The early 2000s were a time of innovation in advertising. When we began working with Zed Black Agarbatti, a unique yet uncomplicated insight defined the product’s positioning. Using multiple agarbattis while praying was the norm. The caveat? They smoked up the room and were a serious health hazard.
Therefore, we placed emphasis on Zed Black’s potency. What 10 incense sticks could achieve together, Zed Black could accomplish with 2 sticks. The tagline for our campaign was “Prarthana Hogi Sweekar!” We began targeting one market at a time and regionally popular faces endorsed the product in differentmicro-campaigns; Payal Sarkar in West Bengal, Varsha Priyadarshini in Orissa, Bhagyashree in the Northern belt, and so on and so forth.
The regional campaigns created brand awareness and cemented the
product’s identity. The time had come to take a bigger step and bring
a brand ambassador with a pan-India presence on board. In 2017,
Mahendra Singh Dhoni joined the Zed Black family and this association
yielded wonderful results for the brand
“Cricket unites the nation” is a widely known axiom and our campaign design embraced this fully. Our messaging was two-pronged — that the prayers of millions lie behind one victory, and that bold choices and prayers go hand in hand. While the tagline was kept intact, Mahendra Singh Dhoni exclusively endorsed one product: the 3-in-1 agarbatti. Today, it is the highest-selling variant of Zed Black.
A well-thought communication strategy coupled with a great brand ambassador can take things to the next level for a brand. This was something we observed with Manthan Dhoop as well. Dhoop was a different category and called for a different approach in advertising.
The campaign for Manthan was titled “Manthan Zaroori Hai” and
Hrithik Roshan was brought in as the brand ambassador. The ad film for
the same was directed by Farah Khan and was very well-received by the
audiences. It is incredible to see Zed Black eyeing an 800 crore turnover in 2022; our
longstanding association has given us the opportunity to
see this transition closely.
