(With inputs from Saloni Dutta)
Launching a new category as well as a brand co-created by the consumers for the Indian market can be considered pretty gutsy. But Tarun Arora, General Manager India Business, Danone Waters, Danone Narang Beverages and Narang Danone Access, is confident that B’lue, his brand’s new beverage will strike the right chord with Indian youth.
Q] How did Danone and Narang come together? How has the journey as a joint venture been so far?
The relationship between Danone and Narang goes back eight years, when they were distributors of Evian water. We became a joint venture only three years ago. What Danone brings to this joint venture is a global understanding of water and beverages—the capabilities, the technical know-how—while Narang brings in the Indian consumer knowledge and a strong on-premise business in the premium space. Together, we are looking to develop an urban business.
Q] What’s the positioning and target audience for your fortified bottled water, B’lue?
It is a youth brand. Today’s youth lead multifaceted lives. Any brand that can connect with them is a brand that will be relevant to them. That is what B’lue aspires to be.
Q] How tough was it to launch not just your brand but also a new category? What was the brief given to your creative agency, Scarecrow Communications Ltd?
B’lue is a wholesome beverage that uplifts the body, mind and soul. Because of its vitamin and mineral content and refreshing fruity flavours, it benefits you physically as well as emotionally. So we wanted the communication to be two-fold—it should connect with our target audience, and introduce the product so that it’s the hero. The main confusion around the product was whether it’s a carbonated soft drink, energy drink or water? B’lue is none of these. It can be seen as an indulgence as well as a hydration and refreshment drink. The challenge was to communicate all of these benefits in one short commercial, while also ensuring that it strikes a chord with the youth.
Q] What was the rationale behind roping in stand-up comedian and actor Vir Das as B’lue’s brand ambassador?
We were not looking for a big, popular face, but someone who lives the life of a youth and is also aspirational. We looked at various people, some well-known celebrities too, but Vir fit our brief and requirements the best.
Q] What are the fundamental principles of your marketing strategy? What is your media mix like?
This category is new not just to India but worldwide too. Beverages are divided into three categories: indulgence (carbonated soft drinks, fruit juices), functional (energy/sports drink) and water (mineral, packaged). B’lue is in a completely different space. Through our marketing strategy, which has been more experiential than plain communication, we are trying to get our target audience’s attention about the uniqueness of this product. So far, we have used television, activations and the digital and social media spaces; namely YouTube and Facebook, where we’ve experienced the highest percentage of engagement for the brand.
Q] Your other product Qua operates in the premium mineral water space. What is the current market for this space and where do you see it in five years?
In India, packaged water is a larger category as compared to mineral water. However, consumers have started to realize the difference between the two, but the number of consumers opting for mineral water is still very small. We are currently focusing on consumers who understand this and are ready to pay the price difference. Over time, we will educate them about its benefits. We are a strong player in the on-premise space and are also the brand of choice for hotels, restaurants and caterers. Although we’re not trying to compete with packaged water, we will try to be relevant to consumers who are seeking the right product for the right reasons.
Q] You started with a test pilot project in Pune before expanding to other cities. What learnings did you gain from this and further implement when you rolled out the product in other cities?
We actually crowdsourced the name as well as packaging design, so in a way, the product was co-created with our consumers. Now after doing this exercise, you want to test it in a market for suction time before you scale it up. So Pune was our test lab, where we learned about the right places to reach out to our consumers; what route should we adopt to market our product; how do we grow the brand and what should be our expectations and our internal milestones.
Q] B’lue is currently retailed in the metros. Are you planning to enter Tier II and III cities. If so, do you think the price point will act as a deterrent?
We are already in 20 towns in the country, so we will obviously expand as we go along. Although I don’t see the brand’s presence in rural areas, we will target Tier II towns in the future.
I remember reading a survey that divided the total consumption between the urban and rural areas as 30% and 70% respectively, but I believe it’s the opposite. So we haven’t even scratched the surface. While it’s nice to chase everything, it’s more intelligent to be sharp with your approach. Large beverage companies can aspire to go rural, because they are in a category that’s been around for 20 years. We’re a newer brand in a new category. We want to be urban, and focus on developing the brand in the right direction.
Q] What are your current and future challenges?
The biggest challenges right now are explaining the product, getting consumers to experience it and growing the organization to be able to service the consumers’ needs better. Building an organization that understands your brand and being able to reach out to the right consumers through the right distribution partners are tough, expensive tasks. Nonetheless, we’re a small brand that’s committed and ready to put in the monies for the long haul.
B’lue’s ‘reveal yourself’ campaign
This campaign used music and Facebook to engage youth with B’lue’s brand philosophy, ‘Reveal Yourself’. Popular band Agnee was roped in to compose a song, where the lyrics spelt out the brand philosophy, and released as a silent music video. Through a specially designed Facebook app, people had to lip read and guess the lyrics. If someone guessed the words correctly, on replaying the silent music video, only those words got unmuted. It served like a game, and people competed to reveal more and more words. After a week, ‘Reveal Yourself’ was totally unmuted and released, and ‘B’lue’ unveiled its association.
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