A recent news item announcing the demise of Dr. C.K Rajkumar of Velvette Shampoo fame caught my eye. It brought back memories of my long association with Rural marketing.
As
a guest faculty in Rural marketing at Management Institutes across the country,
I would always devote a class to the
sachet revolution which had made a huge impact on rural marketing. It was to open the rural markets in a big way
to all FMCG companies for their products in the eighties.. making it possible
for a poor villager to buy expensive brands of daily consumables like soaps,
shampoos etc. in small packs at prices he could afford.
Unlike urban folks who bought their provisions
on a monthly basis, a farmer who got his
salary for his services every week-end, would buy the items to last for a day
or a week. He
bought goods in small portion packs. No wonder in the pre sachet days in the Seventies,, during my field visits, I would
notice the village shop keeper,
splitting the popular Lifebuoy soap into
six pieces and sell each piece at a price which was a little more than the
price of one sixth piece- satisfying a
customer demand and at the same time making extra money for himself.
After
a brief introduction to the sachet concept, when I asked the students to name the person who
invented the sachet pack, invariably the
answer would be either C.K Rajkumar or
his younger brother C.K.Ranganathan, the current CMD of Cavin Care which
markets the popular Chik Shampoo. I
would tell them that it was neither
C.K.Rajkumar nor C.K.Ranganathan but their Baap
(Pithaji)), Chinni Krishnan, based
in Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, who
introduced the sachet concept to the Indian market. Much before the
multinational companies even woke up to
the benefits of the sachet idea.
Chinni
Krishnan, was an agriculturist who was
also into pharmaceutical business. He used
to get perturbed by seeing poor children
with unkempt hair walking on the streets. He dreamt of a day when a common man
would be able to enjoy whatever a rich man enjoys, He often used to say, 'Whatever I make, I want the coolies
and the rickshaw pullers to use. I want to make my products affordable to
them,'.
In
those days talcum powders were packed in
tin containers and priced high. He repacked the contents in
smaller packs, containing 100 gm,
50 gm and 20 gm and sold them at a cheaper price. He did the same with Epsom
salt. He was confident that even liquid items
could be packed in sachets.
How did Chinni Krishnan first develop the sachet? He first
modified a machine that sealed PVC folders and then took a transparent hose
pipe that was used to water plants. He sealed the transparent plastic at one
end and filled it with water, and then sealed it at the other end. The first
experiment was not successful. He tried alternative materials using the same
idea until he got the right product.
Thus the sachet idea was born. He packed hair oil, honey and shampoo in the
sachets. These were the first three products that he sold in
sachet packs, in and around Cuddalore.
Chinni Krishnan was a great innovator, but a poor marketer. Selling
products in sachets was
his mission and he used to tell his sons that 'this is going to be the product of the
future`. Unfortunately he did not live
up to see his dream come true.
Chinni Krishnan died in
1979 at the relatively young age of 48, a couple of years after he got into sachet business. When he
died, it was discovered that he had taken a bank loan of Rs 2 lakhs from the State Bank of India and the bank
threatened to auction the family house which was mortgaged to the bank, if the
loan was not repaid. Though they had no
knowledge of the business, in order to
save the family house from the bank, his eldest son Rajkumar , a Doctor and his second son Ashok Kumar, a lawyer by
profession resigned their jobs to take over and run the business. They introduced Velvette
Shampoo in a sachet pack which
they sold at Rs 2 a sachet. The credit for making Velvette Shampoo a famous brand must go to Dr.Rajkumar As the business started picking up he took marketing help from Godrej Soaps to reach markets not only in India but also abroad. While it
was Dr.Rajkumar who made his father`s dream come true initially, today it is Chinni Krishnan`s younger son, C K Ranganathan, the Chennai
based Chairman and Managing Director of CavinKare, who has shown the world
that it is possible to beat the multinationals even in the most difficult
market of fast moving consumer goods. Though he was not academically well
qualified like his brothers, the
entrepreneurial spirit which he inherited from his father made him break away from
the family business very early because
of a difference he had with his brothers over
how the business should be run. He started his own company Beauty Products and started selling the now famous Chik Shampoo at Rs 1/- a sachet. It
was directly in competition with Velvette shamapoo. Interestingly
the name `Chik`was coined by him using letters from his father`s name
Chinni Krishnan`.
He was to take the brand Chik to great heights
using interesting promotional ideas and concentrating on rural markets, Within a couple of years Chik overtook Velvette and became the
numero uno shampoo brand in South India. The success of Chik motivated
Ranganathan to diversify into other
fields like dairy, personal and
professional care, food, snacks and beverages with brand names like Chik, Nyle, Karthika and Cavin
all marketed under Cavin Kare, the new name of his company. With a turnover nearing Rs 1500
crores Cavin Kare is today one of
the leading players in the FMCG segment
in India with headquarters in Chennai. Chinni Krishnan would have been really proud of his youngest son`s achievements.
While
the inspiring success story of
Ranaganathan & CavinKare has been well documented and Ranganathan has won
every possible industry award that he
could get, his father , the original innovator of the sachet was never recognised
for his revolutionary concept until recently.
Your Story.com, a definitive platform started in 2008, recognises
eminent men and women who made a difference
in their chosen vocations. The Legend of Disruption award was one of the key
highlights of the Your Story Disruptors Tamil Nadu 2018 event. For
the first time, late Chinni Krishnan, who invented the sachet, was posthumously
conferred with an award for his invention. The award was received by his four sons at a
glittering function in Chennai.
A well deserved and long overdue recognition for a man whose
invention not only revolutionised rural
marketing but has penetrated even urban markets so much so that every
conceivable product, not necessarily restricted only to cosmetics and toiletries,
is now available in sachet packs. I am a
regular user of Rs 3/- pack of Bru instant coffee.
In retrospect it is with a sense of pride that we should remember
Chinni Krishnan, for the revolutionary
sachet idea, Like Karsanbhai Patel of
the Nirma detergent fame, Chinni Krishnan was also a pioneer who proved
the theory that anyone, irrespective of his economic status or background can come up with new ideas which can create a disruption in the market
place.
|
This
article has appeared in the Madras Musings issue dt.1-15,January,2021 |
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