A brand’s success depends on your passion: Anupam Katheriya, Cholayil
At the exchange4media Pride of India (South) Brands Summit held in Chennai on January 24, Anupam Katheriya, CEO, Cholayil Pvt. Ltd. (which owns brands like Medimix, Sadhev, Cuticura and others) spoke on the ‘Success Mantra of Scaling a Local brand to a Global Brand.’ Noting that this was a topic very close to his heart because of his career in foods and personal care he had worked on local brands, national brands and global brands and so understood what are the matrices, steps, and pitfalls which can make or break this journey, Katheriya began the talk by recounting the story of Medimix Ayurvedic, founded by Dr Sidhan in 1969. According to Katheriya, when Dr Sidhan, then working as a doctor in the railways, a job at which he frequently treated people with skin ailments, decided to create a series of products with active Ayurvedic ingredients that could address the daily needs for skincare and prevention of related ailments. What began as a modest business with products handmade in a small house in a small nook of Tamil Nadu’s Chennai scaled up to a business with two full-fledged factories manufacturing over 2,000 metric tons of products every month. “We have moved up to an automated process and in this process we have won several awards. While that scale-up has happened, the brand has evolved and has become more contemporary, far more connected. It has moved beyond a small local brand to a national brand and has crossed beyond our borders,” he said. Today the brand is present across 30 countries and has the best-selling Ayurvedic bar soap in the country, if not the world. Katheriya pointed out that Medimix’s success and journey from a small local brand to a large international concern is not an isolated story, but holds true in the case of legendary founders and their brands ranging from Henri Nestle to John Cadbury to Michael Dell. “So what does it take for a small business to scale up? In my experience of working for many companies and brands, I believe there are three distinct stages of brand evolution. Most of the businesses start with a small problem solution. It's a local solution, where you will probably look at an opportunity to solve a consumers’ day-to-day problem.” “At some stage, you will realize that this is something which has greater potential and you start working on standardization. That's when you look at a scale-up, building teams, and scaling up the manufacturing process. And while you're standardizing, there's a tipping point when you realize that the brand has evolved far more than what you can imagine, and it starts transcending boundaries. And then it moves to new geographies where you need to start adapting to new local markets, new consumer dynamics, consumers’ requirements and that's when the brand moves from standardization to adaptation,” said Katheriya, summing up the three stages of brand evolution. Katheriya then went on to describe that journey for a brand, and the sameness of it, even if undertaken by industries as different as toothpaste and Coca-Cola or car tires and burgers. He spoke about the need for a brand to be agile, to adapt to varying cultural and linguistic mores across different geographies as the brand expanded its footprint, and the need for relevant messaging and engaging with the right consumers at the right time to foster a lasting relationship. These included nine mantras for success for brands as they scaled up which ranged from understanding one’s customer thoroughly; positioning your offerings carefully; know how your brand translates; make sure you deliver on the promise; connect with local customers; thinking global, act local; choose your business partners wisely; identify people who believe in the purpose; and finally, success will depend on your passion. It was following these mantras, Katheriya said, which had helped Medimix reach its current eminence and establish it as one of India’s most trusted brands in the FMCG category as well as its own Ayurvedic one.