Vicco — brand that made Ayurveda mainstream with its ‘nahi cosmetic’ jingle

New Delhi: Whether or not one has used a product by Vicco Laboratories or not, the possibilities of vibing to the model’s iconic jingle — “Vicco turmeric, nahi beauty” — is excessive.

a advertising workforce actually deserves its paycheck when jingles grow to be earworms.

Identical to widespread advert jingles ‘humara Bajaj’, ‘washing powder Nirma’ and ‘Fena hello lena’, Vicco has established its model throughout generations and borders.

The model’s catchy tune has been beloved, hummed and remembered, even when individuals have by no means used the merchandise themselves.

What made Vicco extra interesting was the usage of Ayurveda in its hygiene and healthcare merchandise, giving competitors to different manufacturers like Dabur, Himalaya, Shahnaz, and many others. Using ‘haldi’ (turmeric) in its pores and skin cream — an merchandise that’s important in Indian wedding ceremony festivities —  helped Vicco grow to be a model that made Ayurveda mainstream.

Shashi Vats, 54-year previous Delhi-based trainer, instructed ThePrint, “I imagine well being at all times comes first. I’ve used Vicco turmeric pores and skin cream frequently for the previous few years and it jogs my memory of the standard Indian family scent.”

Vicco was one of many first manufacturers to sponsor widespread TV soaps like ‘Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi’ on DD Nationwide. The model grew to become immensely likeable in an period when televisions weren’t accessible to everybody, smartphones didn’t exist and the web was but to enter peoples’ lives.

The corporate additionally went on to bag a number of awards, together with the celebrated ABP Model Excellence Award in Advertising and marketing Marketing campaign class in 2017.

Actually the OG, Vicco provided premium merchandise that the corporate claimed have the magic and goodness of pure substances.

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The way it began

The corporate was based by Keshav Vishnu Phendharkar in 1952 as Vishnu Industrial Chemical Firm (known as Vicco Laboratories later). The story goes that Phendharkar, whereas sitting in his ration store in Nagpur at some point, had a imaginative and prescient to make a enamel cleansing powder that was freed from chemical substances.

He invented a natural enamel cleansing energy and went door-to-door along with his sons to promote it. The powder grew to become so widespread that he quickly arrange manufacturing companies in Dombivali, Nagpur and Goa.

Began as a enterprise to supply inexpensive healthcare merchandise, Vicco later elevated costs than its opponents. The 100-gram Vicco Vajradanti toothpaste, for instance, is priced at Rs 73, which is 21 per cent, 32 per cent and 40 per cent greater than Colgate, Patanjali and Pepsodent toothpastes respectively.

However the firm has had its share of bumps on the highway to success. On its launch, questions had been raised by clients if the Vicco turmeric cream would go away yellow stains on the pores and skin. To resolve this, the corporate had despatched salesmen on a door-to-door mission, asking them to use the cream in entrance of shoppers.

Vicco’s ups and downs

Phendharkar’s son Gajanan Pendharkar took over as the corporate chairman in 1971, rising its turnover from Rs 1 lakh on the time to Rs 350 crore in 2015, when he died. The all-natural Ayurvedic firm not solely led markets in India but in addition established a powerful presence in over 30 international locations.

The corporate in the present day has a turnover of round Rs 500 crore.

Merchandise like Vicco Vajradanti paste, Vicco turmeric cream, Vicco sugar-free paste, Vicco foam gadgets and Vicco turmeric facewash have allowed the model to diversify, maintaining with the newest developments.

Vicco Laboratories has additionally had its share of ups and downs with the federal government. In 1978, the Central Excise division categorised Vicco Vajradanti and Vicco turmeric cream as cosmetics, opposite to the corporate’s claims of those being natural cures. This meant that the corporate could possibly be levied beauty taxes.

A lawsuit was subsequently filed by the Central Excise Division in 1985 towards Vicco Laboratories, the decision for which got here solely in 2007. The court docket dominated in favour of the corporate, defending them from cosmetics tax.

Catching up with the developments

For any firm to remain profitable in a extremely aggressive market, fixed adaptation is a should. Good ads will carry traction however celeb endorsements may also help a product attain out to the youth.

Former captain of the Indian cricket workforce, Sourav Ganguly is the present model ambassador for Vicco. When Shrirang S. Tembhekar, head of selling and branding, Vicco Laboratories, introduced the affiliation, Ganguly had stated that it was “a fan second” for him as he usually discovered himself singing Vicco’s jingles.

The intention of this partnership was to infuse nostalgia into clients’ minds, since many would have grown up watching Ganguly play for India, and in flip additionally join them with the corporate’s newer merchandise.

Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt was earlier roped in as its model ambassador in 2020.

The model has additionally modernised certainly one of its jingles to enchantment to the newer technology, with ‘yeh hai wohi Vicco Vajradanti’.

As a part of their social media outreach lately, Vicco Laboratories spent over Rs 20 lakh on an influencer advertising marketing campaign, based on Sheeko, a advertising and branding content material administration firm.

The hashtag #WashKaroSquashKaro in Instagram reels can be getting used to introduce the newest Vicco turmeric face wash. Niti Taylor, Niharicka Singh, Anisha Dixit and Rohan Shah are among the many many influencers who had been roped in to hold ahead this marketing campaign.

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