At P&G, we always intend to honour the consumer’s unmet needs: Sahil Sethi

Only 15% Indians on an average get good sleep at night, with almost 60% Indians facing occasional sleeplessness. This was revealed by the ‘ZzzQuil India National Sleep Survey’ done by Kantar, in association with P&G Health. The study further states that more than 40% sleep less than 7 hours on workdays, with a large part of the population unaware of the impact of sleeplessness on daily life. 

For the well-being of those facing occasional sleepless, P&G Health has launched Vicks ZzzQuil Natura, a Melatonin sleep supplement, in India. Blended with melatonin and Vitamin B6, Vicks ZzzQuil Natura gummy is a nutraceutical intended to supplement the body’s natural production of melatonin to help people fall asleep fast with the added benefit to help fight tiredness and fatigue. 

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In conversation with Adgully, Sahil Sethi, Senior Marketing Director, P&G Health, sheds more light on Vicks ZzzQuil Natura, the core insight behind the launch, the promotion and marketing strategy, and more. 

What is the core insight behind Vicks ZzzQuil Natura? 

At P&G, we always intend to honour the consumer’s unmet needs and there has always been an endeavour to create an irresistibly superior product based on that unmet consumer need and help consumers get the benefit. It was no different in this particular case. What we realised was that a lot of people are experiencing occasional sleeplessness. We had done a lot of internal research earlier, besides the national survey, which confirmed that 60% of Indians today are suffering from occasional sleeplessness. We wanted to make sure that we created a product which helped people solve this particular issue. More importantly, we have added Vitamin B6 in this, which reduces tiredness and fatigue that helps you wake up refreshed. So, that was really the insight behind it that we Indians need this product, because of the experience or the issue that they are experiencing today. And more importantly, they are not acting on it as of now. 

What will be the media mix for the launch of this product? 

From a media mix point of view, we are definitely looking at all the relevant touchpoints for our consumers – our target consumer is between 25 years and 55 years. We are looking at digital definitely as one platform where we will be able to reach out to our consumers. We are also looking at other touchpoints such as connected TV and doing some offline trials along with various activities. We are driving awareness about the product as well. 

How was the year 2022 for P&G’s Vicks? 

Vicks has been a household brand in India and has a long history and legacy of more than 60 years in the market. Vicks has always been bringing innovative products to meet the consumers’ needs. We are super proud to have Vicks ZzzQuil Natura as another addition to the House of Vicks, which we think is the right time for our consumers, because they are suffering from or experiencing the occasional sleeplessness and it will help them in tackling that particular issue. 

What are the major focus areas for Vicks in the year 2023?

Over the next three to six months, we are planning to drive awareness – as I said earlier, our study revealed that 60% consumers face this issue, but not many people are acting upon it. So, there is a lot of need to drive awareness. The way we are looking at this is, we will be driving the awareness of the issue that exists today, the repercussions that it has on one’s daily life, and what really it impacts, but more importantly, we will be empowering our consumers with the right education and right product on how to tackle and how to solve this particular problem. So, that would be the focus area for the next few months. 

How is Vicks adapting to the digital transformation? 

There are a lot of brands who are looking at digital as their primary focus. But given that Vicks ZzzQuil Natura is a new category for us, from the point of view of the media mix, there is a lot of things that we need to learn. While we are going ahead with the various touch points that I mentioned earlier, I do believe that there will be constant evolution of the media mix, because based on the learnings, we will have to be very agile in acting on them and making those changes in the future.