We intend to add another 5% market share to Manforce in the upcoming years, says Joy Chatterjee of Mankind Pharma

It takes a lot of effort to become the largest selling condom brand in a country where public talk of sex is still a taboo, said Joy Chatterjee, General Manager, Sales & Marketing, Mankind Pharma.

It should be noted that Manforce condoms from Mankind Pharma is one of the largest-selling brands in the category. The brand recently completed 15 years of business in India. It has a 36% unit-wise market share in India, which according to the brand is a long way ahead of its competitors.

Chatterjee spoke to BestMediaInfo.com about the brand’s journey and its marketing through the years. 

“It takes lots of time, courage and dedication to be the largest selling condom brand in a country like India where public talk of sex is still largely a taboo. We have faced many challenges in the beginning and we found it really difficult to sell a condom in India. Today, we are proud that the hard work put in by our team has made us the largest-selling condom brand in India,” said Chatterjee. 

The condom category was earlier accused of over-sexualising ads initially, however, Mankind changed its narrative to become a brand that spoke about contraceptives, sex education and becoming more socially responsible. 

“We have shifted our communication strategy to position ourselves as a socially- responsible brand. Since then, there is no looking back, we have been coming up with engaging content that has a hint of a social message and humour attached to it,” Chatterjee said. 

“Since the beginning, Manforce has spoken from a female’s lens and depicted a vast range of flavours and textures. With consistent media exposure and evolution in society, contraceptive discussion/acceptance has drastically improved over the years. We now see conversations happening across some of the most unconventional topics very openly,” he added.

Some notable social campaigns from the brand 

One of the notable campaigns from the brand was #ShutThePhoneUp back in 2017 which broadened people’s perspective of safe sex. The brand advised couples to not record their intimate moments on electronic devices. 

Along similar lines, in their 2018 initiative, #ShutThePhoneUp 2.0, the brand burst the bubble surrounding data security and also tried to teach people how to permanently delete data from a mobile phone. 

Its 2020 campaign, #YouAreNotAlone, aimed at educating people about the possible consequences of indulging in PDA in public places at a time when everyone has a phone and can record them. 

Another campaign titled #ProtectChildhood aimed at educating parents about keeping a tab on their child’s digital consumption and online habits. 

Focus on branded content and influencer marketing 

As the brand’s sales started picking up, it started to focus on Tier-I and Tier-II towns to drive conversations. They ventured into regional advertising through vernacular languages to connect with the markets beyond metros. 

According to Chatterjee, social media is a very critical platform, hence to grab the attention of the audience one needs to be very specific in the approach as the audience's interests and preference varies across the platforms.

For example, the audiences on Instagram invariably differ from those present on Facebook.

To reach the right audience, they curate platform-wise specific content and special campaigns which are meant for digital audiences only. 

He said that with such narrow targeting options and other advertising possibilities in the digital space like OTT and Influencer Marketing, definitely, the orientation with which you connect with your audiences has evolved for good. 

“Over time with the rapid digitisation happening in the country, we have been leveraging various social media and marketing tools to amplify our traction and engagement with the audience. Consumers today are very much aware and see any sponsored content with suspicion. By roping in influencers, the brand can tap on the trust and loyalty that the audience shares with the influencer. Given that the regional influencers have an impressive influence on the audience, they exercise much deeper connectivity with them which helps the brand in initiating conversation with their audience at a much better place. Along with this, we have kept a close tap on the trending topics on social media with the help of moment marketing which is an effective tool to actively engage with the consumers,” he added.

Future plans and business strategy 

Talking about the brand’s future plans, Chatterjee said, “In the near future, we are planning to launch more products under the sexual wellness category and we are also planning to introduce some interesting flavours for the youth which will be announced very soon. We have recently launched EPIC – A premium range of condoms from the house of Manforce.” 

“The brand is on a healthy trend and increasing trajectory, numbers look promising. We intend to add another 5% market share to our brand in the upcoming years,” he added. 

Currently, the brand wants to focus on keeping the leadership intact, retain the current customer's loyalty and focus on share gain from the competition. “Our long-term goal is to have more than 50% market share in the category with deep-rooted access and presence across all segments,” concluded Chatterjee. 

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