Reliance sells Vimal, the face of their company

Reliance sells Vimal, the face of their company

“Reliance industries (RIL), India’s largest private sector company, has decided to sell its textiles business, including its iconic brand Only Vimal,” begins the second lead story in this morning’s Economic Times.

Anyone in advertising would remember, fondly, the communication for Vimal, in particular, the Only Vimal campaign. The campaign broke when India was still, largely, a single-channel nation, which meant concentrated viewership for all that was broadcast - and heightened attention for the commercials which appeared in the programs. With the quality of programming on Doordarshan varying from the terrible (Krishi Darshan) to the entertaining (Nukkad and Hum Log) to the iconic (Ramayan, Karamchand), the advertising was often of more value to the viewer than the content.

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The early eighties were still early days in Indian consumerism - and, consequently, in Indian advertising. The early eighties were also early days as far as investments in stock markets were concerned. The magic of Reliance was not yet born.

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Then came the advertising for Vimal, the polyester fabric that made both Vimal and Reliance household names. They were now more than names; they were brands.

This is what Vimal became by the mid 90s:

There was more that Vimal achieved. For Reliance, given their ambitions to tap the stock market for much needed investments, Vimal was the face that connected consumers to Reliance - a soft, appealing face.

Through Vimal and Reliance, Mudra, the communications company that Dhirubhai Ambani invested in to address his communications needs, India saw many advertising firsts. Vimal was the first to use international cricketers in their communications - both Vivian Richards and Allan Border appeared in Vimal TVCs. Reliance was the first Indian company to sponsor a big-ticket international sports event when they sponsored the ICC One day World Cup - the Reliance Cup (incidentally, this was the last time the World Cup’s naming rights were sold).

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To Mudra - the agency which, at the moment, is clearly on of the top of the heap, Vimal was where it all began.

“At Mudra it all began with Vimal sarees. Vimal was my firstborn and always came first,” wrote Subrata Bhowmick, creative director at Mudra in those heady, early days, in his contribution to Desi Dream Merchants, the memoirs of AG Krishnamurthy (AGK), the face of Mudra from 1980, when it started, to 2003.

AGK tells us how difficult a task it was to build Vimal, with Raymond’s their competitor in suitings and Garden in sarees. “All through my career, Vimal Suitings, Sarees and I have had two constant spurs on either side every time we slacked - Raymond was the spur for Suiting and Garden for Sarees. All it took was one stunning campaign from either of them, and my confidence would take a major blow,” he wrote.

To all those associated with building the brand that is Vimal, today will be a major blow, as Reliance sells not just another brand, but the brand that was, for two decades, the face of the monolith that was Reliance.