Prega News takes content route to reach smaller cities and rural, says Joy Chatterjee of Mankind Pharma

With its first content marketing campaign #HappyMothersDay, Prega News, the flagship product of Mankind Pharma, was able to increase its YouTube subscriber base by 1100%. The video that talked about the pre-pregnancy dilemmas of women and how the colleagues should behave with the pregnant working women in offices got 10 million views, almost double the target set by the brand. 

Mankind Pharma is among the leading advertisers on TV and print. The company is also investing strongly in digital advertising, including content marketing initiatives. 

Joy Chatterjee, AGM, Product Management Team, Mankind Pharma, told BuzzInContent.com in an interview that the company was focusing to increase the size of the pregnancy detection kit industry through content marketing initiatives such as building conversations online and making both the woman and the people in the ecosystem around her aware about the pre and post pregnancy phases a working woman goes through.

"With 70% market share that Prega News has, we're not chasing business growth but starting a conversation for a larger social good," Chatterjee said.

"We're also reaching out to tier II and III cities through YouTube videos," he said.

The company has now launched another video #YourSecondHome that talks about postpartum depression. Similar initiatives are being rolled out for the condom brand Manforce. 

Excerpts: 

The earlier film was about pre-pregnancy, this one about post-pregnancy. What was the thought process behind the new film? What next now and when?

With more than 70% market share in the category, we decided not to chase business growth but start a conversation for a larger social good. Prega News took up the responsibility to make employers (and the general public) understand the difficulties that a pregnant employee faces at her workplace. So, as a sequel to our corporate behaviour change effort, this time we wanted to speak to new moms making a comeback at work which led us to postpartum depression and the taboo attached to it. Surprising figures states – one in five new moms in India suffer from postpartum depression and most of them join back work having not completely recovered from it or aware that they are suffering from postpartum depression, making them prone to insecurity, irritability, loss in confidence and misunderstanding at the workplace. The current #YourSecondHome campaign brings this important issue to light and endeavours to turn corporates into support groups for women with postpartum depression. Surely there are many more topics which Prega News being a responsible brand will continue to bring to awaken the corporates and society at large.

How are these videos a part of your content initiative and driving consumers to your platform – yoursecondhome.co.in?

These videos are just a reflection of what we want to communicate largely to the general public to sensitise them about the needs and responsibilities of working mothers. We want #Yoursecondhome platform to become one standalone point wherein any working mother or a pregnant lady can get their answers to whatever difficulties they are facing.

How is #yoursecondhome helping the brand achieve its objective?

There is a steady increase in women employees in the corporate workforce of India. We observed that many a time, the organisation is not sensitive to handling the needs of its female employees. One such critical touchpoint is when the employee is pregnant and still continues to work and another is working mother who has joined back to the office, with a lot of responsibilities on her shoulder.

As a brand associated with pregnant women and motherhood, Prega News took up the responsibility to make employers (and the general public) understand the difficulties that a pregnant and working mother faces at her workplace and how employers can make her life a bit more comfortable. The success of the campaign was to be measured in the impact on people and their way of looking at the issue. The target was to spark a new conversation that just spreads through social media, broadcast media etc.

As we know, expecting parents look for a lot of content. What is your approach this segment?

Indeed this is a big segment to talk with. We have plans lined up this year. Soon they will be shared with you all.

The video has been done by ADK Fortune. Are they also maintaining the website or is there some other agency or is it done in-house?

The video is done by ADK but the credit for its amplification goes to our digital agency as well, which is Flamingo.

How has been the transition from advertising to content marketing and the difference in results?

With the advertising medium and our aggressive field force, we currently hold more than 70% market share in the category. Despite the tough competition and price war, ‘Prega News’ has been the undisputed leader in the category for many years. The category of ‘pregnancy detection kit’ is almost synonymous with the brand Prega News. Needless to say, the brand enjoyed trust and loyalty of millions of women.

A lot of brands think that agencies create good ads but not content marketing campaigns. Any plans to work with other content platforms and creators to do more of content work?

Yes absolutely, we would be happy to work with anyone who can take our initiative to the next level of change.

What are the other key content marketing initiatives that Mankind Pharmaceuticals has undertaken for Prega News? 

Apart from three campaigns of #yoursecondhome, recently we have also partnered with “She Sparks Awards” of the YourStory digital platform, wherein we are acknowledging women entrepreneurs who are mothers and along with that they are corporate leaders and changemakers, who are making an impact to the lives of people and businesses. By rewarding these women, we are extending our campaign #yoursecondhome to encourage these women to make their workplace comfortable for working mothers.

Are your content initiatives restricted to the digital space? If not, how much significance you give to digital vis-à-vis other platforms?

Not at all. We think a campaign does wonder only if it is replicated to all advertising mediums which a common man can access. Likewise, as I stated above, we partnered with SheSparks. A newspaper ad too was released recently on the same topic. Likewise, a campaign was live on OTT platform to capture the larger chunk of the audience.

Do you think you can take the content marketing route to reach out to the rural audience? What are your initiatives in that direction?

Yes absolutely, thanks to YouTube and good internet facilities that have come up recently. With the help of Youtube, we do such kind of targeting that we reach not only to A+ segment but we reach out to tier II and tier III cities as well. And also to talk to the rural audience, we have plans to conduct events in small towns wherein we will discuss all the issues faced by pregnant ladies or mothers out there.

Any success numbers from the previous work done as part of content marketing initiatives?

The previous #HappyMothersDay campaign went viral within the first few hours of release and reached 6.16 million views within a week. The target was set at five million views, but the film garnered more than 10 million views on YouTube. The brand witnessed more than 1100% increase in the subscriber base. On Facebook, the brand had more than 50 million views and interaction.

How is the category looking to content marketing as a stream?

The competitive brands have also started adopting the same route but either it is us or our competitor, we just want to bring change in society as a whole. Talking about us, so far we have succeeded touching the right chord of the audience.

Has Mankind planned to use content marketing for other brands as well?

Yes, we have been adopting social initiatives for our other flagship brand Manforce as well. #Shut the phone up is one example.