How Baidyanath is making ancient Ayurveda relevant for the millennials

Over a century old ayurveda solutions brand Baidyanath Group’s Baidyanath Chyawanprash has built a legacy for all the natural immunity boosters, which especially have been the need of the hour in these pandemic times.

Conceptualised and executed by Grey Group, Baidyanath recently launched a campaign – ‘Sahi Vidhi, Behtar Immunity’ – which seeks to position Baidyanath as the most authentic and complete Chyawanprash. With this campaign, the brand wants to reinforce its position as the most authentic and complete Chyawanprash. The campaign features the new face of the brand – Pankaj Tripathi.

In an exclusive interview with Adgully, Ramesh Yadav, Chief Marketing Officer, Baidyanath, speaks about the legacy of the brand since its launch, the objective behind the #SahiVidhi,BehtarImmunity campaign, the brand’s communication strategy, digital approach amid the pandemic and a lot more.

Could you tell us about the legacy of Brand Baidyanath since its launch?

Baidyanath was started in 1917 by Late Pandit RD Joshi and Late Pandit RN Sharma to provide pure, authentic, and standardized Ayurvedic products to people in India and the world. Baidyanath Ayurved is one of the largest manufacturers of Ayurvedic Products in the world, with over 700 formulations being manufactured and marketed in the Indian and International markets. Baidyanath has also been instrumental in introducing standardized formulations and GMP in the Ayurvedic industry. 

Traditionally an Ayurveda-centric organization, Baidyanath has increased its horizons keeping in mind the needs of modern consumers and today has one of the largest range of Ayurvedic products in the world. Baidyanath has always been forward and progressive in its outlook, while maintaining a firm foot in its rich and illustrious history, carving the path and setting standards in its wake.

The Directors, Presidents, and Board Members of Baidyanath are actively involved with the Ayurveda governing bodies and associations to ensure a brighter and more organized future for Ayurveda.

How does it follow the original Ayurveda principles + modern manufacturing capabilities + widespread popularity of the brand?

Baidyanath is one of the few manufacturers that still follows the ancient methods of preparing Ayurvedic products, while at the same time using modern machinery to replicate certain tasks & to bring efficiencies. One of the primary Ayurvedic texts, Ayurveda Sar Sangraha, which contains formulations of over 800 products, was written by the founder of Baidyanath and is widely taught in major Ayurvedic colleges. The same text is used at Baidyanath to manufacture its products. Armed with such knowledge, we strive to machinise these formulations by developing in-house machines that would replicate the ancient processes without losing out on the core concept. For example, our Chyawanprash is still made with wooden spatulas of a particular type, which is mentioned in the ancient texts.

The widespread popularity of the brand is due to the products made in their own unique way. This has led to the large acceptance of the brand and its portfolio. Baidyanath is synonymous with authenticity, quality, and efficacy.

What is the objective behind the #SahiVidhi,BehtarImmunity campaign? What are you trying to communicate through this campaign? Why do you think Pankaj Tripathi is a perfect fit for the campaign?

The objective was to reposition the category and shift the focus of the conversation from largely functional/ingredients to the authenticity of the process. 

Through this campaign, we are encouraging consumers to make an informed choice & check what goes inside their Chyawanprash brand.

We were looking for someone who could embody the same values as our brand. Someone who is perceived as authentic, simple, effortless, and has originality. It did not take much deliberation as Pankaj Tripathi emerged as a natural choice. The fact that Pankaj Tripathi himself has been a loyal user of various Baidyanath products for many years, made it a perfect match”

What kind of categories showed more engagement and traction from the consumers amid the pandemic? Did you revisit your marketing strategy to leverage the opportunity during these unprecedented times?

The pandemic was a difficult time for everyone, with uncertainty, health concerns, and the need to protect oneself. As Ayurvedic manufacturers, we realized we needed to step up and provide the right protection that the consumers desired. One of the major products is Chyawanprash, which is an excellent immunity booster, and the consumers realizing this increased their intake. Other immunity-boosting products like Giloy also saw an increased uptake. This led us to increase our focus on our immunity-boosting products, diverting a lot of our attention to launching products in this category. The other category we saw an increase in was related to fever and cold. Consumers were willing to try Ayurvedic prescription products as well as OTC to counter the effects of Covid, with encouraging results. Finally, we focused on general debility and weakness. Ayurveda has excellent products in this category and people realized the effectiveness of Ayurvedic products for post-Covid recovery.

On the whole, there was a shift towards categories that were directly related to Covid which became a larger part of our strategy than planned, but it did not drastically change our strategy, as there was a general shift towards herbal and Ayurvedic products, in India and globally. This trend has been on the rise since, and we are delighted that the world is finally waking up to the benefits of Ayurvedic products.

As everything shifted to digital and the consumers’ focus was on wellness products, did you see any changing preference in terms of wellness and care, and were any new products launched to meet the requirements of consumers?

The pandemic has created new customers who got exposed to the benefits of Ayurveda. This new set of customers is demanding newer categories and products. The advantage of Ayurveda is no longer a myth; hence, it is expanding to other translatable categories as well. With Covid-19, people have become more aware of staying proactively healthy and preventing illness. Ayurveda caters very well to such an approach towards health.

Indian consumers are going the extra mile to build immunity From Chyawanprash, honey, and turmeric to Ayurvedic juices, breakfast mixes and vitamin-enriched cooking oil. People are seeking Ayurvedic products like Chyawanprash instead of factory-made immunity boosters.To support consumers in this journey, we have launched a range of immunity-boosting products.

How is Baidyanath transforming for the year 2022?

Baidyanath has always put the customer above everything else. Our mission is to provide the most authentic and efficacious products to the consumer and to educate the consumer on the benefits of authentic Ayurvedic formulations and processes.

Baidyanath is leading the Ayurvedic agenda and is poised for exponential growth in the coming years. We are unlocking new revenue streams & product categories to connect with a wider audience.