All’s well that feels well

Indian pharma is witnessing a trend of sorts, with advertising taking the 'wellness' turn. Nandini Patwardhan takes a look at DTC campaigns and OTC advertising that has gone the wellness way.

Fear is the biggest motivator! Not quite true after psychologist say that people tend to ignore fearful situations. Today, a well-read consumer contemplates a doctor's visit at the slightest discomfort. Getting such a consumer engaged in an OTC product, and then subtly persuading him to buy your wares seems to be the mammoth of a task. It is not surprising then that marketers are taking a more positive route—the wellness route to hook the consumers.

Research shows

"Anyone who is into mass communication and wants to connect with the whole broadband of people is going in the direction of giving their communication a more positive feel" - Rajesh Rai Executive Creative Director Sorento Healthcare

“Anyone who is into mass communication and wants to connect with the whole broadband of people is going in the direction of giving their communication a more positive feel," opines Rajesh Rai, Executive Creative Director, Sorento Healthcare. "They are doing so by enhancing the positive points rather than dwell on the negative aspects," he adds. This is because there has been a shift in consumer thinking. Today's consumer is becoming more and more concerned for wellness.

"The consumers that we are talking to, who are very health message active and who can perceive health messages cannot be just fooled by saying that because somebody is doing it, you do it" - Gauri Chaudhari Brand Consultant FCB Ulka

FCB Ulka Healthcare, the Mumbai-based ad firm, which is into healthcare communication, undertakes studies very frequently and in one such study they discovered that fear does not work with Indian consumers. "If there is even a smallest element of fear, then they are going to run to the doctors," reveals Gauri Chaudhari, Brand Consultant, FCB Ulka. "Also the human mind always wants to be in a state of equilibrium. If, for instance, I tell them that if you don't take calcium you will get osteoporosis, I have distu-rbed the equilibrium. To get back to the equilibrium, they are simply going to ignore the message," she adds. Experts consider ignoring of message as the normal human psychological response to a fearful message in healthcare. "So we had a clear cut thinking that we will not scare them, because if we do that, they will run back to their doctors. Then what is the use of talking to them," states Chaudhari with reference to Calcium Sandoz Woman, a brand from the Novartis stable. "And overall that's the role calcium plays. It is not really a curative. It is more of wellness. All these three to four things fell into place and it became very clear that we will tell the woman that you can stay fit if you want to be and if you take your calcium dose everyday," she adds.

Consumers are changing

One of the reasons for this increasing shift towards wellness is the consumer himself. Today, the Indian consumer is more aware and more educated. In addition to this, the new age lifestyles have taken a toll on his health. Stressful and sedentary lifestyle has increased incidence of several disease such as diabetes and cardiac ailments. "Earlier generations faced these diseases at the end of their active professional life. Today a young executive complains of chest pain in his mid-thirties. This can severely impact their careers. No wonder everyone wants to take precautionary steps towards wellness," asserts Chaudhari.

Another reason for this inclination is the consumer's mindset of staying in control. The ninetees saw an emerging need for 'quality of life' and wellness is all about better quality of life. Many-a-times we have heard that Internet penetration is negligible in the country. But with respect to SEC A and B consumers, it is very high. Today, even in India health is the most commonly surfed subject and Internet has empowered the consumer in true sense. This has also impacted the wellness drive. Lastly, increasing media coverage has also driven the wellness boom in the right direction. There is no newspaper, magazine or a television channel without a health section and articles on prevention of diseases. Being healthy is a basic human need. All these factors have helped the consumer to identify his need to be healthy and take actions. "Wellness is a mindset, which you can't change. Frankly you can't call it as a tactical move by advertisers and marketers. It has a lot to do with the respect to the evolving consumer power," expresses Sangeeta Barde, Managing Partner, Sorento Healthcare. "A lot to do with the empathy with the consumer who today in India is young, aspiring and wants to march ahead in a more confident manner. Why poor health should become a hindrance to her progress?," she adds.

While nobody can deny that advertising based on the wellness plank is an increasing trend, what is interesting is that, it can be observed across various categories of products. One can see it in the form of DTC advertising by vaccines, diagnostic labs, diagnostic instruments and certain OTC medicines. "We see the trend especially in OTC products where the switches have happened in vitamin categories, on the DTC front with GSK's Hepatitis A ads (Heppos), which have adapted a platform of wellness," states Barde. "You would have also seen the television adverti-sements on Accu-Chek, a diabetes-monitoring device. Ads predominantly focus on the wellness and not illness as frankly no one likes being monitored," she adds. This principle can actually be extended to many of our prescription therapies, like anti-hypertensive (especially if you decide to market your brand in young hypertensive segment) statins, cholesterol lowering agents, anti-obesity, women's health products in health and hygiene, menopause category and many segments in dermo-cosmeceuticals.

Today medicine is really not what it does or how it works, but it is all about making people feel well and look well and do well.

"Research showed that that only two things moved people to action—extreme shock and manifold benefits" - Sumer Dheri General Manager and Business Unit Head GSK

GlaxoSmithKline has been on the forefront of DTC advertising through two of its vaccine products—the chicken pox vaccine and hepatitis vaccines. What is common to both of them, is the wellness perspective. "Research showed that that only two things moved people to action-extreme shock and manifold benefits," explains Sumer Dheri, General Manager and Business Unit Head, GSK Vaccines. "Now considering the fact that the very word ‘vaccination’ is surrounded with a lot of negativity on account of sickness, fear of needle and lack of knowledge, we focussed on a more positive platform as we wanted the consumers to have a positive feeling—that vaccination will help you," he adds. The former, chicken pox vaccine was in news with its chickenpox television commercial showcasing a family discussing their child's report card. The protagonist's friend is ahead of him with one or two marks in every subject, barring one where he scores a big zero. Why? He does not attend that test paper as he is down with chicken pox. "Chicken pox is one of the diseases which also has religious connotations attached to it. There is an outbreak almost every time in the January-March period and it upsets the routine of kids who contract it," reveals Dheri. So instead of talking about the scars, GSK took this opportunity to tell that if they do not vaccinate their kids, he/she can miss their exams. "The ad has helped us in creating awareness about the disease and we see more mothers and doctors responding positively to the message. With the help of various school authorities, we have spread the message further," he adds.

GSK's Heppos

GSK's Hepatitis A vaccines range has adapted a platform of wellness. Now hepatitis, or jaundice, as it is known in the layman's language, is not in itself a liked thing. It is life-inconveniencing and in case of newborns, it can prove to be life threatening too. "When we started work on the campaign, we knew that we were trying to promote a solution for jaundice. We also knew that no consumer wakes up in the morning thinking about the illnesses he has to fight for the day," states Rajesh Rai. "Thus we wanted to enter his mind in a way where he thinks that jaundice is a constant possibility and he has to be prepared to deal with it. In short we wanted to enter his mind on a more regular basis," he adds. That is how the wellness angle and the cute hippopotamus—Heppos, came into the picture. Armed with this objective, the creative agency for the hepatitis vaccine tried to develop a character around the vaccines, one, which would stand for the vaccines and such that would make people want to connect with it on a more regular basis. "The name Heppos just came to mind and when one thinks of Heppos, one instantly thinks of the Hippopotamus. So that was the connection. Once that was decided we went about making Heppos more endearing, more humane and characters that people might want to meet in real life," states Rai. "Thus the characters were developed in a three-dimensional form and not just flat cartoon drawings. There were three hippopotamuses in three colours—yellow for Hepatitis A, red for B and green for hepatitis C," he adds.

The communication messages were more fun and happiness driven yet not frivolous. Every messaging was all about how Hepatitis A vaccine can make interesting difference to a child' life. "We charted interesting touch points with the consumer like buses, hoardings, Mc Donald's trays, radio, mall activities. Thus, we tried entering into consumer's life in a more engaging manner," explains Barde.

Ayurvedic concepts

Another brand, which has successfully tapped on the wellness platform is the 'Ayurvedic Concepts' from Himalaya. "We have always operated on the wellness platform, which is inherent to the system of Ayurvedic medicine. Himalaya today has a head-to-heel product offering and all our products, whether in the therapeutic, general health or personal care segment, all focus on promoting good health and well-being," states Ravi Prasad, Executive Director, Himalaya Global Holdings.

Calcium Sandoz Woman

In the forefront of using the wellness platform is Calcium Sandoz Woman from Novartis. Women want to remain active and that is the insight used in advertising—the concept of wellness, opines Novartis spokesperson. Calcium Sandoz Woman was earlier Sandocal Chew indicated for osteoporosis in women and promoted to gynaecologists. When this brand went OTC, the most critical aspect was defining the consumer benefit. The company was not just selling calcium. They were giving her a compelling reason to consume the product by telling the woman (the target audience) that she cannot stop as the entire family depends on her; hence the tag line-Mein ruk nahi sakti which implies that she wants to be strong from within. Thus the brand leveraged the wellness positioning to the hilt.

Accu-Chek system

What is common to all these and uncommon to Roche's Accu-Chek sytem is the use of celebrities to bring forward the point the brand wants to make—that of wellness. Roche Diagnostics has adopted a two-prong approach of reaching people with diabetes. This is done through the healthcare professionals as well as directly to consumer by taking the mass media route which will enable the company to spread awareness about the disease, its complications and how self-monitoring of blood glucose levels will help them manage the disease better.

Wasim Akram, an international figure and a well known cricket personality, was diagnosed with diabetes at a peak of his career. Many believed that this would be the end of his professional career. However, by actively managing his disease he went on to improve his performance in the sports field. Today, Akram devotes his time educating people on how to live a successful live with diabetes. Akram, along with Roche Diagnostics is very keen to spread the awareness of diabetes particularly in India and Pakistan where the living standards are much identical to India. Roche Diagnostics through its inspiration series, initiated in India in 2004, allows this cricketing idol to interact with school children and spread the awareness of diabetes. Wasim felicitates the juvenile diabetic patients who excel in various stages of life despite suffering with diabetes. "Celebrity endorsement by Wasim Akram (who is a patient of juvenile diabetes) has really helped the brand create buzz in the market," states Barde. "The brand promise is all about helping patients manage their diabetes confidently and leading a successful life even with diabetes," she adds.

And the strategy is working. It is helping them to create enquiries. However, not everyone is in the favour of the idea of roping in celebrities or movie actors. "As far as healthcare messages are concerned, I believe that unless your brand can take it don't go to the celebrity. The consumers that we are talking to, who are very health message active and who can perceive health messages cannot be just fooled by saying that because somebody is doing it, you do it," states Chaudhari. However one cannot forget the polio vaccine campaign which brilliantly used Amitabh Bacchhan to drive the masses. As far as vaccines is concerned, it will take some time for the chicken pox and hepatitis vaccines to go absolutely down in the rural areas. "When such audience is required to address, then sure, we will definitely look at celebrities," says Dheri.

Trend watch

The wellness trend is here no doubt and for whatever reasons. But a point that needs to be understood is that it is not just the pharma industry, but others too tapping on the 'need to stay fit wave'. For instance there are players from the consumer durables segment, who have come up with plasma filters and more specialised television screens to protect the consumers' overall health. Then there are FMCG giants with their offerings of healthy attas and cholesterol-levels maintaining cooking oils to cash in on the wellness wave. "These days, I see many clients wanting to make a health pitch even when they are not medicinal," expresses Chaudhari. "Look at the cooking oil market or atta market. They have understood the need for wellness. They are trying to answer the wellness need. But the pharma industry is still on the periphery. "As healthcare marketers what we need, is to take a deeper dive in to this consumers’ life and really understand them well, because they are fast evolving and setting trends in many walks of life," says Barde. "Can health and wellness become the part of this trend? We need marketers to tap this opportunity!" she signs off.

nandini.p@expressindia.com