GSK's health food drink Boost may get a brand refresh under new owner HUL

The health food drink may get a brand refresh under new owner HUL, as it readies to take on rivals such as Mondelez and Nestle in the category

For four decades, Boost has been the go-to drink for kids in India seeking to improve their stamina and energy. Riding on sports, the drink has used icons such as Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, M S Dhoni and Virat Kohli to convey a simple message: ‘Boost is the secret of my energy’.

While ownership of the brand has now changed hands from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer to Hindustan Unilever (HUL), the question is whether there is a brand refresh on the cards. 

Along with Horlicks, Boost helped GSK Consumer maintain leadership within the Rs 60 billion health food drinks market in India with an estimated share of around 12-13 per cent. Horlicks’ share is estimated to be around 43-44 per cent, according to industry sources. Rivals Bournvita from Mondelez and Complan from the Cadila group (earlier with Kraft Heinz) have estimated market shares of 15 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.
 

 

Though Boost is closest in positioning to Nestlé’s energy drink Milo, relaunched last year by the Swiss food major, it has over the years been overshadowed by big sister Horlicks. While Boost has played its role of a “support brand” quite well, some experts argue that it is time for a new life under a new dispensation.
 

Brand Boost has been under the care of long-time agency J Walter Thompson for a while now, staying in its fold even in 2017 when GSK Consumer handed over the advertising mandate for Horlicks to FCB. It is unclear whether HUL will change the advertising partner since J Walter Thompson is one of its roster agencies.

“The tagline of Boost is something that has stayed with it from the start. That is a strong point. But yet, I believe that Boost may require a bit of a booster at some stage. It has lost its bite over the years and may require a sharper focus,” K S Chakravarthy, chief creative officer of digital agency Tidal 7, says.

Ashok Kurien, ad man and brand expert, says that HUL will take its time to figure out a new course of action for Boost. “In many respects, Boost is relevant even more today than it was in the past. Sporting action across the country has increased. There are many more sporting activities besides cricket, which are being promoted today including football, hockey, badminton, kabaddi, boxing and wrestling. Boost can capitalise on this wave if marketed 

well,” he says.

HUL has not indicated a road map yet for Boost or Horlicks, but analysts say that the company will line up variants and extensions of the two brands and will look at new packaging for the two to begin with. Boost’s tagline, say experts, could be retained in the rejig. “For a tagline that is so sharp, I don’t think it would make sense for the new owners to touch it,” says K V Sridhar, founder and chief creative officer, Hyper Collective. “But it is HUL’s brand managers who will take the final call whether to retain it or not,” he says.

Unlike Horlicks which has been in India for over eight decades and has always been positioned as the chief family nourisher, Boost has operated in a niche. Developed by GSK’s in-house research and development team in 1974, it was first launched in 1975-76, targeting school kids in the age-group of 8 to 14 years. Among the first malt-based drinks to use sportsmen as endorsers, the brand has stayed true to its cricketing roots even though it has changed endorsers with frequent regularity.

Brand rewind
 

|  Developed by GSK’s in house research and development team in 1974, it was first launched in 1975-76, targeting school kids in the age-group of 8 to 14 years

|  Kapil Dev was appointed brand ambassador in 1985 and was with the brand for four years, he was the first endorser to lend his voice to the tagline ‘Boost Is the Secret of My Energy’

|  Sachin Tendulkar has endorsed the brand since 1991. Boost was one of his early brands and it was only a few years later, in 1996, that the late Mark Mascarenhas, head of sports marketing firm WorldTel signed him up for an eye-popping deal (at the time) of $7.5 million

|  Sachin and Kapil Dev appeared for a few ads together, endorsing the brand and lending their distinctive voices to the tagline

|  Virender Sehwag turned endorser for the brand in 2002 and one of the first promotional events that the company hosted with him was held in his school in Najafgarh

|  Boost has also been associated with inter-school cricket tournaments in some parts of

the country

|  In 2008, M S Dhoni was signed by the company. Speaking to the media at the time, the company had said that the Boost brand would retain its longstanding association with cricketers

|  In 2012, Virat Kohli was brought on board for a three-part digital video campaign under the theme #Playabiggergame on social media