People Want to Hear New Stories, Have Fresh Experiences Every Time: Rajeev Juneja, Mankind Pharma

by  Mugdha Gaonkar Marketing | January 8, 2021 | Interview

Mankind Pharma Rajeev Juneja Kareena Kapoor Khan Anushka Sharma Prega News

For Rajeev Juneja, CEO, Mankind Pharma, the lockdown became an opportunity to engage with a largely captive target audience. Here, he talks about quickly adapting to webinars and digital marketing to stay connected with audiences for all the Mankind Pharma brands, as well as signing on pregnant actors Kareena Kapoor Khan and Anushka Sharma as brand ambassadors for Prega News in the middle of the lockdown.

How do you view the experiential marketing and activations space and how have you utilised it for your company’s products? What has been your ROI from the medium?

As the spread of coronavirus forced event cancellations worldwide, the experiential marketing industry has had to adapt to a new culture of remote working and social distancing. A shift to virtual experiential marketing keeps customers engaged with online events. We, too, were quick to adapt to webinars and digital marketing to stay connected with our audiences for all our brands. We have received a great response on all such events and campaigns that have been released online, creating a strong brand presence in the minds of the people. Since these events focus on providing a solution for our TG’s problems, we create a special place in their minds and hearts. It is not the run-of-mill advertising that only tries to hammer the product function; it is much more creative and fun to engage with.

How does your company see growth in the events and activations space?

In the current times, when people cannot step out of their homes, brands need to be pro-active to reach them. Consequently, we have started conducting webinars for our consumers so that we stay connected to our TG. For instance, we conducted a webinar for Prega News on World Mental Health Day and one around the use of contraception for Unwanted-21. Both these online seminars had an excellent turnout and were appreciated by all. We, therefore, see great merit in switching how we have been conducting events for our audiences. This is the only way to stay relevant to our TG.

According to you, how did various online campaigns amidst the pandemic help your brand? How did they help engage the audience?

At Mankind, we don’t create an ad for ad’s sake. We make sure that all our campaigns stem from social and cultural insights, so they resonate with our audiences. To cite an example, Prega News released a campaign, #PregaMoments, during the depressing days of lockdown to cheer up new moms-to-be. Another Prega News campaign, #ThankYouMom, was released to express gratitude for mothers who were working at home while working from home for their offices during the period of lockdown. These campaigns instantly connected with women all over and started thousands of conversations, uplifting their spirits. We also tapped into various festivals with our campaigns for Raksha Bandhan, Durga Puja, and Teacher’s Day that carried a social message with COVID-19 as the backdrop and how it has changed the meaning of each festival.

Kareena Kapoor Khan and then Anushka Sharma as brand ambassador for Prega News – how have the associations with these actors worked for the brand?

Collaborating with A-list actresses has improved our brand imagery and equity tremendously. Since we always sign the deal with celebrity mothers or expecting mothers, our advertisements are real and resonate with mothers across the nation. To grab your audience’s attention is a challenging task. People want to hear new stories and have fresh experiences every time. So, with different celebrities, we try to bring their perspectives and insights into the picture. Currently, Kareena Kapoor and Anushka Sharma are both the brand ambassadors for Prega News. This year, we specifically wanted to target young mothers, and when we learnt about Anushka’s pregnancy, we quickly seized the opportunity. She perfectly fits the role of a young mom and has a fan base that’s young, modern and fun-loving, just like her. In turn, this type of marketing has made our brand synonymous with the category of pregnancy detection kits and secured the position of India’s No.1 brand for us.

How did Mankind Pharma fare during the lockdown? Tell us about the brand’s investment in advertising and marketing.

Few categories like PTC (Pregnancy Test Card) have witnessed a sharp spike in COVID-19 times. Statistically speaking, a UNICEF report states that around 116 million babies will be born globally, out of which India will account for 20.1 million babies. As a result, our brand Prega News also witnessed a steep spike of over 20% in its demand during the lockdown. So, we noticed while the industry was reducing spends, it would not be wise for us to stop advertisements as everyone was sitting at home, glued to their televisions and phones. Taking advantage of this, we released a lot of video content and television campaigns for our brands.