Sitting in the office next to his father’s bungalow in Alappuzha, Joseph Thayil scrutinises his account books, oblivious to the still summer afternoon air. With just a month to go for the monsoons, Thayil, who is the Director of John’s, one of the two umbrella manufacturing giants in Kerala, is busy with the brand’s 2019 range of products set to hit the market.
“This season, we have something exciting for kids as the Star Wars movie will release later this year. For adults we have something even more fun,” Joseph says, demonstrating samples of both umbrellas and proving his point with ease.
For over two decades now, John’s and Popy, founded by Jospeh’s cousin Davis Thayil, have been the undisputed umbrella royalty of Kerala. The two brands have been churning out the quirkiest of umbrellas, enjoying the lion’s share of the market (at least 70% together) with a turnover of more than Rs 100 crore each in recent years.
But how did the brothers convert the humble umbrella into an item which grabbed the fancy of an entire state? The answer is a fascinating tale of fierce rivalry, family prestige and ad campaigns so clever that they have stuck on as fond childhood memories of an entire generation.
The beginnings
It all began after the demise of their grandfather, umbrella tycoon Thayil Abraham Varghese, who founded the St George’s group in the 1950s. When Abraham Varghese passed away in 1968, his brand too followed suit with both his sons splitting up after working together for 20 years.
Two decades later, in 1995, Popy and John’s were born.
“Our brand was named after my younger brother, who was nicknamed Popy. He never spoke until the age of 8 and the only word he uttered was Popy – after his favourite candy Poppins. Despite brainstorming and coming up with several names, we found none were as good as Popy and we decided to go with it,” Davis says.
Within a year, both brands advertised their umbrellas on visual media with jingles and catchy ads. The musical ads became a game changer for them.
“Late 90s was when India was introduced to the idea of Punk. In 1996, we released ‘Mazha Mazha Kuda Kuda’, which went on to become a monster hit,” says Davis, explaining the origin of what has arguably been Popy’s most memorable ad campaign.
While the Popy song became popular with kids, John’s cleverly coined a term for rains and unleashed their ad campaign, titled Kunjanja.
“We called the rains Kunjanja and released an ad called ‘Kunjanja vanne’ (the rains have come). This caught on and the brand got a break,” Joseph says.
In the years that followed, Popy churned out hit jingles such as ‘Ayyappanta Amma’ and ‘Ente Mazhakkyu ente Popy,’ (My Popy for my rain) while John’s moved on to product based advertising.
“One of our earlier products for adults was called H2O Shake, which had FRP (Fibre reinforced plastic) ribs. So the campaign was called ‘Odiyilla Ashane’ (It will not break, Master) which described the strength of the ribs,” Joseph adds.
A household brand
While John’s enjoyed success with product ads, Popy further captured the kids market with exciting initiatives.
“We figured that children forgot about umbrellas post monsoons. So we decided to create a Popy Kids Club. This was a surprise hit with 8-10 lakh children signing up as members. The kids could dial our number and speak to our fictional ‘Popy Uncle’. We had set aside an entire team which pretended to be Popy Uncle and spoke to the kids,” Davis says laughing. The now defunct club helped the brand grow in popularity and get easily recognised, Davis believes.
The intense competition also led to designs that blew up the market, with the umbrellas getting crazier and fancier makeovers each year. Today, the duo boast of bridal umbrellas, soda bottle and cap umbrellas (umbrellas which look like bottles and bottle caps), GPS tracker and selfie stick umbrellas, and those with MP3 players attached to them!While John’s disrupted the market with their 5-fold umbrellas which fit into pockets but opened up to regular size, Popy responded with Nano, a much cheaper umbrella which did the trick in 3 folds. John’s then came up with Atom, a 5-fold umbrella which matched Popy’s price.
For the kids market, both firms have tie-ups with Walt Disney, Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Green Gold Animation (creators of Chhota Bheem) and other studios to produce umbrellas with their favourite characters.
Hat umbrellas, water gun, whistle and torch-fitted umbrellas are other add-on features that entice kids. John’s recently released LED umbrellas with Frozen, Spiderman and other characters which glow at the press of a button.
Today, both brands have products ranging anywhere between Rs 100 to Rs 6000, thanks to a reliable market they carved out for themselves. Both firms, now with several business interests, supply to a wide range of clients globally, with Popy even setting up factories in Dubai and China.
“One thing we don’t do anymore is compete on prices. We are both established brands now,” Joseph says.
Davis agrees and adds, “We now innovate for customer happiness, not just profits.”