Indian FMCG brand Patanjali is beating global giants by empowering local confidence
An Indian FMCG brand started by a yoga guru is set to make over $1billion in sales in the full year of 2017, giving global rivals a run for their money. Patanjali, according to Mccann Worldgroup APAC chairman Prasoon Joshi, is succeeding because there is a new confidence from local brands that is helping them stand against the multinationals.
Patanjali
Speaking at Spikes Asia today, Joshi used the Patanjali to discuss the friction between local and global and the cultural and economic nuances between the two, particularly in culturally diverse APAC.
He said: “Patanjali’s success of course comes from the fact that it was started by a yoga guru but we have to also give credit to the fact that there’s a lot happening in the world.”
Joshi added that local brands had found a new confidence that allowed them to speak on a scale that was normally resigned to multinationals.
“There’s a new found confidence that local brands never tried before. Local companies now use new tech and have a modern in way in which they communicate that’s driven a confidence in local. There used to be a huge difference in local and multinationals; different production values in ads for example. Today there is no difference because of the connected world,” he said.
He also said that there was a renaissance for the collective and for community that was driving a consumer passion for local. Joshi explained that in countries like India and China, where the collective was the norm, the individual spirit of the West became aspirational as it was tied to success. However, the other side to success is failure and the individual element of that can be scary.
“The modern world has given us the word success but we have lost compassion. Where we used to say someone was unfortunate, now you say loser. It comes from the individual and if you take credit for success, you need to take credit for loss because not everyone can be successful. It is driving the individual out and the need for a collective culture to exist,creating a sense of localisation never seen before,” he said.
However, it doesn’t mean that multinationals will falter. Joshi concluded that big global brands could also exist but they had to understand the nuances of culture and identity.