The cover of journalist and documentary filmmaker Ramya Ramamurthy’s new title carries a vintage matchbox brand that’s available to this day. Superior Light is manufactured by the Sattur Original Match Company. Founded in 1933 by V Rajamoney Nadar, it guarantees “a sure strike for every stick”. Aptly enough, Ramamurthy’s book titled, Branded in History: Fresh Marketing Lessons from Vintage Brands, looks at businesses that thrived in colonial India, and struggled to transition to Independent India. “Some [brands] like Superior Light have lasted to this day, but others were not as lucky.”

Lux soaps, Jabakusum hair oil, Woodward’s Gripe Water, Atlas Cycles, Dalda, Mafatlal Textiles—these evergreen brands have immortalised themselves by capitalising on emerging trends for almost a hundred years. Mumbai-based Ramamurthy says that they can teach modern-day brands a thing or two about surviving in a market that is in constant flux. “Their marketing strategies were innovative for their time. They made their mark in an era bookended by two historic markers of Independence—1857 and 1947. This was when India’s middle class was on the rise, and in my book, I trace the products this segment favoured, including the introduction and evolution of entire categories like soaps, biscuits, pharma, beauty, steel, tobacco, paints, shipping, and banking.”