Samar Singh Sheikhawat, Senior Vice President, United Breweries Limited, talks about the company’s focus on extending the drinking experience to more drinking occasions and garnering effective reach
BY SALONI DUTTA
Q] What is the marketing strategy of brand Kingfisher?
The core marketing thought is that Kingfisher is more than just a beer, it’s an enabler of good times. We position the brand as an icon of a young, modern, vibrant and emerging India. It’s a home-grown brand with an international appeal. The aim is to constantly bring customers experiences that are young, premium, stylish, aspirational, glamorous, and related to sports, fashion, food and music. However, we do not position Kingfisher as a luxury brand, but as a mass premium brand.
Q] How does the Kingfisher Calendar help in brand-building in spite of not being available to the public?
The Kingfisher Calendar is our most premium, aspirational and glamorous property. From being a personal gift from Dr Vijay Mallya 10-12 years ago, over the last few years we have hugely democratized or crowd-sourced the calendar’s appeal. There are many images from the shoot that don’t make it to the final calendar. We upload those on our social media platforms, allowing people to create their own calendar. We also have a reality show which was called Hunt for the Kingfisher Calendar Girl and has been rechristened to Kingfisher Supermodels. We derive engagement from the show as audiences can vote for the participants. This year, we allowed the audience to vote for the cover girl, which has never happened before. Earlier Dr Mallya would choose the Kingfisher Calendar cover girl. Around 40,000 people voted via missed calls. We also have Kingfisher Calendar Auction Nights, where we auction the calendar and the proceeds go to charity. A contest allows the winner to attend the calendar’s launch which takes place in January-February every year.
Q] What is the media mix of United Breweries?
On TV, Print, Radio and OOH, we do what we can with Kingfisher Premium Packaged Drinking water. We have a big Digital programme which is doubling every year. Most of our spends go towards sponsorships, events and signage. Point of purchase are big decision making points for consumers so we do a lot of signage, neons, displays, and AC coolers. We invest a lot on making the product available in an appealing and aesthetic manner.
Q] With a ban on advertising what are some of the brand extensions that the company has engineered and how have they worked out?
We have a packaged drinking water brand, which is the fourth largest in the country. It is close to Rs 200 crore of retail price size of business and is a legitimate product which we advertise. We also have NDTV Good Times which has been a great association for us, and is now in its 8th year. We initially had a five-year contract and we renewed it for another five. We get advertising space and curated programmes which cover some of our major events and activations. It is a symbiotic relationship and has worked extremely well for us. Tata Forbes India has also been with the Kingfisher team, even Royal Challengers Bangalore which is owned by Diageo USL is actually seen as a Kingfisher team. Then we have the Kingfisher football club. These are the associations with which we drive awareness for brand Kingfisher.
Q] Kingfisher is closely associated with sports, especially cricket. How does the sporting domain work for Kingfisher?
Apart from our association with IPL, we have associations with several other sports. We have been present across all running events in Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, etc. We’ve had the Kingfisher Derby for 27 years. We have done sailing regattas in Hyderabad. We used to do the ATP Chennai Tennis Open for many years. We do the Coorg World Hockey Festival, which is the world’s largest hockey festival. We do a lot of corporate sports across the country. We do Formula One, Tata/Sahara Forbes India, we own Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club. We do a lot of golf with Ultra. Heineken is associated with the Rugby World Cup.
You can get anyone to sponsor an event but organizers and television channels have come to us and said that they want Kingfisher because the way we leverage an event on-ground, on Digital, the contests around it, PR, consumer engagement, is something they want to bring to their event.
Q] How have Heineken’s marketing initiatives fared in India?
Heineken sells in over 200 countries across the world but they are focused on doing only four things. Their number one priority is the UEFA Champions League for which they have six month-long promotions on pack win tickets, meet the players, hospitality packages, match screenings, commercials, Digital, etc. The second is James Bond. This is the sixth or seventh consecutive James Bond film in the last 17-18 years that Heineken has been associated with. Then there’s the Rugby World Cup which is not that big in India, but popular elsewhere. The last one is music. They used to do the Star World Music Tour, which is a top rock show across 13 cities. In India too we have done a lot around these four initiatives. Next year, we have not only the UEFA champions but also the Bond film releasing in November, so it is going to be an exciting and busy year.
Q] Which markets contribute greatly to the growth of Kingfisher?
Alcohol is a state subject and a lot of the growth is determined by policies on excise, taxation, consumer prices, etc. The government controls 60% of the alcohol market in India. The weather also plays an important role. Right now it is freezing across North so the beer consumption falls around this time. In summer, the consumption goes up. Therefore it is tough to point out a State that has grown consistently over the last five years. Over the last 10-15 years, South is the number one beer market in the country, followed by West, North and East.
Q] What is your take on the policies in the liquor market and how should they be changed?
Every law-maker today is faced with a situation of dual responsibility. They need to be seen as anti-liquor but the economic reality is such that liquor contributes a large amount to the state revenues. In an attempt to reduce consumption and protect revenues, they increase prices or taxes. But my suggestion is that if they were to lower prices and taxes, consumers would get access to reasonably priced, good quality liquor and beer. Increasing prices makes consumers consider cheaper, unsafe alternatives.
By levying taxes on air-conditioned places, the government expects people to drink in a protected environment. If they increase taxes on air-conditioned places, like in Maharashtra, people will simply not go, and instead drink in parks, in their cars or roads. So that actually has an opposite effect.
They may mean well with these policies but the interpretation has to be thought through better and they need to control the pricing. Then the beer industry will grow and they can get together with corporates and promote responsible drinking.
ABOUT THE BRAND
United Breweries Limited has an association with brewing for over nine decades, starting with five breweries in South India in 1915. Its flagship brand Kingfisher has achieved international recognition, and has won many awards in international beer festivals. Kingfisher Premium Lager beer is currently available in over 52 countries and leads the way amongst Indian beers in the international market. United Breweries Limited boasts a spread of its own and contract manufacturing facilities throughout the country. It reported a net profit of Rs 42.62 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2014. Net sales of the company stood at Rs 959.86 crore during the second quarter, up 27.60%, against Rs 752.2 crore in the same period the previous fiscal. Kingfisher Premium, Kingfisher Ultra, Kingfisher Blue, Kingfisher Strong are some of the major beer brands that it offers. Heineken holds equity shares in United Breweries Ltd.
FACTS
Creative Agency: JWT and Triton
Media Agency: Mindshare
Social and Digital Media Agency: 22 Feet Tribal
BTL/Activation Agency: Multiple – Switch, Showhouse, Candid marketing, Hingham
PR Agency: PR Pundit
MARKETING TIP
Whenever in doubt, talk to your consumers.
CMO FILE
Samar Singh Sheikhawat joined United Breweries Limited as Senior Vice President – Marketing in November 2009. He worked with Cadbury India from 1989 to 1993. Consequent to the take-over of Cadbury’s ice-cream business by Hindustan Lever, he joined HUL in 1993 to work on the Walls Ice Cream business. In 1994, he headed to Energiser Batteries as Product Manager for India. In 1995, he joined Dabur as Head of Sales and Marketing for the natural products business, and worked there for five years. Thereafter, he worked with PepsiCo until 2006, first as Head of Marketing for the Tropicana Juice Business, then as National Head for Field Marketing and key accounts. In 2006, Sheikhawat joined Spencer’s Retail Limited, based out of Calcutta, as VP – Marketing.
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