Mondelez India is increasing its focusing on driving penetration for the Gum, Candy & Beverages categories in the country. Amit Shah, Associate Director – Marketing (Gum, Candy & Beverages), Mondelez India talks about the marketing strategies being employed to take the portfolio to the next level
BY SAMARPITA BANERJEE
Q] Bournvita is completing 70 years in India. How has the brand and its communication evolved over the years?
Bournvita is a legacy brand and has been operating in the country for around 70 years now. A few old ads available online suggest that even Rabindranath Tagore used and benefitted from the brand, which is a legacy we are proud of. When the brand was launched in the 1930s-40s, it was considered a family drink. However, over the years, it gravitated towards children and the communication targeted mothers to help them see the benefits that Bournvita brought when added to milk. While the brand operates across the country, we have a leadership position in the North and West markets. Back in the 1980’s, our communication was ‘Tann ki shakti mann ki shakti’ which signified that if you have the physical and mental strength and resilience, you will make the right effort. In that sense, Bournvita played the role of a partner to both the mother and the child in helping the child achieve that strength, both physical and mental. Over the past few years, our communication has evolved to ‘Taiyyari jeet ki’ because we believe that children are not born winners, they have to be built winners. Bournvita believes in the philosophy that if you keep trying, you will succeed and therefore it’s the effort that matters more than the result.
Q] Is Bournvita’s communication as much about reaching out to parents as it is about children?
Yes, it’s a two-way communication. In all our communications, we explore parenting philosophies - whether it is the racer mom ad where she believes that the child has to earn his victory or the boxer mom ad where she believes that a child has to compete with someone better than him to succeed. All our campaigns are aimed at appealing to mothers, while at the same time motivating children.
Q] Apart from TVCs, are you doing on-ground activation to talk to parents and children?
We have certain restrictions in regards to reaching out to children directly. However, we use different touchpoints to engage with both children and mothers like events or fairs where we put up stalls to either sell or sample out our products. We also use various media vehicles, whether they are impact buys like ‘Jhalak Dikhla Ja’ or properties like ‘Bournvita Quiz Contest’ which used to air on TV earlier and now is a digital property. However, we use TV predominantly as a medium to give our communications the required reach. We also use a lot of Digital as it is a fast-evolving platform and one that is leveraged a lot by consumers.
Q] You launched Bournvita Badam Booster last year. How has the reception been so far?
It has done quite well for us. There are certain times in the year, like the exam season or monsoons when more people enter the category. Badam is considered to boost memory and thus can help kids stay sharp during exams. It can also help them stay healthy during monsoons. We launched the product during the exam season with a piece of communication around exams, but from a different perspective. Rather than focusing simply on exams and the related pressure, we said, ‘Exam pe nahi, par seekhne pe zor daaliye’. Our focus was on studying to learn rather than on rote learning simply to score good marks. The campaign was well appreciated and the product is doing well for us.
Q] This year, you promoted Tang, which is otherwise considered to be a summer drink, during the festival of Eid. Are you planning to market the product as a festival drink?
You have to find a natural fit between a brand and a festival to be able to leverage it. Tang is an accepted beverage brand for Eid or Ramzan in the Gulf Cooperation Council Markets. It is popular there because while fasting, people want nutritious and light drinks. Tang, which has to be mixed with water, contains added vitamins and is easy on the stomach, while being refreshing and tasty. So, Tang is a natural fit there and it was easy for us to borrow some of those learnings and consumer behavior and use them in India where Eid is celebrated fervently. We received a good response. While we can leverage other festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi or Onam/Pongal, for now, we will concentrate on Eid rather than extending our communication to other festivals.
Q] What are your plans for the candy portfolio – Choclairs and Halls?
While Halls operates nationally, it has higher acceptability in the four Southern States along with Maharashtra and Gujarat, where it has become a legacy brand. While we might not be visible on national television, we advertise throughout the year in markets like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh because that’s where the business is. When it comes to Choclairs, the problem of the category is that it is looked at as ‘change candy’ and the category can succeed if it can make a move to pocket candy where they will be available in multipacks. We have consciously tried to move away from the Re 1 price point and launched Choclairs Gold which is priced at Rs 2. The product has gained acceptance in the market despite being priced higher in the cluttered candy market that has a lot of products priced at Re 1. For Choclairs, we have leveraged birthdays as an occasion as data suggests that the brand is the most widely acceptable birthday candy. Moreover, what makes Choclairs so popular is the liquid chocolate that oozes out when you bite into it. It’s a salient part of the brand. During our re-launch, we worked
on increasing the amount of liquid chocolate and it has started to give us good results. We continue to sell the Re 1 variant in rural markets.
Q] Why was the name of the candy changed from Eclairs to Chocolair?
Eclairs is a generic name and it could be used by other brands to name their product too. Moreover, Cadbury’s Eclairs as a brand existed only in India. For the rest of the world, it was called Choclairs. When we re-launched the brand three years ago, we decided to move away from the generic category name to a brand name, and synchronized it around the region.
Q] What would be your broad marketing strategies for the different categories for the next few years?
For Bournvita, it would be around chasing penetration as there is a massive opportunity there. For Tang too we would aim at driving penetration and also focus on de-seasonalizing the brand to ensure more pockets of consumption during off-season.
Q] What is your media mix?
In all media vehicles, TV usually takes the largest chunk of investments. However, we are investing around 8-15% of our money on Digital now. The investment on Digital will only keep going up in the next few years.
Q] What are the larger challenges that your different portfolios face?
The challenges are the same across the portfolio. The fact that penetration in the country is low currently poses a certain challenge. However, this can be looked at as an opportunity and we are currently focused completely on driving penetration.
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