Ayurveda, elevated to global luxury

In 2008, when Forest Essentials first caught the attention of Estée Lauder, its turnover was a modest Rs 50 crore.

Pradyumna Nag, founder, Prequate Advisory, says the brand has managed to occupy a white space in premium Ayurveda, scaling up from a niche interest to affordable luxury. “Choosing to compete on differentiation and channel as against communication is more expensive in the short term but usually sets you up well for the long term,” says Nag. He says there are lessons for marketers building brands in the luxury space. “Treat product and experience as your primary media. Carefully curate the places in which you show up. A single, perfectly run flagship or a handful of high signal partnerships can build more trust than a large, messy distribution footprint.”

Creating luxe appeal

Most luxury brands around the world spend less on advertising and rely more on experience and word of mouth in order to maintain their positioning.

Forest Essentials’ most distinct brand assets are its fragrance and sensorial product experience, says Unmisha Bhatt, co-founder & chief strategy officer, Tonic Worldwide. “The real secret for Forest Essentials was never just Ayurveda; it was the combinations. Forest Essentials gave you rose and cardamom, oudh and green tea, pomegranate and Kerala lime,” she says, adding that Indian heritage, when treated with rigour and depth, rather than as a marketing veneer, can become a globally differentiating asset.

Rutu Mody Kamdar, founder, Jigsaw Brand Consultants, points out that the biggest takeaway for Indian beauty brands is to view cultural depth as a competitive moat. For years, Indian brands treated their Indianness as a constraint to global appeal. “Forest Essentials did the opposite, by leaning deeper into Indianness and classic Ayurvedic formulations. That specificity is precisely what made it globally legible,” says Mody Kamdar. She also credits the brand for investing in something that many overlook — the product experience itself. “The store is the ad, and the packaging is the campaign. The hotel bathroom is the media plan,” she notes, referring to the 400-odd luxury hotel properties in India that have the brand’s personal care products in their bathrooms.

Many Forest Essentials loyalists discover the brand in an Oberoi or a Taj room and the brand makes its way into their lives through experience rather than advertising.

According to Ajimon Francis, MD India, Brand Finance, the brand strengthened its place in the luxury beauty market by sourcing authentic ingredients and maintaining its premium price points. “It has been available only through its stores, making it difficult to get while limiting its spread. This supports premium pricing. Its first store in Khan Market at Delhi itself was a statement,” says Francis, referring to the city’s most expensive high-street.

It was the Hyatt chain in Delhi that first placed the brand’s products in its rooms before other luxury hotel chains like Oberoi and Taj followed suit. In other words, it was as much about the context as it was about the product quality that helped build credibility, adds Shekhar Suman, co-founder of Brandshark. He notes that smart sampling in high-trust environments like upscale hotels, salons, spas and curated retail spaces also built equity for the brand.

What also worked well is its restraint in expansion. “The brand did not dilute itself through discounting, overexposure or frantic expansion. That discipline helped preserve margin, aura and credibility. Globally too, it didn’t try to westernise itself. It translated Ayurveda for international consumers without flattening its Indian identity. That balance is what made it travel,” explains Suman.

The brand has 175 stores currently across India and some international markets like the UK and some Gulf nations.