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Hamdard's Jigreen tells us to keep the liver healthy

Hamdard's idea to tell a story in an informative manner rather than present the product as a remedy for a disease has got a thumb's up from the industry

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Hamdard's Jigreen tells us to keep the liver healthy

Hamdard's Jigreen tells us to keep the liver healthy

Hamdard's idea to tell a story in an informative manner rather than present the product as a remedy for a disease has got a thumb's up from the industry

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | December 29, 2016

Hamdard-Jigreen Click on the Image to watch the TVC.

Liver wellness medicine Hamdard Jigreen's new campaign conceptualised by Law & Kenneth Saatchi & Saatchi Pvt Ltd. attempts to create awareness about the liver and how important it is to keep the vital organ healthy. The film has been appreciated for deviating from the general medicine brand ads that zero in on a disease and present the product as a remedy.

The communication aims at making people aware of how important is the liver and dispelling the myth created by Bollywood and cultural usage that the word 'jigar' had far more connotations to the heart rather than the liver.

Mansoor Ali Mansoor Ali

Taking a softer communication note, Mansoor Ali, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Hamdard, said, “We wanted to make the brand premium and more model. Usually this category is dominated by the pharma companies and brands that end up using a white coat approach in most of their communications. We don't really get to see more emotional and story-led communication in the segment.”

Though there was a previous ad for the brand, it was just made as filler while this one is talking about lifestyle diseases.

Ali explained, “Lifestyle disease management has a lot of things; heart care, diabetes, immunity, cholesterol and liver. Liver is one of the most common and widespread diseases but the awareness is very low. The people don't realise the problem unless a serious problem strikes them. The lack of awareness is to the extent that most people can't even locate the organ in the body.”

While the TVC starts with a single couple, it pans out to the wide consumer spectrum as the film says that even aging causes this problem. “While brainstorming, we realised that liver is called jigar in Hindi and we tried to use it. The impact of the campaign is visible as we have seen an increase in the sales figures too,” said Ali.

The brand has been around in the market for quite some time so why advertise now? Ali answered that availability of the product must be ensured before asking people to buy it. “We were looking at putting the distribution in place in last one-and-a-half years before coming out with the campaign.”

snehasis-bose Snehasis Bose

Jigreen tells people to take care of their liver even if there's nothing wrong with it. While the brief was to create awareness about the brand and improve imagery, the big story was to make it contemporary and relevant, explained Snehasis Bose, Senior Vice-President, Planning, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, Delhi.

“So, yes, the highlights as given to us were that it is a 100 per cent vegetarian medicine based on Unani medicinal values and that it tackles the lifestyle diseases. We aimed at making the medicine a curious option for the non-users or the prospective users and for the existing customers to reinvent the product,” said Bose.

The brand has a strong consumer base in the North and West geographical markets, mainly in the Tier II cities and towns. The only big name among the competitors is Himalaya's Liv 52 which is an old brand, running more on legacy lately. All the other players in the category are mostly the local brands, lesser known.

“The opportunity was to make the consumer reimagine the category itself. The consumer needs to see liver differently and worry about liver health differently. We were tempted to do a communication about the water-borne diseases which says, you might fall ill, create a fear and hence the medicine. But we chose to go with a positive approach. It is a known brand in its target group.”

Jigreen is a non-prescriptive drug, an over-the-counter product. This category includes brands like Benadryl, Vicks, Anacin, Crocin Pain Relief, Iodex and the likes of Revital H. Most of these brands say that 'since this is a problem, here's your solution -- take this medicine.' Jigreen has done something else here.

“We have taken a bit of a higher step by telling the importance of the liver instead of saying that you are drinking too much and hence you must take this medicine to take care of the liver. While the larger TG is male, we have tried to speak to the spouse, the female here. So yes, from several perspectives, we have tried to reinvent the conversation,” said Bose.

The brand has had an earlier advertising communication but that was more of an infomercial than a commercial.

The TVC talks about how we misconstrue the functioning of our liver, thinking that it only bears the impact of all irrational consumption, particularly with regard to alcohol. In fact, our liver performs over 500 functions per second in the human body and the 52-second ad film explains few of these functions, thereby asking the consumers to be careful about liver.

The TVC is seen and narrated from the perspective of the wife, who conveys to her husband that she cares for him; that everyone has always talked about how important the heart is, but the liver is equally important to keep the heart and the body healthy. She assures the husband that she will always take care of his well-being.

Peer review:

Praful Akali Praful Akali

To start with the marketing concept behind this creative idea, Praful Akali, Founder and MD, Medulla Communications Private Limited, said, “OTC (over the counter medicines) is a huge category and this is specifically for liver tonics. From the marketing perspective, currently no liver tonic has been advertised in the country. There's another product, Liv 52, but that is a prescription product. However, liver tonic is a fairly decent size category but most communication in this sector has been to doctors. This is probably the first product that is actually talking to the consumers. The TVC clearly shows that they have come in from a category expansion perspective, and not just to say that our brand is better than any other, which I think is necessary given the current status of the category. Clearly it talks to health-conscious consumers and gives them a reason to use a liver tonic on a daily basis from a wellness perspective rather than a problem-solution perspective.”

Rana Bawa, President at Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide, said, “There are two things to note -- one is that the subject is one that isn't been much spoken about. Talking about liver and creating awareness about it is a good job. A classic healthcare ad might have been done in a more functional manner, they have side-tracked from that and tried to get into people's lives, which is a good part. Is it a high quality ad? No. Was it meant to be? No. Had it been very dramatic, it would have taken the messaging away. The healthcare ads have to be simplistic, less complicated and overdoing the emotional bit would have hurt them.”

Talking about whether the ad is perfect for the TG that they are targeting in terms of the demographics, Bawa added, “Irrespective of the tiers and class, the awareness about liver is very little. There are a zillion things that the liver is connected to. People have talked too much about heart, but liver is still an untrodden part. So, in terms of expanding the information, they have done a nice job.”

Bawa pointed out how the healthcare ads, including the DAVP ones, always tried to come to the problem and then try to solve it. “This communication shows how they are trying to move up the ladder and it is nicely done.”

Dr Harshit Jain Dr Harshit Jain

Dr Harshit Jain, Senior Vice-President and Country Manager McCann Health India, said, “Looks like a great initiative to increase awareness about liver disorders, which is very much required owing to increasing incidence. TVC could have done better to communicate the message that liver is not just about alcohol metabolism but lot more. It fails to deliver the message in an engaging manner with the target audience.”

On the creative thought of the ad film, Akali added, “As a creative, it is well executed and I felt the film had the right communication cues throughout, right from the glass of alcohol to the chatpata food. However, wish it had a stronger creative idea at the heart of it, as against the straight-forward montage film that it is.”

The TVC:

https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/bmi/media/post_attachments/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Hamdard-Jigreen.jpg

Credits:

Client: Hamdard

Brand: Jigreen

Agency: Law & Kenneth Saatchi & Saatchi Pvt Ltd

Brand Manager: Mohammed Zubair

Branch Head (Delhi): Sanjeev Gauba

CCO: Vivek Rao

Creative partners: Shalini Singh, Suketu Gohel

Client Servicing: Prayank Tyagi, Manasvi Rohtagi, Archit Vashishth

Production House: The Magic Box

Producer: Mayur Patel

Director: Rahul Sengupta

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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