold. Currently, Horlicks and Boost collectively command about 54% of the malt beverage marketplace, followed by Bournvita at 15%, PediaSure and Ensure at 9%, Complan at 5% and other brands forming the remaining 17% of the segment, as per Altinfo.
“A rapidly growing segment in the 90s, malt-based beverages have been unable to attract new consumers to the fold as they are perceived to be high in sugar,” says Sanjesh Thakur, companion, Deloitte India. “Consumers today are very conscious about the sugar content in edible products.”
As per market watchers, other components that had been conducive to the widespread adoption of this category in earlier decades, such as the restricted availability of superior good quality milk across the nation, are absent now, and therefore the development has turned sluggish.
“In those days, these products were used as a taste enhancer,” says Thakur.
There is an chance for additional development nonetheless, provided the expanding middle-class base of the nation, specifically, in smaller sized towns. Similarly, the company’s bet on nostalgia could also bear fruit, opine brand specialists.
Samit Sinha, managing companion, Alchemist Brand Consulting, says that the brand’s original positioning, which reminded parents about their developing child’s desires was sound and could assist the brand in boosting awareness once more.