Horlicks flips the coin with a new campaign as ownership changes hands

Over the years, the Horlicks bottle with its trademark shape and colours has become an easy identifier. On cluttered shelves, it stands out a mile and in Indian kitchens where recycle-reuse is more than a catchy slogan on a T-shirt, the bottle outlives the product it carries. This is the familiarity that the brand, formerly with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer and now owned by Hindustan Unilever (HUL), is looking to invoke in the latest campaign, version 2.0 of #FearlessKota. 

By using known and accepted terms of engagement between the brand and its consumers, the advertisements seek a permanency for the brand even as its owners change. The ads this year show mothers whose children are training to be doctors and engineers using the Horlicks bottle as a mark of reassurance and stability at a time when they are at their most vulnerable, during exams. 2018’s #FearlessKota campaign had mothers going over to meet their children while this year, the bottle packed with home-made goodies, letters and photographs becomes a representative of maternal presence. 

The idea, as Vikram Bahl, executive vice-president, marketing, GSK Consumer, says is to provide “emotional nutrition” to children, helping them face life’s challenges with a smile. “We recognise the emotional stress in children during exams and the need to provide them with emotional nutrition. Horlicks has aimed at providing support to students so that they can excel in their endeavour.”

Swati Bhattacharya, chief creative officer, FCB, the agency behind the campaign, says that the bottle was the best medium to deliver the message, since it is a familiar sight in most homes. Familiarity is a big stress buster, be it in the form of comfort food or routines or the presence of a family member. 

N Chandramouli, chief executive officer, TRA, which comes out with the annual Brand Trust Report, says that the campaign helps keep alive the brand’s promise of emotional and physical nutrition. “At a time when a change in ownership is on the cards, the idea of keeping it visible through various platforms, whether digital or television, is credit-worthy because that it will ensure that Horlicks’ equity is intact,” he says.

HUL has not indicated what will be the future roadmap for Horlicks. But in a conversation with Business Standard last month, HUL’s chairman and MD, Sanjiv Mehta said the firm’s first priority would be to get regulatory and statutory approvals for the merger. “The second would be to plan for integration. My brief to my team is that the combined food and refreshment business should be more than the sum of two parts. This means we are going to harness the skill sets of the people at GSK Consumer and marry them with HUL.”

While the Competition Commission of India has since then given its approval to the merger of GSK Consumer with HUL, experts say the latter is unlikely to tinker with the brand too much, given that its identity as a nutrition provider remains strong in India. “Horlicks has been in the country for over 80 years and wiping away its history will not be easy for any new owner,” says KV Sridhar, founder and chief creative officer, HyperCollective.

Developed by two British-born brothers William and James Horlick in the United States in 1873, Brand Horlicks came to India in the 1930s at the end of World War II, brought in by soldiers who stirred the powder in water to make an energy booster. It was in the 1960s that it began being manufactured and marketed in the country. 

During Operation Flood, the country-wide milk programme started by the National Dairy Development Board under Verghese Kurien in the 1970s, Horlicks positioned itself as a milk supplement. Over the years, its communication has undergone a sea-change, positioning itself as a wholesome food and beverage brand coinciding with its extension into biscuits, cereal bars, noodles and oats.

Though many extensions have since been discontinued, the brand today speaks to various target groups, including men, women, toddlers and pre-schoolers. HUL is likely to consolidate Horlicks’ presence in the marketplace with new extensions, experts said.