The Success Story of Horlicks - Big Brain Magazine
While Horlicks is a brand with a huge heritage and 140-year-old history, it is only strong in a few countries and gets its bulk sales from India. Within the country, those who have studied the brand and its journey, see South and East India as its main markets. Over the years, it has defied changing consumer preferences, withstood generations, evolved and continued to grow here.
India may be a key market, but the story of Horlicks began in the UK, when it was invented by two British-born men, William Horlick (1846-1936) and his brother James (1844-1921) from Gloucestershire, England. As a website dedicated to Horlicks says, James was a chemist, working for a company that made dried baby food. William, the younger brother, had emigrated to America in 1869 and James decided to join him in Chicago in 1873. That same year, they started their own company (J&W Horlicks) to make a malted milk drink. They called their product 'Diastoid' and their advertising slogan read: 'Horlick's Infant and Invalids Food'.
