Whatever the definition you swear by, there is no denying that this six-letter word has moved centre stage in Indian Marketing. Let us take a quick look at the body, mind and consciousness of this opportunity.

The actual trends
There are two subterranean motivating facilitators of the greater awareness of health.
The era of real competition in every field of life has forced individuals into an artificial lifestyle. Add to this the choking level of urbanisation. India leads the world in life-style related conditions like hypertension, strokes etc. So there is a need for Indians to include change in diet and regular exercise to counterbalance these potentially fatal diseases.

Thus, one motivation is “I must be healthy so that I can fulfill my duties towards others, as well as continue to succeed in my career”.

The second facilitator is the death of chronological age. Indians have decided that getting married is not the terminal event in their lives. You need to continue looking good not only while you are in college, where the mating dances are at their peak, but even after marriage. Growing old gracefully is no longer virtue. More and more Indians want to be, or at least want to look like Amrish Puri in a Pepsi TVC wearing a T-shirt with ‘18 till I die’ words imprinted on it.

Thus, the second motivation is “I must be healthy so that others see me as younger, attractive, non-ageing”

These twin facilitators fuel the muscular growth of health clubs, the head-over-heels rise in yoga institutes, the explosion of laughter clubs, the inflation in the number of middle-aged men and women grinding away fat on their morning walk.
These two different motivations themselves carve out two different options of brand spaces as well as target groups, and provide us with at least one new perspective on our market opportunities.

Before that, it would be worthwhile examining one fundamental issue.

Your brand space vis-à-vis health: Relevant or irrelevant?
Most marketers have realised that a brand grows when they find a way of connecting its core with a rising consumer trend. The logic is simple: New consumers with new attitudes become part of your target segment, and if your brand does not connect with them, they move on to other brands. Your core of loyal consumers continues to shrink till it disappears.

For instance, Fair & Lovely recently abandoned its ‘marriage-as-the-full-stop-to-a-woman’s-life’ belief and latched on to ‘a daughter-is-as-good-as-a-son’ belief – with good results. (Even though the jury is out on what came first, the blind adoration of the fair skin by Indians, or the cream that promised that fair skin within weeks!)
On the other hand, most brands that are moribund are those that did not bother to prove how their core connects with the current trend.

For instance, among toothpastes, Forhans had the strongest association with strong gums in the oral health area. But it seems to have done very little to connect to the emerging social trends among toothpaste users.
Apply this hypothesis to other categories. LGs core may be Technology, but it has connected, sometimes in an extremely convoluted way, to health. Its fridges keep food so fresh, kids who eat it remain healthy, its TVs boost your immune system once you are exposed to their rays (amazing but true!) and its microwaves help you maintain a healthy figure!
On the other hand, the core of Horlicks was always very close to Health. It was always an ideal health supplement. But it has latch on to the social trend of health via the “Resistance” route, because this aspect of health is more relevant today.
So as a marketer wanting to launch new products, irrespective of whether your brand core is in the health space, remember to connect to a health trend relevant today. Being aware of this relationship will avert a problem like in the case of a Forhans.

Connecting to the consumer trends of health: The options in India
Most marketers tend to look at horizontal segmentation by price and or demographics by habit. Unfortunately, in today’s markets, this kind of segmentation is likely to provide diminishing returns.

First, because in most categories, acceptable quality is now being delivered even at low prices. The second and more important reason is that demographic segments hide more differences than they reveal.

Let us examine if they are innovative ways of segmenting the health market.
A vertical segmentation using psychographics, beliefs, attitudes shared by all Indians, could well fetch richer dividends.

If we now return to the two trends we referred to, telegraphed as a centripetal “I must be healthy so I can fulfill my duties towards others, as well as continue to succeed in my career” and a centrifugal “I must be healthy so others see me as younger, attractive, non-ageing”, we can see the beginning of opportunities in these two psychographic segments.

For instance Dettol soap, Horlicks, Moov use this appeal in some of their TVCs. The protagonist, the housewife, says “If I don’t look after the family, who will?” The Dettol soap husband and child win at office and school because they are healthier.
Imagine then your new product (eg: a meditation kit) helping young executives to suffer less from stress, or a new product (eg: a herbal drink) helping students to cope with mind-grinding levels of academic studies.

You could also connect with the other motivation, and position the same meditation kit now for mothers who want their faces not to show their age or the herbal drink for men, whose LoC around the waist has gone awry.

The bigger opportunity: 5,000 years old
To me though, one opportunity in health that has not been tested out is the opportunity related to the deeper beliefs of Indians. This too calls for vertical segmentation, since whether you are SEC A or D, whether literate or illiterate, these beliefs are commonly held, in some form or the other.

And this again is bound to the larger social trend of Indians returning to their roots. I am referring to the beliefs born out of ayurvedic concepts like hot (born of the sun) or cold (born of the moon). China has a similar yin and yang divide, but India then simplified matters further by adding a third division. Thus we have saatvic, tamasic and rajasic gunas or qualities. These are associated with any and all matter in the universe: Mango is a saatvic fruit, watermelon is a tamasic fruit. Gold is a saatvic metal, lead is tamasic, and so on.

Even if you do not wish to get into educating your audience, most Indians will agree that jal jeera is cooling, and mustard oil is ‘heaty’. You will discover consensus on hot and cold properties.

Imagine now a whole host of products that connect this view of the universe to health. Tamasic pimples being attacked by saatvic creams? Or a rajasic (essentially active and hyper) executive drinking a saatvic herbal drink rather than tea to start his day? A housewife applying a cooling version of a face cream in the summer to maintain her youth?

Sounds far-fetched? If TVs can actually position themselves as improving your eye-sight and consumers buy the argument, why would an existing belief sound far-fetched?

Summary hypothesis
One: Irrespective of where the core of your brand lies (in health or outside) it is useful to connect it to a relevant trend.

Two: There are two big motivations that drive the market.

Three: Vertical segmentation is likely to fetch richer and easier dividends than horizontal.

Four: Try innovative positions linked to a huge sea of beliefs rather than blindly adopt positions from other markets.