Blue or Red? While Neo had to choose a 💊 it might as well have been chikki 😅
I landed in Lonavala on Saturday for a monsoon getaway but it might as well have been called Maganlal Nagar.
Here’s what I found - a ₹450 crore annual sweet empire splashed across every stall and kiosk, every one proudly wearing the “Maganlal” badge. Problem is, less than ₹10 crore of that actually goes to the original family business, based on my research.
Let’s time travel a bit.
In the 1880s, amid the misty hills of Khandala, Bhivrajji Agarwal began serving jaggery and nuts on teak leaves to weary railway workers. His son, Maganlal, turned that humble treat into a beloved ritual > packaged for train travelers, with a name as crisp as the sweet itself: “Chikki.” A name born not of marketing, but memory 👏
Only problem, he didn’t protect it 🙈 Today, a solitary store with a blue logo across from the train station serves as homage to the original enterprise that transformed an act of hospitality into an iconic Indian souvenir.
Imagine building a fortress of goodwill for 120 years only to discover you’ve left the back gate wide open. Tourists buy “Maganlal Chikki” by the kilogram, blissfully unaware they’re fueling copycats who didn’t spend a single rupee on branding or R&D.
You can spend decades shaping perceptions, logos, packaging, jingles even get featured in travel guides but if you shrug off IP protection, you’re basically handing over your brand and 450 cr to someone else’s stalls.
Marketers and founders, take note.
Next time you’re drafting that brand book OR pitch deck, add a slide titled “Lock It Down.” TM registrations, renewal dates, cease-and-desist templates treat them as non-negotiables. Because if you don’t, someone else will usurp your business faster than you can say “iconic brand” 🤷♂️
Big lesson from Lonavala, a brand isn’t just about the buzz, it’s also the IP you create and can defend.
