Creating new categories

Ozone Ayurvedics, the FMCG arm of Ozone Group of companies, and maker of Nomarks brand, has recently launched its latest offering in the portfolio – Nomarks Teen range. Talking about the category, future business and marketing strategy, SC Sehgal, Chairman and Managing Director, Ozone Group, shares how the company wants to scale up its business across India. 

Rajni Pandey (RP): Tell us about the journey of Nomarks brand from a skin problem solution brand to a daily skin care brand?

SC Sehgal (SC): Right from the beginning I had very high believability and clear understanding that definition of beautiful is being no marks. If you want to be beautiful, you should have no mark on your skin, irrespective of the colour or type of the skin. On this understanding we launched our product Nomarks. Marks on skin can be caused for several reasons – age, weather, environment, lifestyle habits, diet, etc, and keeping the age factor in mind, we launched age specific skincare products. Our skincare product range includes - Nomarks for Youth, Nomarks for 25+, Nomarks for All Ages, Neem Range, No Pimples No Marks and recently launched Nomarks Teens.

RP: In recent years, Nomarks has not got the attention it qualified for. What could be the reason?

SC: First right (ie, initiative) should be known, second right should be taught rightly and last right should be understood. So right prevailed all along but neither right was talked about nor right was understood because marketing has not done on that line. Now this is the time when we will make right known. And in case it is called marketing then we will be doing marketing.

RP: What kind of marketing tools you are implementing to create awareness and promote the brand among consumers?

SC: We would be promoting our brand through ATL, BTL, and through consumer interaction. I think teens particularly learn more from interaction than preaching. So, to improve the interaction activity, we have ‘No Mark Face of India’ which is a beauty contest. On social site Facebook, we have Nomarks Face of India, which has the highest amount of hits of 1.5 lakh in a duration of two months of time. Here, every month we select the Nomarks Face of India and the basis of maximum vote judgment is done.

For in-store promotion, we will be having staff who would visit retailers regularly to make them understand the product better and we will get a chance to interact with customers directly. We are very active on Facebook which gives us a direct contact with our target customers. 

RP: What is the total revenue of the company? What is your expectation from FMCG vertical of your group?

SC: Last year the turnover of Ozone Ayurvedic, which at time was consisted of only Nomarks brand, was of Rs 60 crores. This year we are planning to create more business verticals, more products, more extension would happen. We have recently entered into the professional range under the personal care category - Ozone Professionals. The product is used by professionals in the beauty parlours. We are very much excited for our teen range of products as this category is going to be very large segment. Teens are very large in number and they are really bothered about their looks. There is no other company who have any special range for teenagers, this is the first time we have introduced this and we are attempting create a new category.

RP: Which part of the country you are prominently present? Are you targeting any new zone where want to have strong presence?

SC: We are present nationally but we need to be more intense means we need to be present at more shops and in more quantities. But for that you should have very structured, planned distribution network. And that distribution network and sales activity should be more planned, more efficient and effective. But otherwise we are present nationally. State-wise the differentiation in revenue is not much bigger but northern part of the country is one of the largest contributors. The southern market of the country is moreover of a fairness market, and we are into the delivery of flawless skin irrespective of the skin colour or texture and that is our USP. So far we haven’t promoted the concept of flawless skin widely, but now starting with Nomarks Teen range of products, we would be promoting our brands pan India. We are focusing more on tier I, tier II and tier III cities. We are not focusing on tier IV or tier V cities as it will make Nomarks a mass distribution brand and mass pricing brand, but when we talk about mass pricing then you can't deliver the quality. As we have to maintain our quality, we are concentrating on up to tier III city consumers only.

RP: How prepared are you for the success of Nomarks teen range of products? How do you want to scale up your business volume?

SC: Yes, we are very confident about the success of this product in India. We are offering something which was not available for the teenagers. On 29th September, 2011, we are launching the product in Delhi; and on 2nd and 3rd October, 2011, we will be launching it nationally. So within five-six days time it would be available nationally.

RP: Tell us about your research and development department.

SC: We have got a research and development set-up within the company. The biggest proposition that we have is the organic factor, the herbs are organically grown in our own organic farm. We have an organic farm in Gurgaon and all our organic facilities are USDA approved. We have doctors of ayurvedic chemistry in our R&D department who do the research, develop and formulate the products. So, we ensure the quality of the product from batch to batch and time to time. 

RP: Tell us about your distribution network.

SC: We have a very large distribution infrastructure in place and we have got about 1500 distributors which are working in various towns. We are going to spread our reach to top 100 cities in India and would concentrate on this. And in these towns we are going to reach directly to about 200000 retail outlets across country. And that’s what our mission is and we have largely achieved this goal. We have distribution across different states in the country. So, the entire chain has been established and now that chain needs to be mobilized to extend the network.