Exclusive | We want to awaken India: Merck (India)'s Siddhartha Sengupta

The Performance Materials Division of Merck India has launched a social campaign, christened ‘Say No To Sab Chalta Hai’. A first-of-its-kind consumer awakening initiative, the campaign seeks to inspire people to demand and ask for products that make life better, safer and more enriching. Through this initiative, Merck wants to spread the message of: ‘Do not settle for anything less than what you deserve’. The campaign is also designed to enlighten consumers about the various unique possibilities in design and colour effects for automotive and interior paints, cosmetics, packaging, and so on, to help consumers demand superior products and make better choices.

It is aimed at empowering  the end consumer to explore new possibilities and challenge convention. With the objective of  creating awareness amongst consumers about unsafe and low- quality products, this campaign  will persuade them to demand good quality products with enhanced aesthetics. The campaign will culminate with the winners getting a chance to partner with renowned independent experts  from the fields of design, spaces and allure (beauty) , to develop products that stand for quality and authenticity.

Through the voice of India’s youth, Merck India will bring forth some of the  most important aspects  that deserve media and consumer  attention. The campaign will highlight issues like the use of low quality  ingredients in beauty products (cosmetics, skin care and personal care) as well as hazardous chemicals in plastic products such as buttons and toys , while also raising awareness around the growing market for counterfeit products.

Adgully in an exclusive conversation with  Siddhartha Sengupta, Head Performance Materials Division, Merck India learnt about their latest campaign ‘Say No Tto Sab Chalta Hai’  and he also shared the different strategies being undertaken to make the campaign a great success in the metros and Tier II and Tier III towns and cities of the country.

First at the onset he explained the  basic concept of the campaign. He said, “It’s a campaign but it’s a part of the entire marketing strategy of our project effexX. It is three pronged . The first prong being for influencers that is architects, interior designers, make up artistes and cosmetologists. Then you have product designers and it is for design, spaces and allure. Design being for your product design , spaces being for interior design and architecture and allure basically for beauty and cosmetics business. So these are the kind of influencers that we already have on board which is more than 50 in number now. We also want people to leverage on Merck and on this whole network and be able to make it big as well through this website . We called them influencers at that point of time but we don’t call them influencers any more. Actually they are more of partners with us because we are also co creating a lot of things with them.” He also informed that co -creation , collaboration and partnerships are the kind of concepts they are bringing through this whole marketing initiative. He went on to add, “The next is the consumer space that is the end consumer. Project effexX, our endeavour , is to educate people and make them aware about the products they are using , new possibilities and to be able to say no to something which is wrong and demand for something which they deserve. So as a part of this consumer awakening programme, we call it ‘Say No Tto Sab Chalta Hai’ because here in India we have this Sab Chalta Hai attitude.”  He says here in India  everything is taken for granted --  social aspects to even something like a product that one uses on a daily basis. So in the case of products, even if people come across counterfeit ones in India they are not even aware of it, leave alone  questioning the product. There are so many chemicals which are harmful and being used on a day to day basis  which could be  paint ,  cosmetic, or a packaging, and they want people to question the status quo. They need to know what is inside the product and  is it something which they really deserve or is it something which is going to make them sick. He says that this is the question consumers need to ask and learn more about   counterfeiting and harmful chemicals used and the fake promises which people make.

“They make beautiful ads which promise to make one fair and have glowing skin within a period of five days. Do we ever question it? So now it is time that we tell people and educate them regarding what are the ingredients that they should look for  in the product and so as a part of ‘Say No to Sab Chalta Hai’ which is all connected we have this other prong coming in that is our customers . We co create and collaborate. For‘Say No….’ we have totally six cash prizes. For the winning team we have prizes of two lakhs, 1 .5 lakhs and 75 ,000/- and three consolation prizes of 25000/- each. Now we don’t stop at this what we do is we take it one step ahead. We work with our winners here, customers , influencers and Merck so all of us  come together and create the brilliant product which our customers deserve. We at Merck believe that the future is all about collaboration. We want to get everyone together, work on something which is really interesting and which the end consumer actually deserves . Do not give false promises but  commit only what you can deliver,” says Sengupta.

With regard to conceptualizing  this entire campaign and if there is  a creative agency involved he said that they do have a creative agency but Say No has not been conceptualized by them. It has been a whole team work. “If you ask me the Merck team actually started this whole concept for ‘Say No” and then we got the agencies together,” he said .

So when asked about the agencies involved in their latest campaign Sengupta said, “We have Asymmetrique Communications which is our marketing agency and Edelman India which is our PR agency and from Merck India we have Vaijayanti and two more team members who work with me so all of us are working together . It is a small team but we have come up with this concept which we are very excited about.”

Being a very strong subject which needs to be exposed to a larger audience Say No to Sab Chalta Hai is essentially at present a complete digital campaign . But there are plans to accompany it with  a small video because it involves the end consumer and they have to understand this whole concept of ‘Saying No to Sab Chalta Hai’ . “ I may say a lot of things on  the digital space but a lot of people may or may not understand in terms of  what my intentions are or what the intentions of ‘Say No …………’ is . We are also trying to make this awareness programme through television and if someone picks it up it will be good,” he elaborates.

They have no plans of engaging with the television medium but only digital and on ground . To create the awareness and buzz Sengupta opines that is not necessary to be done through television but can also be done through participation or engagement .  “So if you see our campaign what we have done as part of the activity is we have done flash mobs by college students across 9 train stations on the Western railway line in Mumbai. This whole campaign involves flash mobs by the youth and making people aware. We are trying to leverage on the passion that students and kids have today. They want a change , a universal world which is full of beautiful things. So rather than directly going to television and saying that this is one campaign that we have, what we are doing is a lot of on ground and digital first because we believe a lot in this  and television may come in at a later stage. There were students from 9 colleges across Mumbai at these nine stations. We had an agency who went with them and saw that they performed the stuff and took care of the permissions and everything. Then they uploaded these videos on our website and on Youtube as well to get a feel of the issues these youngsters are facing today be it a social issue or concerning a product.”

He avers that  if they talk about a product directly it will take a lot of time to register so it starts with being able to question the whole system or process and then of course the products. Then it funnels down to products because such things cannot be done directly. The attitude has been ingrained so much in us, that forget about questioning the product we won’t even question the system.  He says that the video is self explanatory.

With this campaign Merck India has tried to educate and awaken the inner conscience of the common man and most importantly the youth today . Sharing his views on how it will benefit  the brand as a whole he said that the brand definitely stands to benefit. Merck has been the first organization to do something like this. One talks about changing the rules of the game and Merck has done just that. It is by trying to create an awareness in a country where everyone is tolerant and take things for granted. “When all of us work together Merck definitely stands to benefit because we are giving everyone  a product which the world really wants today. So who is getting it ? Merck. So it is a complete  indirect benefit to Merck,” he says.

In terms of the campaign  being more of a CSR kind of initiative he shared his opinion on this aspect saying ,  “ But what also would happen is that we are getting the end consumer in India to ask for a better product with better ingredients. Now the primary consumer i.e. my customer after a point of time starts seeing a lot of benefit from this, the reason being today the paint or plastic companies are going through a lot of issues with regard to the chemical or products they are using. Finally the consumer may get it at a lesser rate but the product will not live up to its expectations. Hence Merck and all of us definitely benefit. So we are dragging along everyone with us. You cannot exactly call it a CSR but it borders on that.”

The basic premise of the entire campaign stems from the fact that people in India are not vigilant or conscious about the products they are investing time and energy into. Is there a thought to educate the masses at large which will benefit them? To this query he said that the first part was to educate the influencer. Because even they, viz. the architects , cosmetologists and dermatologists are not even aware of the products they recommend to the end consumers. Next they tell the consumer not to settle for mediocrity or substandard products but ask for the best and the entire market starts looking at products. He is of the firm belief that there is no use complaining about the political system around us but it is imperative that we do something about it ourselves.  “We have no right to complain unless we do something about the situation ourselves. Hence we are giving a platform to India consisting of 1.2 billion people to do something about it through our campaign ‘ Say No Tto Sab Chalta Hai’ The youth in turn will talk to the common man and this is the first step to the way forward .”

To flag-off the campaign, Merck India successfully concluded Phase One of this activation with some college groups at prime western railway stations in Mumbai.

Presently the campaign has taken off only in Mumbai . Where extending it to other parts of the country and  the markets they are looking at is concerned he said ,  “Basis the huge responses that weve got from the Mumbai flash mob, we are now We are not looking at markets at present but what we are doing is we are going taking this campaign pan India targeting across the country and will be doing 25 cities across India. Big, small, Tier 11 and Tier 111 cities and at least  5-10 colleges in  each of these cities so it is going to be approximately 250 colleges all over India.” The youth have to create a flash mob in a public place of course with proper and prior permissions. It could be a railway station , college premises, a society or even a  mall wherever they would be comfortable and ultimately people would definitely be watching them. He also said that they are absolutely fine with the college students taking the brand or message forward.

With regard to the campaign being regulated by an agency  he said that they do intend having one which will only be talking about what is to be done but  not  sitting at the venue  to moderate the flash mob. Only kids in India have done it since  there is a lot of passion and drive in them and they are striving to get the country into a better position . So the flash mobs will definitely make other people aware of the whole campaign.

Have they given a  thought of aligning with Channel V or MTV where the presence of youth is very strong? Sengupta agrees and says that they did give it  a thought initially but this is a consumer awakening programme a borderline CSR. “If you have noticed there is no Merck logo and it does not say it is a Merck initiative. The moment someone comes on board they want their logo on it. We are just saying it is a Merck India initiative,” he explained.

They have not undertaken an outdoor initiative though it would create a great teaser. Their initial plans were to only use digital media and when they get entries they plan to consider  the later stage. They have not advertised but reached out to colleges on the Facebook page and the activation agencies that they are going to hire will reach out to these colleges and talk about this whole campaign, talk to the principals put up posters there and it will be something akin to a college level competition.

“It has to be more self motivated . We do not want to force it down anyone’s throat. They have to be passionate about it and do it themselves and not be forced to believe in this initiative,” says Sengupta with regard to their campaign

He also said that one of their  agencies has planned to do a kind of debate / competition in the future where they will have kids talking about it and why they ‘Say No no tTo Sab Chalta Hain because according to him youth today do question and are inquisitive. “We have got certain insights as to what the youth are, what drives them and how they can reach out to others in the system. We thought let us start off this way and this is by no means  the end but at least we have made  a beginning and are able to gauge what the reaction is and then the options are limitless.   Once you set a certain thing in motion it definitely is the way forward .We do not want to take on too much right now. We rather focus on this right now get it underway and then concentrate on other aspects,” he says .

He does not consider it a long drawn project and cites the example of their effexX project which has been initiated since a year now and they have done quite a bit and  reached places with that project.  The beauty industry especially the influencers today know what Merck is “Today we have a lot of influencers telling me that they want to start their own private label so we are helping them with that . That never happened a year ago but now with this campaign (March 24th is the last day but might be extended depending on the participation)  you will very soon see that once ‘Say No……’  is done the whole thing wrapping up very quickly,” he informs.  Primary customers or consumers and Influencers will stand to gain since they will be co-creating and hence they become famous and consequently the end consumer gets a better product.

Sengupta also spoke about their Project effexX and its standing at this point of time.

Project effexX at this point of time has helped a lot of architects and interior designers today to be aware of what Merck is . “Lot of builders started asking us  for their own private projects. So we helped them out. It has created a lot of pull from the influencers similarly like for the beauty industry who are asking us about starting their own label . So they are creating a new market segment for us,” he says.

He says that it is a misconception that project effexX is  a very premium product per se. He justifies his statement saying, “We can do everything. We can do mass, we can do niche depending on the kind of product that you want.  So it can be tailor made as per requirement. Today it is all about being tailor made . So we are pretty happy with the way project effexX is going.”

With regard to taking the advertorial route, Mr Sengupta said, “Yes we are doing it in project effexX. We have already taken some advertorials in some of these magazines for salon space , spa space. But the premise of this campaign ‘Say No’ is digital. It is exploring multiple options of digital media. We have activated Twitter, Facebook . We are trying our best with Digital but where ‘Say No’ is concerned we are not venturing into television or outdoor for the moment.” It was certainly a breakthrough for them since no other chemical company had initiated the digital space . So when they saw success in the case of project effexX , the thought of a new campaign was initiated.

Sengupta  proudly  says, “ I can say with conviction that  no one  has ever tried this kind of a concept till date.” With the help of the concept of co-creation , their  portal  , their  Facebook page and their co creation engine they are able to basically  create value by becoming partners and ultimately this becomes an advantage for them it because they want to build a sustainable relationship with these people and by way of which they can give a better product to their customers project and hence create value for them. It is platform agnostic and idea agnostic and can fit in  any domain .

On a concluding note bringing to an end a most interesting conversation Siddhartha Sengupta says “It is a consumer awakening program because we firmly believe that the engines need to be shaken and it is time for them to wake up and  live a better life which has always been our motto for Merck . ” He goes on to add, “It is up to the girl or boy from the Tier II or Tier 111 town to join the flash mob and there is no compulsion . Children today are more forthcoming . They are more bolder than what they used to be. We want to awaken India in terms of questioning the system today and unless you question you will not get the best . It is as simple as that!”