The owners of Horlicks, GlaxoSmithkline have announced that they plan to sell Horlicks and with that funds, buy out Novartis in the joint venture for $13 billion. What really happens can be only found out after a deal is signed as the list of buyers’ increases every day. All top FMCG companies like Unilever, Nestle, Mondelez, and ITC are on the list.
Even with a 140-year strong heritage, Horlicks is a strong company in only a few countries. It gets its bulk sales from India. Over the years, with all the consumer changes and market turmoil, Horlicks stood strong, changing and evolving as a brand and still continues to grow here.
The two british brothers..
Horlicks was founded by two British brothers, namely William and James Horlicks. They both shifted to Chicago later and started their own company (J&W Horlicks) in 1873. At that time they sold malted milk drink. They called their product ‘Diastoid’.
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From then to now..
The brand made a lot of changes to sustain in the Indian market. From being a nutritional drink brand, they made the brand more modern and added variants to their drink. They now have drinks specific to age group, flavor, nutritional value, and gender.
In this process, they also changed their package and the way it had been advertised. It will be a challenge for the company that acquires Horlicks to maintain such high values.
Even then, there are so many lessons that Horlicks has, that other brands in India should learn from.
1. Credibility is the key to everything – because until people believe in the brand’s promise, there nothing much you can do for your company
2. Be courageous enough to be the first mover of any category and then give your blood and sweat to thrive on it.
3. The message that you are trying to deliver it to people should be consistent and thick. It’s very very critical for brand building.
4. Find a genuine or perceived unmet need and try to fulfill it.
