NEW DELHI: Herbal soap brand Medimix has opened its innings as the official SkinFit and hygiene partner of two-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions, Kolkata Knight Riders. The brand logo is present on the team’s trouser and will be there throughout the series including the league matches and final matches.

Medimix is giving utmost importance to the players’ health and hygiene by providing hand sanitizer dispensers – thereby ensuring a safe, germ-free environment for the team.

The company has recently forayed into the handwash and hand-sanitizers category, and believes that its stint as an IPL sponsor will give it better reach since cricket cuts across customer demographics.

Medimix has a strong presence in the east and south India.  West Bengal is one of the key markets for them and hence the brand decided to back KKR.

“The association fits well with the business strategy to augment the brand awareness leading to business growth in the eastern markets. We are confident that we will be able to unlock the full the potential of this relationship,” explains Cholayil head of marketing Ashish Ohlyan.

Covid2019 created an opportunity for the brand to expand its product portfolio and add handwash and sanitisers to it. Earlier they were mostly focused on bathing soaps related products.

Medimix has released separate ad films for both sanitisers and handwash. The social media campaign with the message 'Ab har situation keliye skin fit bane' (Get #SkinFit for any situation) showcases a young woman acknowledging the new world order post the pandemic, and reinforces the idea of keeping your skin safe and fit, not just indoors but also outdoors when it is exposed to germs, dust and pollution. She uses the sanitisers to ensure her safety. The campaign is conceptualised by Leo Burnett India.

Recently, the brand also released another ad for its handwash category where it showcases a young man returning home after office but is unable to hug his daughter as the latter asks him to first wash his hands using the Medimix hand wash.

Medimix attempts to maximise its social media presence in an outreach to customers seems to be paying dividends. Ohlyan shares, "The campaign #Skinfit received appreciation from various stakeholders. In fact, the digital affinity such gave good results that we compiled some of these comments and released a full-page newspaper ad to showcase our digital media prowess.”

He elaborated that the brand’s core target audience is growing: it’s a mix of traditional and new-age shoppers, mostly from the young and mid-generation, who seek ayurvedic products for their au naturel lifestyle. “This audience has lack of time and patience and seeks faster results from the products that they use,” adds Ohlyan.

Due to the pandemic, people have become more conscious of their health and hygiene, which has resulted in a driving demand for personal care products. A drastic shift towards herbal or ayurvedic products has also been observed owing to growing awareness regarding benefits of organic goods.

A media report says that the personal care market in India has been pegged at Rs 18,400 crores, largely dominated by soaps, while the market estimate for handwashing soaps stands at Rs 8,000 crore.

According to Ohlyan, the personal care segment is playing a big role in the brand’s expansion phase.

"When the lockdown was imposed in the country to curb the virus, the company faced logistic issues in the initial days. But, in the last few months, we have been able to recover and have shown a positive result in the first half and we are all striving towards keeping the momentum going so that we end the financial year with vigorous growth,” he says.

Medimix has not only retained loyal consumers but also attracting newer ones as the brand is constantly reinventing through the innovative marketing mix, adds Ohlyan. The brand will be launching new products like face wash, body wash, etc. to attract new-age consumers. He elaborates: “While conscious urban consumers are driving the growth of the natural segment, rural consumers are not far behind, they are shifting from unbranded or homemade products to these.”

Medimix has been advertising across different mediums and understands that one medium alone can’t provide all the reach needed and it is important to mix-match all consumer touchpoints to communicate with the consumers. Ohlyan explains: “You have to break down barriers between channels, and uniformly empower the consumer and engage them. The choice of media and the proportion of spends for these mediums varies depending on the affinity these mediums have with our target audience.”

However, the company refused to answer about the sales figure it is aiming at in the hand sanitizer category, maintaining the line that these are early days and the product has just been launched. “The initial response is good and we aim to further build the awareness through KKR association and various other media activities.” 

"For a brand to survive and stay relevant to the current age, it must reinvent itself and its offering to suit the evolving needs of the consumers,” believes Ohlyan.

Brand Medimix has been in the market since 1969 and offers a wide variety of products to the consumers including – Medimix, Cuticura, Krishna, Thulasi, Sadayush, Dr Sidan’s and others.