Q] Tell us about Otrivin’s ‘Breathe Clean’ Initiative. What was the objective behind it, and how did you execute the campaign?
Otrivin is a global brand whose purpose is to enable people to breathe cleaner. Otrivin Breathe Clean is a product that is geared towards helping people in keeping their nasal tracts clean. The brand wanted to drive a certain consciousness about clean breathing. It is about educating people to adopt simple, everyday actions that reduce the impact of air pollution on children’s health. This is really critical because children are part of this polluted environment, whereas they contribute the least to pollution. They are also impacted the most by it.
Air purifiers were installed in Bengaluru in the first phase, and they collected more than 2 bn cubic feet of pollution residue or carbon, which was then turned into pollution capture pencils. On Children’s Day, we got about a thousand open letters from children, which spoke about pollution and how it impacts their lives, and how small actions can make the world a better place. Recently, we participated in Comic Con Delhi where we did a 'My Future Hero Contest' where children drew using these pollution capture pencils. These letters, drawings, and the winning sketches will be turned into NFT in future, and the money will be used to install more air purifiers for schools.
Q] What are your expectations now after the demerger of Haleon and GSK Consumer Healthcare? What kind of growth have you seen in the Indian market post it?
Post the demerger, Haleon is even more committed to everyday health care for humanity. Breathing cleaner every day, winning over pain with our various products that help with tooth sensitivity, acidity, fever or headache, everyday issues can be resolved easily. Haleon is committed to the purpose of driving focus and a committed portfolio, and more importantly, to have a committed mind set so as to deliver this promise of everyday health. We are continuing to grow stronger. Our footprint is huge with brands like Sensodyne, Eno, Iodex, Otrivin, Crocin, and other mega brands. We’ve recently launched Centrum as well, which is our entry into the multivitamin segment in India, and it is slated to grow further.
Q] What are your strongest growth markets as of today?
We operate from a leadership position in any segment that we are in. For us, there are only two ways of operating – we are either at a leadership position, or we are growing faster than any other competitor, the nearest biggest competitor. From a focus perspective, India is a big priority for Haleon globally. So we work seamlessly with our global counterparts, with a focus on innovation. Centrum is the most recent example of that.
Q] What will be the key trends in the consumer healthcare market in 2023?
People have become conscious about health, and tend to invest more in their health, even in their daily food intake. This is where vitamins and supplements come in, because no matter how much of a balanced diet you take in, you’ll still be vitamin deficient or immune deficient. So the entire concept of online consultation and Digital healthcare has all taken off now, especially with the onset of COVID over the last couple of years. So the two broad buckets that come to mind now are increased consciousness, and increased propensity to spend on better health.
