Cashing in on consumers' fancy, while most manufacturers of personal care products are launching more and more herbal products, the Bangalore-based Himalaya Drug Company, a leader in herbal health care, is shaking off its traditional appearance to look more fashionable and trendy. In a strategic move the company today announced re-christening of "Himalaya Ayurvedic Concepts" to "Himalaya Herbals".

Under this umbrella brand, Himalaya has now re-launched its entire range of personal care products -32 of them - varying from shampoos to foot creams. The new Himalaya Herbals packs have been distinctively designed and packaged to augment the brand personality with contemporary international look. While there is no change in the product and pricing, the company has introduced a few new products and a few variants of existing products in skin care and in shampoos. New pack sizes have been introduced starting at smaller quantities to induce trials, going up to large sizes (e.g. 400 ml in shampoo), offering economy to the consumer. Speaking at the launch function Mr. Soumitro Banerji, Business Head Personal Care Products, said "The new look would enhance brand value and enable us to compete with the best brands in both domestic and international markets". He expects that with the new contemporary look, Himalaya's personal care range will be able to attract younger consumers to the goodness of herbal products in a big way. In a major departure from its earlier promotions where Himalaya emphasised on "Ayurveda", the promos for the new range will underplay the herbal part of it. This is because, the company thinks, "Himalaya" name stands for "Herbal" in consumers' mind and hence no need to re-establish that. The personal care division grossed a total turnover of Rs.60 crore in the year 2002-03 witnessing 33 per cent growth over the previous year. With the new launch Banerji expects the business to grow faster.