Lessons in pharma marketing – How 116-year old Hamdard is leading the way

The brand journey of Hamdard is a story of passion, trials, tribulations, commitment, but most importantly, the passion to serve mankind with affordable medicines. From a modest clinic, set up to provide affordable medicines to the common man, it championed the cause of propagating Unani and creating medicines that have touched a million lives.

Hamdard Laboratories is India’s leading Unani healthcare brand known for its progressive, research-based health and wellness medicines to provide preventive, curative, and rehabilitative healthcare. The portfolio includes immunity boosters such as Khulzum, Joshina, Joshanda, Imyoton, Infunza, Kalonji Oil and Chyawanprash that combine the goodness of time-tested herbs.

Apart from its Unani medicines and health solutions, Hamdard has made significant strides in establishing itself as a brand and communicating its core message through various advertisement campaigns for its various products.

Hamdard's  most memorable TV commercial featured Javed Jaffery in the 1980’s, since then, there has been no turning back for the company. Sunidhi Chauhan appeared in Hamdard’s advertisements, as did Anny Divya, the world’s youngest woman commander to fly a Boeing 777; Ashweeta Shetty, a Tedx speaker who used to be a beedi roller; Afshan Ashiq, captain of the J&K women’s footfall team; Mira Erda, the youngest Formula 4 girl driver in India; Gladstone Peter, a one man band; Angad Dariyani, maker of India’s first 3D printer; Chandeep Singh, world record holder for fastest 100 meters para skating; and Sanober Pardiwala, India’s first stunt woman.

On India’s 75th Independence Day, Hamdard culminated its 8 month-long campaign, ‘Sehat Hai To Watan Hai’, which was focused on the defence forces, frontline workers and senior citizens. Recently, the company has also onboarded Kriti Sanon for its legendary Safi product.

In an exclusive interaction with Adgully, Suman Varma, CMO, Hamdard Laboratories, speaks about the several brand milestones that the brand has achieved and how they have evolved as a leading Unani brand through strong R&D and continuous innovations – both in the traditional and OTC segments.

Tell us about the brand journey of Hamdard over the years. What are some of the key highlights of the brand’s transition?

The brand journey is a story of passion, trials, tribulations, commitment, but most importantly, passion to serve mankind with affordable medicines.

From a modest clinic, set up to provide affordable medicines to the common man, it championed the cause of propagating Unani and creating medicines that have touched a million lives.

In 1948, by its then-promoters, Hamdard was declared through a deed as a public charity, dedicating itself formally to health and education and also to the promotion and propagation of the Unani system of medicines on modern and scientific lines.

In 1953, to upgrade the knowledge of Unani practitioners & the medical fraternity, All-India Unani Tibbi Conference was formed.

In 1962, to promote research using modern equipment & technology, the Institute of History of Medicine and Medical Research (IHMMR) was set up. In the same year, Hamdard National Foundation India was founded – a unique CSR initiative through which the majority of Hamdard’s profit is plowed back to societal benefit in the field of health & education.

In 1981, Hamdard Education Society was set up to help the underprivileged sections of society by offering the best counselling & residential coaching for competitive exams. Hundreds of aspirants benefitted and made it to the most coveted Indian Civil & Allied Services (IAS, IFS & IPS, etc.). In 1982-84, Majeedia Hospital was founded. It is a teaching hospital associated with the School of Unani Medical Education and Research (SUMER) to provide quality Unani medical education and training to students. 

In 2011-12, HIMSR (Hamdard Institute of Medical Science & Research) was founded. It has been nationally recognised as an institute that demonstrates a high standard of Undergraduate and Post-Graduate Medical Education. The institute is supported by HAHC Hospital, which provides outstanding healthcare at an affordable cost. According to the NIRF ranking 2020, it has been ranked 22nd in the medical category. And the only private medical college in Delhi set up exclusively through the funding of the Hamdard National Foundation.

In 2016, Hamdard Wellness Centers were inaugurated across India to promote the Unani System of Medicine.

While these are the broad milestones in the brand journey, it is equally important to know that the leaders within the company were no less celebrated.

Hakeem Abdul Hameed Sahab received recognition in India and worldwide. He received Padma Shree (1965), Avicenna Award (1983), Russia, National Citizen's Award (1990), Padma Bhushan (1992), Special Doctorate degree awarded ‘World’s best Hakeem’ by Iran to Hakeem Sahab (1995).

While Abdul Mueed, the eldest son of Hakeem Abdul Hameed, went on to become the first Chief Mutwalli after his father’s demise and worked as the Chairman of the company, till his last day. The credit for revolutionising and industrializing Hamdard goes to him. His trailblazing achievements made him one of the pioneering leaders of his time.

Today, good governance and good manufacturing practices have helped the company earn a reputation as well as fame. The importance of health has become very important for every individual. What are some of the trends and behaviour Hamdard has noticed by people when it comes to healthcare?

These are some of the trends in the healthcare system today and we have responded to most by doing our bit:

  1. Hybrid care models combining virtual and in-person services are on the rise : Hence to be in sync with the times, Hamdard set up Hamdard Wellness Online consultation during the first lockdown.
  2. Digitisation of healthcare specialties: Well, this is a trend in the healthcare world today, but we at Hamdard have not responded in this area yet besides just ensuring that our medicines are available on the e-com platform, we are available on Practo for ease and convenience of booking appointments, we have doctors available for Online video consultation 6 days a week.
  3. Working in Mental Health: Mental health has become an area of great concern. We do have specialist doctors working and advising people in mental health and depression.
  4. Green health is gaining momentum, delivering benefits for people and the planet: Natural, Herbal, and organic products took off in a big way during the pandemic, making people realize that going back to our roots was perhaps a better way of living.
  5. Personalisation of Care: While patients want the convenience and ease of digital interactions, personalized care is still the touchstone of their loyalty. An “ideal” healthcare experience requires a personal touch, whether that encounter occurs virtually or in person. Patients say it’s paramount that clinicians take time to listen, show they care and communicate clearly.. Hence our Hamdard Wellness Centre continues to get a steady flow of patients.

What has been the product strategy with your audiences? As a traditional brand what has been your core promise for your various product offerings?  

Our products have been in the market for years; hence they are well known. We are a traditional brand, but we cater to all segments of the society for their various health needs. While our OTC brands like Safi, Joshina, Sualin, Roghan Badam Shirin, Chawanprash, and Jigreen are the star products and require no introduction to people, a good amount of marketing, digital presence, and engaging storytelling help in connecting with the consumers. On the other hand, we have traditional medicines, which are mostly prescriptive in nature. A team of medico marketing experts, along with hakeems spread the good word around. We also use mass media to advertise our products.

You are largely present in the OTC segment. How does your brand get into the consideration set when there is a need for solution to some ailment?

We are present across OTC and Traditional medicine segment. Since we have 600 products, it is not possible to advertise all of them, hence we strategically advertise our brands in the strong markets, while the OTC products are advertised nationally. Unani has good medicines to address the issues of skin, hair, acne, respiratory problems – cough & cold, to name a few, and people come to us irrespectively.

Belief in Ayurvedic/ Unani formulations has its own challenges. How have you educated your audiences about its efficacy?

When we promote a product or brand, we make sure that our salespeople have product literature with them. This helps them to highlight the product story, its advantages, and its efficacy story.

How do you go about innovating new products and what’s the approach your R&D takes to bring in new formulations?

We continuously monitor the market to assess the performance of different brands and goods. To determine trends, we also examine global patterns. We review our product lineup again and note any shortcomings. R&D operates on two levels: either they wait for a brief to be communicated with them to manufacture products, or they continuously innovate on new products. 

You have appointed Kirti Sanon for one of your brands. How do you plan to leverage her and do celebrities work in pharma marketing?

Celebrities help in bringing the necessary attention to a company. Nowadays, a lot of celebrities promote pharmaceutical companies. Kriti Sanon is the face for Safi, and we used her across 360-degree communication.

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