In 1970’s, people used to have sqashes in their freezers and they used to serve it chill to guests at home. A large amount of the squash is Sugar, which accounts to sixty percent of the cost. So, a keen observer thought of transferring the sugar costs to the end consumer and deliver the product at a very cheap price compared to the squashes. This idea gave birth to a revolutionary product called Rasna.

Rasna is priced at six rupees which is almost one third of the cost of the squashes and syrups popular at that time. Rasna wanted to target everybody and leave nobody. But to target all the population is a big challenge, because it is not easy to satisfy everybody. Rasna wanted to target people with its value for money. It released TV commercials emphasising on the value for money, by saying you get two bottles or 32 glasses of Rasna with just one pack. One of the important things in this advertisement is that the price is not mentioned in the commercial. This is deliberately done so that consumers don’t preceive it as a cheap product and when they actually go to the store with a high-price in mind, the low price creates a vow feeling. It was successful and things went well for Rasna.

The Rasna Girl

After a successful launch of the product, Rasna wants to grow in the market. Rasna found out through research that the mother in the family is the decision maker and the kids of the age 3 to 5 years are the influencer in the family. So, Rasna wants to target the mother and 3 to 5 year old kids.  So the birth of the first mother and kid association commercial. This is the famous advertisement of the Rasna girl – Ankita Zaveri.

And, then comes the most famous ‘I love you Rasna’ commercial of Ankita Zaveri.

Ankita Zaveri grew old

Rasna grew big in the market and had a market share of around eighty percent. Rasna wanted to even capture the tea and coffee market and released commercials where Rasna is used as a relief drink for Daddys’ coming from office. But soon Rasna is into problems because the most famous Rasna girl, Ankita Zaveri, grew old and even lost her middle tooth. Rasna is into problems because any other girl in the commercials will bring comparisons, but Rasna finally went in with a new girl in the commercial and it is a big flop. People compared with the original Rasna girl and even said that the new girl is very dark and ugly.

Rasna did extensive research and found out that it would want to target a boy instead of a girl. For Rasna, this is a big transition in its image and so it did very carefully by even including a small girl, elder girl, and the boy, so that the risk of failure is a bit low.  With this things were okay for Rasna and Rasna pretty much consolidated its position in the market as the number one.  Slowly, Rasna started to bring in the Rasna boy into the commercials completely.

Thereafter, Rasna released several commercials targetting small kids with tattoos and genies, based on the inputs given by child psychiatrists about the psyche of children and what makes them happy. This is a perfect example how difficult it is to change the consumer perception. Even today Rasna is still associated with the Rasna girl – Ankita Zaveri.