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A father, a lost daughter and an immortal brand
After losing his daughter in a dreadful tragedy, a very stubborn father did not want to forget his daughter anyhow. With his spirit and hard work, he made his daughter famous all over the country. It was the year 1969 when a science graduated son of an ordinary farmer family was trying to make detergents by adding some substances in soda ash. One day, he succeeded and started making detergents in free time in the backyard of their small house.
The man was Karsanbhai Patel. He cycled around his neighbourhood and started selling detergent powder at a meagre price of three rupees. Good quality at low price made Karsanbhai's product hit immediately in the market and three years later, seeking bright opportunities, he quit his government job and jumped into it completely. The product was very close to Karsanbhai's heart, so he named the product 'Nirma' after the name of his late daughter Nirupama. Karsanbhai also shared a picture of his daughter on the packet as well as in TV commercials, and thus the face became famous all over the country.
Karsanbhai himself did not take any management degree, but today his lessons are taught in all management schools. At the age of 21, after doing B.Sc. Karsanbhai used to enjoy experimenting with chemicals as a lab technician. At first, Karsanbhai was a one-man army and he was doing everything from manufacturing to marketing.
Another reason for Nirma's success was its product quality which was similar to the top brand of the time - Surf and was worth at a very low price from the beginning. Karsanbhai had understood from the beginning that if you compensate the customer with a good quality product against the money he pays, the customer will certainly come back to you.
Since the beginning of the brand, Karsanbhai had already defined his customer segment. Surf was a premium brand at that time and was famous only in the top cities. Nirma paid attention to other small towns. The brand was quickly adopted by middle-class and lower middle-class customers and the company soon captured the market.
In the 80s, the small-scale company started in Ahmedabad and it was difficult to find vendors in the outskirts of the city. The brand was completely unknown and the shop-keepers were afraid of storing the product. To overcome these problems, Karsanbhai adopted a strong promotional technique and launched a memorable TV advertisement. This famous TV Jingle was – “washing powder nirma, detergent tikiya nirma”. After this ad, Nirma emerged as a strong brand and people started demanding Nirma powder in retail stores.
Nirma continuously increased its portfolio and under this, Nirma University was established in 2003. Today, Nirma has become a top brand. A small business started in memory of a daughter has turned into an empire with the hard work of Karsanbhai.
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