Brands that build India: Fevicol’s unbreakable bond

In 1959, Balvant Parekh and his brother Sushil were in the specialty chemicals business making pigment emulsions for textile printing. The market was difficult and the brothers saw an opportunity in a synthetic glue business.

At that time most carpenters in India were using natural glues from animal parts which took days to prepare. A synthetic glue was convenient, faster and less smelly.

“It took time and it was initially slow and difficult process but they persevered and they could see that gradually this is going to pick up and it was a great foresight on the part of that team where my father and his colleagues worked on this product and brand,” said Madhukar Parekh, chairman of Pidilite Industries.

Pidilite showed its shrewd marketing mind much before Fevicol became the brand that it is today. Realising that it had to win over carpenters from natural glues and existing synthetic glues, Pidilite directly targeted them.

The company made sure that Fevicol was stocked at retail stores instead of hardware stores, unlike competitors.

With the next phase of the brand-building came an enviable agency-client relationship. One where both are equal stakeholders and the agency has complete liberty to think out of the box.

The humour that makes the Fevicol ad so effective came in almost by accident. Piyush Pandey moved from client servicing to the creative account of Fevicol in 1987. With no brief from the client, he did little mass media advertising at the time he made a radio ad.

Advertising magic followed. Fevicol continued making some memorable TV commercials. The look and style have remained consistent — minimal dialogue, rusting or lower-income urban settings, catchy music, a brand packed shot with no product explanation and humour.

This cut across all strata and the agency found that Fevicol became a household name with close to 100 percent brand recall.