There was a time when there was a yoga teacher who would hold camps across the country and teach people yoga. Baba Ramdev taught Patanjali Yoga, a form of Yoga that is attributed to Rishi Patanjali.
Over a period of time, thousands started to flock to his yoga camps. Initially these were free but later sections were carved out where the rich could buy a spot closer to the guru. As time progressed and as the reach of satellite television increased, Ramdev’s popularity grew by leaps and bounds.
He became famous. Politicians started to flock to him. The rise of popularity must have brought many people closer to him and they might have suggested that he makes hay while the sun shines!
So, Baba Ramdev went with the flow of wind. Often, when we want to promote something over an existing solution, we have to deride the existing solution. For Baba, deriding allopathy to promote ayurved became a natural path. He used his mass gatherings to cast aspersions on allopathic medicine and started promoting his own medicines made from herbs and rare plants.
Finding success there, he launched an entire line of ayurvedic products, including bathing soaps and toothpastes. He was now running in competition with other Fast Moving Consumer Goods companies. Suddenly, thousands of stores selling his products mushroomed all over the country.
The heady smell of success so enamored him that he ventured into clothing too. The clothes that he once derided, like jeans and torn jeans, were now available under the Patanjali brand!
The enterprise took off, primary sales (sales from the company to its distributors) grew by 100% year or year. The rise was meteoric.
Then reality hit the markets. His products were not really as good as they were claimed to be. There was no evidence that the Desi Ghee that his company produced was all from cows from his own stable. Stores that had opened started to close down as the company did not have a return policy. The business started to shrink.
It is easy to get carried away when one is successful and in that quest for growth, one tends to give up on a core value, integrity. Once people realize that you are no longer having any integrity, they equate you with just other businessmen and your unique selling proposition just disappears.
Baba Ramdev and his company is still doing good business. Question is for how long will the business survive given that it no longer has any USP or the brand is seen as having integrity.
