'Mooving' with time

The backache specialist is now a neck and shoulder specialist as well

Moov, the flagship brand of Paras Pharmaceuticals, is going off the beaten track. Known as the “housewife’s companion” for over 23 years now, Moov is now reaching out to the husband as well.

Ajay Rawal, General Manager (marketing), says the new product – Moov Neck and Shoulder – is targeted at males. Surveys done by the company showed that one-third of young men suffer from neck and shoulder problems due to lifestyle changes. A new commercial on the product will be launched sometime this month.

Rawal says in the process, Moov is also shifting from its positioning of just a ‘backache specialist’ to that of a ‘neck and shoulder’ specialist.

The changes in the positioning of the product are part of the strategy of the new management led by the Actis group, which bought 60 per cent stake in Paras Pharma last year.

But the new move doesn’t mean that Paras has forgotten its core customers. In fact, the company has now gone a step forward by paying tribute to the woman who has been loyal to the brand for such a long time. The latest campaign is titled ‘Janani’ which stands for the giver of life – a woman.

The idea is to create an emotional connect with the core consumer by showing women from various age groups giving in to their inner-child. For example, one ad shows a woman, returning home after buying vegetables, joining a group of kids in a cricket match almost instinctively. Another shows her stealthily taking her husband’s bike keys to drop her daughter to school.

“Now your body can keep up with your mind” is the theme of the campaign conceptualized by Ignite Mudra, says Akashneel Dasgupta, Group Head-Copy of Mudra. “The women in the new commercial act impulsively, giving in to their desires. The message of the ad is you can do whatever you desire without the body coming in-between,” says Dasgupta.

Rawal says the new moves will help Moov to double its sales growth rate to 20 per cent. The overall aim is to make Moov a Rs 100 crore brand by the year-end, which means it will contribute a quarter to the company’s overall expected sales of Rs 400 crore in 2009-10.

Paras launched the over-the-counter product Moov in 1986 as a joint pain reliever and later re-positioned in 1991 as back-ache specialist. One of the USPs was while other OTC brands like Zandu and Iodex were available in bottles, Moov came in a tube format, which was a novelty at that time. The tube format has now given way to a shrink-sleeve pack – initiatives that Rawal says make the product look contemporary. Paras Pharma, which has presence in 35 countries, is now looking at newer markets in West Asia, Africa and South East Asia.

While Iodex and Moov are neck and neck in the domestic market, the overall leader in the body pain reliever category is Zandu. Moov enjoys a market share of 20 per cent. The other OTC brands of Paras Pharma are Krack, Itchguard, Ringguard, D’ Cold and Stopache.

Besides, the company has brands like Livon, Dermicool, Recova, Set Wet Hair Gel, Set Wet Deo etc.