Brands that anticipate future trends are also the most successful

Tell us the story of the birth of the One Two Three brand within the Hemofarm company?
Hemofarm has a very wide range of products, and we cover almost all existing pharmaco-therapeutic groups both in food supplements and in medicinal products. However, when it comes to vitamins and minerals, we had a very large number of different brands, so this category was an excellent candidate to reorganize and simplify. We've concluded that starting from scratch is the best approach. When it comes to supplements, consumers know themselves and their pharmacists best, and we wanted to make navigating that category much easier. We sat down and started collecting all available data.

When is the right time for the birth of a new brand within the company?
The right time to launch a new brand is when the need arises. In our case, it was the desire to put our supplements under one umbrella brand, which will facilitate our communication towards the consumers and help them navigate their choices. Of course, market data was very valuable to us in all this. We analysed the market in Serbia, but we also used all available data from other European markets. Our desire was to offer the market something better than what it currently has, so we did not limit ourselves to the sales data and information we had in Serbia.

To what extent are thorough market and consumer research the key preliminary steps to creating a successful brand? Can research be wrong?
Research is not enough, we wanted to look into the future and predict some trends. Research is important, but it should always be supplemented with vision and forecasting of future trends. Brands which anticipate future trends are also the most successful ones.

Why companies decide to launch a new brand when there are existing - very successful ones, especially when we talk about the pharmaceutical industry?
We wanted to be even better in this category. That's why we decided to launch a completely new brand, to make a big step forward, and we needed a new brand platform because it's completely different from everything we've done so far. We didn't want to adapt the existing brands, we wanted to launch something completely new. Two years passed from the first idea to the launch of the brand. Creating this brand was a very complex process, because we started from zero. All those steps were very demanding, especially considering that the pharmaceutical industry is very demanding in terms of regulatory requirements.

The design and name of the new product, in this case food supplement – do they affect the success of the brand in the market and in what way?
We monitor our own rhythm every day, from our heart rate to the number of steps we take. And our biorhythm is divided into three parts of the day - morning, noon and evening. Then there are three basic pillars of health - healthy diet, healthy physical activity and quality sleep. The very name of the brand came from this very concept of following a healthy rhythm of life, which is very individual for each of us. One Two Three was developed locally, and as Hemofarm is part of the STADA group which operates globally, many other markets are already interested in it. Therefore, communication can also be applied globally.
When it comes to design, in addition to wanting the product to be user friendly, we saw the need to help people navigate their choices through different product categories. Each colour represents a specific product category and covers the basic needs for which people use supplementation - for more energy during the day, for better immunity, for balance, for better sleep. With the help of colours, we tried to clearly communicate the brand advantages, while the glass packaging is a more environmentally friendly option, which provides the best stability to the product.

One Two Three empowers, educates, and inspires us to actively create daily life in a rhythm that suits us. How should we communicate to bring closer to consumers a product that helps them to live healthier and more active lives?
The communication of our brand starts with the packaging itself. Even if you haven't heard of One Two Three, when you see it on the pharmacy shelf, you can tell what the product is for. We wanted to show in our communication that Ivana Španović and Boriša Simanić are not only athletes, but like most of us, they have their daily tasks. With the campaign, we are mostly focused on digital channels of communication, and we will also be active at the point of sale, because pharmacists are the key link where many consumers are advised on how to best choose their supplement.

Source: Marketing mreža magazine