Storyboard18 | Paracetamol brand wars: Is Dolo rival Crocin feeling the chills?

The memes grew in step with Dolo 650's rising popularity.

In the early 1990s, Micro Labs observed that the paracetamol 500 mg market was crowded and needed disruption. After several rounds of market research and discussions with doctors, the company found a need gap.
They discovered that relief from fever and pain provided by paracetamol 500 mg was not adequate, that’s how and why Dolo 650 was developed and launched in 1993. However, Dolo 650 was never advertised. It was largely built through prescriptions from doctors.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19, Dolo 650 has become a part of medical kits at vaccination and quarantine centres across India. At the vaccination centres, the company has been doing poster campaigns across the country answering FAQs about the vaccines and the virus.

According to reports, Dolo 650 has cornered sales of Rs 567 crore since March 2020, selling more than 350 crore pills.

As the pill gained in prominence, the wave of memes and mentions increased exponentially, further fuelled by the onset of the third wave of Covid-19.

Also read: All You Need To Know About India's 'favourite Snack', Dolo 650

It didn’t take long for the reactive marketing to kick in once #Dolo650 started trending. Brands like Dabur Chyawanprash, Dunzo, Myntra, Zomato, Goibibo, etc., got in on the action fast with their own memes and posts about Dolo 650.

In an interview with Moneycontrol, Dilip Surana, chairman and managing director at Micro Labs, admitted that the company didn’t expect “this kind of popularity”.

Praful Akali, founder and managing director of healthcare advertising agency Medulla Communications, believes that paracetamol brands making it into social media memes, shows how the category is evolving and becoming a part of the consumer’s life and daily discourse.

He adds that it’s “sad but true that this reflects first in consumer conversations before marketing conversations.”

After the rising sales offline and memes online of Micro Labs’ Dolo 650, now GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare released has ads to push Crocin 650 into the limelight. But advertising executives say it’s “a knee-jerk reaction” to Dolo’s rising popularity.

Is Crocin getting the chills?

Across the world, paracetamol brands like Panadol and Tylenol are household names and billion-dollar brands.

In India, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare’s brand Crocin is a household name for fever and allied symptoms like headache and cold. Over the years, the company has built extensions to brand Crocin through specific products addressing cold and flu, and pain relief among others. However, these are smaller SKUs compared to the main brand.
Crocin 650 was one of the extensions introduced to address the needs that brands like Dolo 650 were already catering to.

On January 30, Crocin 650 released an ad highlighting the “trusted paracetamol” that “starts working in 5 mins”. The ad, featured a middle-aged man named “Mr Sachin Khurana” in a white coat, left people scratching their heads, wondering about the exact identity and job of Mr Khurana.

According to Susan Josi, managing director - Southeast Asia and Middle-East, Havas Life Sorento, a healthcare advertising agency, “Crocin is now cooling its heels and the current ad is definitely a knee-jerk one touting its superiority claim on fast action. They also depict the clichéd white coat in the ad but his name reads as Mr. Sachin Khurana (where is the Dr.?)”

She adds, “These are typical guerrilla tactics which may not cut ice with consumers once they have experienced the brand through a more credible source like their healthcare practitioners.”

Storyboard18 sent a detailed questionnaire (including the question of who Mr Khurana is) to GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare about the advertising campaign strategy.

A company spokesperson said, “Paracetamol is a non-prescription formulation. Crocin, a paracetamol, is a trusted household name in India for decades. As a responsible company, we undertake regular consumer education initiatives about the efficacy of Crocin. Our endeavour is to bring superior products supported by high-science, and Crocin 650 is one such offering backed by Optizorb technology.”

Optizorb helps in faster breakdown of the medicine in the stomach. According to the GSK website, patients can get relief from pain within 15 minutes.

Companies can drive responsible self education with their brands, which is a significant gap in our country.

- Susan Josi, managing director - Southeast Asia and Middle-East, Havas Life Sorento

Are ads a match for memes?

At the moment, over-the-counter drug ad regulations are hazy in the country. There is no rule that debars pharma companies from advertising paracetamol. “Marketers are only constrained due to the low margins, given that input costs have risen and the formulation is under price control. Unfortunately, there is very little headroom to invest in OTC advertising,” explains Josi.

Brand experts believe if pharma companies don’t advertise sensitively, they might end up encouraging people to self-medicate.

A fever today is not taken lightly for sure, at the same time given the paucity of doctors and the challenge of meeting them in the clinic, consumers are gulping these tablets without having full knowledge of how much to take at what frequency and how to manage the same in case of any comorbidities.

“This is where companies can drive responsible self-education with their brands, which is a significant gap in our country. Any company willing to invest and stick their head out can take a lead in such dominant self-care categories,” says Josi.

But Medulla’s Akali believes that there are bigger opportunities for paracetamol and OTC brands to explore deeply and wisely.

Using digital and social media, brands can set the right context for consumers. He also suggests that brands in the category should also try to amplify slice-of-life insights in the communication strategy. “OTC brands still rely heavily on print and television media and use social media as the icing on the cake. It’s time for advertising cheesecake, folks,” he concludes.

Also read: Dolo 650 maker: We did not expect this kind of popularity