We need to understand the culture, traditions & needs of customers: Sandeep Verma, Bayer

The fifth edition of the e4m Health & Wellness Marketing Conference, held on August 1 in Mumbai, saw an insightful fireside chat between Sandeep Verma, Country Head - India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka Consumer Health, Bayer, and Dr Annurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-In-Chief- BW Businessworld and e4m. They exchanged notes on ‘The Interplay of Culture and Wellness: Embracing Diversity in Global Health’.

Starting the conservation, Dr Batra asked Verma about his thoughts on what wellbeing means to him to which Verma replied saying, “Well-being and self-care is just being kind to yourself, that's the principle I follow in life. If you are taking care of yourself, self-care is at the top of the mind, you're just being kind to yourself. And today, we are so busy in our daily lives, that we forget to do that. We think about everything around us, everyone around us, but us!”.

Talking about the core principles of wellbeing that Bayer Consumer Health embraces, Verma said, “In South Asia, we were setting up during Covid, just 3 years back. During the setting up phase in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, things that we tried to identify was how is the culture of this country and what are the traditional practices of this country and how can they impact the health and wellness of customers in that region”.

“The first thing we do when we enter a country, weather its India, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, is that we try and understand the culture and the tradition. What’s common amongst these three countries, is they all have a very strong traditional medicine practice. India has Ayurveda, Sri Lanka has something very similar to Ayurveda, Bangladesh has the Unani system of medicine, this has a very strong role to play. So, understanding of culture and then trying to see how you can fit your product to the consumers, would be the way forward”, he added.

When asked about the emerging health and wellness trends, Verma said, “The silver lining in the Covid cloud that came to India was a huge recognition for this word called ‘immunity’, on which preventive healthcare was self-care is based. Post Covid, developing countries like India and many others, started understanding the importance of preventive health care, which has shaped the entire health care industry”, he said.

“Some of the other big trends that have come from the West, are the demand for personalized nutrition and personalized health care regime. Also, a lot of other people are seeking and demanding healthcare products that are tailored to their needs. In terms of trends, preventive healthcare has become strong, people are opting for personalised healthcare and seeking vegetarian options now”, he added.

Verma highlighted another interesting trend that Indians are now seeking ‘Made in India’ products and are not willing to buy foreign products. “The trend now is that people are seeking local products in India, which had a big impact on us. So, keeping this demand in mind, 100% of Bayer consumer health products are made in India”, he added.

Talking about how Bayer implements strategy in different regions of India using digital and AI, Verma said, “We have divided India into clusters on the basis of language, culture, and food preferences and we personalise our strategies using digital media. With the digital platforms available today, you can tailor your message and send it to every single city within the same state in a language with that consumer can understand. “We use AI to automate and augment a lot of stuff that we do which helps us in segmenting and clustering the country better, and then tailor-making the messages for customers”, he said.

Concluding the impressive fireside chat, Dr Batra said that the wisdom of the past is being brought upfront by companies like Bayer Consumer Health by providing solutions to its customers.