Drink Horlicks and be cool!? says Darsheel Safary in the latest campaign for Horlicks. The celebrated child artist of Taare Zameen Par could well be telling the story of the flagship brand of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSKCH). Today the brand accounts for around 80% of the total sales of the Rs 1,542-crore GSKCH, a subsidiary of 24.4 billion pound GlaxoSmithKline plc of the UK.

Trace the half-century lifecycle of Horlicks in India (in the UK, it?s almost 150-years old) and it tells the story of a brand that?s changed with the changing demographics, segmenting itself into various new categories (Junior Horlicks, Mother?s Horlicks and Women?s Horlicks), each a separate niche in itself, while also managing to retain its foothold in the general HFD category, where its sway, especially over senior citizens, has remained unchallenged.

Take Horlicks? sales record for the past five years?Rs 725 crore in 2004 to Rs 1,300 crore in 2008. A market leader in the Rs 2,200-crore health food drink (HFD) category with a 55% share (in the brown drink market; GSKCH?s Horlicks and Boost together command some 56% share in this segment) Horlicks like Safary in the campaign, has kept its pace of growth steady (23%) since January 2009?despite the overall market slowdown.

Clearly, the churn and burn strategy of the FMCG sector does not apply to the HFD category, where once you have established trust, you can have your customers for keeps, through generations.

In India, Horlicks was introduced in the late 19th century (before the radio was invented), gaining immense popularity with senior citizens, especially in the east and south regions, that continue to contribute 53% and 38% respectively to the brand?s national sales. In comparison, the north and west lag far behind, with just 6% and 3% share.

Gradually, as it strengthened its foothold, GSKCH began to expand its portfolio, introducing new variants?elaichi in the seventies, chocolate in 1991, vanilla (2003), honey (2003) and toffee (2005)?endorsed separately by a clutch of cine and sports stars, Moon Moon Sen and daughters, Vishwanathan Anand, Konkona Sen Sharma (for Women?s Horlicks) and Darsheel Safary (for Horlicks).

In 2000, as it happens with brands with a long history, sales began to plateau. Competition was intense?there was Cadbury India?s Bournvita (that now commands 15% share in the HFD market) and Heinz?s Complan (15%), with the latter becoming a serious contender with a narrow focus on the young consumer (a demographic hitherto ignored by GSKCH India) with the claim that its formula makes children taller.

To stall their march, GSKCH adopted a two-pronged strategy.

?We began identifying customer segments that had different nutritional needs and then tailor-made deliveries that matched those needs,? explains Shubhajit Sen, executive vice-president, marketing, GSKCH.

In 2003, in order to combat the threat posed by Complan, GSKCH decided to make Horlicks more accessible to children. ?Three years later, in November 2006, Junior Horlicks was relaunched,? recounts Sen. The strategy worked. Soon, two-thirds of Horlicks sales started coming from households with children. To buttress Junior Horlicks? proposition that it answered a health need of pre-school children, the new formula came fortified with DHA (an omega 3 fatty acid) that, according to medical research cited by GSKCH, improves a child?s cognitive health (read brain power).

Realising that Indian children were gradually gaining in pester power and numerical strength, GSKCH commissioned a three-year study on the effects of micronutrient enriched beverage on 869 school children with the Hyderabad-based National Institute of Nutrition (NIN). Based on the NIN findings, the company made the claim that Horlicks not just makes them taller (which was Complan?s proposition) but ?taller, stronger, sharper? under a new tagline Badlo apne bachpan ka size.

This was a carefully calibrated pitch aimed at taking on competition where it mattered the most. Today, Junior Horlicks comes in two variants?vanilla and chocolate (vanilla comes in three pack sizes: 200-gm priced at Rs 70, 500-gm bag in box (BIB) priced at Rs 140 and 500-gm jar priced at Rs 150; chocolate is available in a 500-gm jar, priced at Rs 150).

The next notable launches were Mother?s Horlicks and Women?s Horlicks. ?Our research revealed that women?s health is largely ignored in India,? reveals Sen. Therefore, based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)?s recommended dietary allowances for various age groups, GSKCH launched two separate formulae for these demographics?Women?s Horlicks and Mother?s Horlicks. ?The former is tailor-made for women in the 19 to 25 age bracket, while the latter is targeted at pregnant and lactating mothers,? informs Sen. Women?s Horlicks comes in two flavours?Caramel (200 gm in bag in container or BIC priced at Rs 100) and chocolate (200 gm BIC priced at Rs 100).

In addition, GSKCH launched Horlicks Lite in 2005 for diabetics and health-conscious adults and it comes in a 200-gm BIB priced at Rs 75 and a 500-gm jar, priced at Rs 160.

?We realised Horlicks was many things to many people,? explains Debarpita Banerjee, vice-president and client services director, JWT, the agency that has serviced the Horlicks account for over 55 years. ?After the 2003 repositioning, we were clear we wanted a more direct engagement with the kids and not through their mothers. We had to acknowledge that today?s kids know what they want to drink,? she adds.

From that day, children became the primary and mothers the secondary target for Horlicks. It also led to the genesis of the ?Pran Chanchal? (livewire children) concept that marked a clear communication divide between Junior Horlicks and general Horlicks.

Meanwhile the second strategy for staying ahead of the competition was to expand Horlicks equity in the HFD category to other ?solid? nourishment categories, such as biscuits, cereal bars and the ready-to-drink milk categories. According to Sen, ?We realised that there was a clear gap in the market for a biscuit specially designed for toddlers.?

The outcome was Junior Horlicks biscuits. Fortified with vitamins (B1, B2 and Niacin) and containing no added flavours or artificial preservatives, these are targeted at children between two and five years of age and come in five animal shapes and two variants?chocolate and butter. The product is priced at Rs 10 and Rs 35 for 35 gm and 125 gm respectively.

Taken together, GSKCH India launched four new products in three months?Eno Mausambi, Junior Horlicks Biscuits, Horlicks NutriBar and Chilldoodh?the last two marking the company?s entry into two new categories, the Rs 8-10 crore cereal bar market and the Rs 40 crore ready-to-drink milk category, where Amul and Nestle control 25% to 30% share, according to various market sources.

The NutriBar launched in February 2009 has an edge. It reportedly packs in 11 vital nutrients and iron while contributing just 114 in calories?an ideal snack for weight-conscious adults. This is currently being hawked in three flavours?Choco Crispy (30 gm for Rs 15), Cereal n Milk (30 gm for Rs 15) and Nuts n Raisins (30 gm for Rs 18).

Chilldood in 200 ml pack, priced at Rs 17, is also fortified with vitamins and calcium and is set to be sold at modern retail formats, self-service stores and stand-alone fruit juice centres. It is available in four flavors?Choco Dude, Caf? Stud, Kesar Punk and Yo Mango.

About the communication challenge before Horlicks, Banerjee says, ?It?s easy when you are a niche brand. But when you hold a 40% plus share in a category, you have to keep everyone happy and make sense to all. That can be a little tricky.?

In addition, making science accessible to lay consumers can be challenging. ?However, with GSKCH?s deep roots in the pharmaceutical industry, it was easy to draw expertise from various disciplines,? says Sen, adding, ?There may be a lot of irresponsible players in this market, but we are certainly not one of those. We adhere to global standards and we invest in basic research.?

Helping GSKCH India in this are many specialised agencies that develop all its content, drawn from scientifically valid, peer-reviewed research. For the ?Clinically Proven? campaign, Horlicks won the GSK Global Pyramid Award in 2008 for making the ?Best Use of Science?. Also helping the brand equity is GSKCH?s ?healthy? media spend?12-13% of its annual sales, that?s been hiked by 2%-3% in 2009, according to Sen. The media mix includes television (95%), followed by print, radio and digital.

?Digital may be a good medium for customer engagement, but in our kind of business reach and scale are more important,? asserts Sen.