The Hindu Business Line : Dharmendra to endorse Emami's new chyawanprash

EMAMI Ltd, a member of the Rs 700-crore Emami Group of Companies, has roped in Bollywood veteran Dharmendra, as its newest celebrity brand ambassador, to endorse its newest health product in the market — "Sona Chandi Kesar Chyawanprash" with dryfruits. The company has set a target of making Sona Chandi Chyawanprash into a Rs 40-crore brand during 2005-06.

Talking to Business Line on the new Chyawanprash variant, Mr Aditya Agarwal, Director, Emami Group, said the new offering in the Chyawanprash range has been fortified with the superior nutritional power of saffron and dryfruits like pistachio, kaju, badam and kismis, with the taste and aroma being lifted by the addition of extra `kesar.' All four dryfruit varieties had health-boosting nutritional qualities, he added.

Mr Agarwal said Dharmendra, who now joins the elite list of Emam Chyawanprash endorsers like Sourav Ganguly, Sunny Deol and Shah Rukh Khan, would feature in Sona Chandi Kesar Chyawanprash commercials, expected to hit the media firmament soon.

Explaining the choice of Dharmendra as yet another brand ambassador for the Emami range of health products, Mr Manish Goenka, Director, Emami, said, "There is great synergy between the persona of the brand and the movie star, who is reckoned as a fitness freak in the industry - a perfect blend of a healthy body and agile mind."

Outlining the basic brand promo strategy for the new product, priced at Rs 160 for a 500 gms pack, Mr Goenka said, "In a short span of six years, Sona Chandi has emerged as one of the leading players in the Chyawanprash segment, and now we plan to build on our competencies to make this brand larger and also customising it for larger audiences." He said the launch of a kesar variant was a big step in this direction.

Pointing out that the company's Real Gold Challenge for Sona Chandi Kesar Chyawanprash continues, Mr Goenka explained that anyone who proves that the product does not contain real gold would get one kg of gold from the company. The Sona Chandi product is a formulation based on research carried out by the Himani Ayurveda Science Foundation set up by the company.