Ali Harris Shere, Director-Marketing, Britannia Industries Ltd, talks about the company’s new focus on innovations and differentiation and how they are going about building the ‘healthy’ portfolio in the Indian market
BY SALONI DUTTA
What is essential to marketing at Britannia?
Right now, the two big buzzwords are innovation and differentiation. By innovation, I mean we’re constantly thinking about how to get new-to-India, new-to-Britannia products in our portfolio. We’ve done a couple of innovations recently: on NutriChoice biscuits called the NutriChoice Heavens, and a big one on Good Day biscuits called Good Day Chunkies. The other mantra, differentiation, came into play because we’ve always felt that biscuits in India were slightly more nascent and all products looked and felt the same. They even tasted the same. We wanted to present our products differently, both in terms of taste and look.
Have there been new tie-ups and associations?
We just tied up with Filmfare Awards as their title sponsor. This will give our consumers a chance to go and watch the show with their favourite stars. It’s an activation that’s going to kick in very soon. During IPL, Good Day tied-up with Kings XI Punjab and we took consumers to meet the players. A similar tie-up also happened between Royal Challengers Bangalore and NutriChoice.
How has this new strategy benefited the brand?
It has been a great year, and we are doing well in terms of both topline and bottomline. Our growth has been robust. The IPL association with Good Day was very powerful; it was one of the top two brands in terms of recall. We have created new advertising for Marie Gold, where we said that the home-maker is the athlete in the house, and Marie Gold is the fuel for her. That got very good response. The Tiger Butter Krunch commercial with Salman Khan did very well. Overall, the year has been a very satisfying one.
Define the media mix for various brands at Britannia?
Television is, and will always remain the primary source of communication. But of late, we’ve started executing diverse media mixes. We’re taking Print, Outdoor and Digital very seriously. A lot of on-ground activations and sampling is happening because we think that the products that we are launching as innovations are world class. We need to give the customers a taste of what we’re selling.
How involved are you with creative agencies that design these plans? What sort of briefs do you give them for new innovations?
We work with the agencies very closely. There is a daily dialogue between us. We tell them exactly what we want our customers to know. The brief is very product-specific; so it varies from product to product. For example, Heavens is a healthy, delicious cookie and therefore we wanted to let that be known through our communication.
How do you incorporate Digital in your plan?
We’ve already ventured in the Digital space, but we are not very big on it as of now. We believe in the medium and we want to do much more. We did an extensive Digital campaign during IPL with Good Day – the Punj-Happy Singh commercials were big on social media. We have just kicked off a large online campaign with NutriChoice Heavens. It is a very interesting campaign where the whole idea is, “I have seen Heavens, I have felt Heavens” and the Heavens we’re referring to is the product. Michelin Star chef Vikas Khanna has also done a couple of videos with NutriChoice Heavens and those are online now.
What are some of the new activations and BTL activities done by Britannia?
We’re doing extensive samplings of NutriChoice Heavens; we are going to all premium cinema halls and a couple of pivotal airlines. We’re making sure that we reach the target consumers for Heavens. Another big Milk Bikis activation is in process in Tamil Nadu where we’re giving away a laptop to the winners of a quiz contest sponsored by the product.
How would you define the healthy proposition of Britannia?
Health is a slightly tricky territory in India because we have all sorts of people with all sorts of opinions on the subject. There are people who don’t care much about it, there are people who want to get into a healthier lifestyle but don’t act on it, and then there are believers who are passionate about it. The real task for a product like NutriChoice is to get people to believe that healthy food can also be tasty. The general consensus is that healthy food products are bland, but that’s not necessarily true. Our data shows that only 10% of Indians adopt healthy biscuits every year. How do you increase that? NutriChoice is the market leader as far as healthy products are concerned and therefore the onus is on us to ensure that more consumers start buying healthy products.
Which markets are strong for the brand?
South is Britannia’s flagship region, with Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh leading the pack. We have some distance to cover in the Northern markets. Our distribution isn’t strong in regions of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. We want to develop and build our brand in these regions.
How is Britannia faring on the e-commerce front?
Consumers are evolving and all of us are getting into online shopping. It’s small but it is growing very fast. Biscuits aren’t really the products that have a high online sale. But as consumers evolve, it could prove to be a probable area for growth. To stay ahead of the game, we even launched Good Day Chunkies exclusively on Amazon. For the first 15 days, the product was not available in the market, it was only available online. And we got a very good response in those 15 days.
What are your marketing plans for the next few months?
We just launched these couple of innovations, there are a few more that you can expect, some really big ones at that. Re-launches of a couple of our products are in the pipeline. Bourbon is going to see a re-launch very soon, and therefore there is a lot of action in terms of innovation and advertising. Chunkies is going to see new advertising with Deepika Padukone as its ambassador very soon. A lot of irons in the fire!
MARKETING TIP
Going back and forth is important. Don’t forget what you studied when you were at work and don’t forget what is happening in the market when you are studying.
CMO FILE
At Britannia Industries, Ali Harris Shere is responsible for developing the marketing strategies for existing and new products, and the delivery of the integrated marketing plan for the business. Shere has ensured the development and implementation of systems and procedures necessary for the smooth operation of the marketing and communications function. The previous positions he has held at the organization include Marketing Manager, Regional Sales Manager and Group Product Manager. Shere joined Britannia in 1998 as a Management Trainee and has been with the company for more than 16 years. He joined Vodafone for three months in between, but returned to Britannia.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Britannia Industries is one of India’s leading food companies with a 100-year legacy and annual revenues in excess of Rs 6,000 crore. Britannia is among the most trusted food brands, and manufactures Good Day, Tiger, NutriChoice and Marie Gold biscuits which are household names in India. Britannia’s product portfolio includes biscuits, bread, cakes, rusk, and dairy products including cheese, beverages, milk and yoghurt. Britannia products are available across the country in over 35 lakh retail outlets and reach over 50% of Indian homes. The company’s Dairy business contributes close to 10% of revenue. Britannia bread is the largest brand in the organized bread market with an annual turnover of 1.1 lakh tonnes in volume and Rs 383 crore in value.
FACTS
Creative Agency: Grey, Lowe Lintas + Partners, McCann
Media Agency: MEC
PR Agency: Madison PR
Feedback: saloni.dutta@exchange4media.com
