Wrigley, already the market leader in pellet gums category in India, recently entered the mouth-freshener space. Yogesh Tiwari, Marketing Director, Wrigley India, talks about the marketing campaign for Doublemint, and how the company plans to increase its market-share further in 2017
Q] What took you so long to enter the mouth-freshener category in India?
While Doublemint as a brand has existed in India for some time, it’s only now that we are seeing the potential in the mint segment. It’s never too late. The mint segment may be small here but there is a lot of action happening, thus we see a lot of opportunity and a huge amount of headspace to grow the category. So we decided to bring in a global brand which is doing very well in other markets and is one of our biggest globally. It was just a matter of everything coming together at the right time.
Q]Tell us about the marketing mix for the 'Start something fresh' campaign for Doublemint.
An extensive 360-degree marketing approach supports the product, including Digital, Print, Radio, OOH & Retail.
Q] What kind of response did the Doublemint music video get?
The Doublemint Mints film directed by Shoojit Sarkar, based on the fresh and beautiful cover of ‘Ek ajnabee hasina se’, originally sung by the legendary Kishore-da, was first released on YouTube. We wanted the Doublemint Mints TV advertisement to weave in the essence of connections that the product stands for. The TVC is seen enabling the young couple falling in love and we received an overwhelming response for it - three million views within three weeks of its launch. We’ve also launched shorter formats - 30 seconds and 60 seconds - for Indian television. Today, the advertisement has received more than 1 crore views, of which more than 70% is organic.
Q] Wrigley extensively used social media to come up with India’s first crowd-sourced love story. What was the insight behind that?
Doublemint stands for ‘starting something fresh’. Freshness and building connections form the very core of the brand. So, we thought what better way to build connections than by coming out with this crowd-sourced book? And to put it together, author Durjoy Datta was a very natural choice for us. In the first two days itself, we got 100 entries. Overall, we had close to 900 entries and 940 photo uploads. On Facebook, we got close to 3.5 million impressions, which is two times the industry benchmark. Similar was the case on Twitter. So, the campaign has done fantastically well for us and gave us an opportunity to engage with our consumers.
Q] What percentage of your overall marketing budget did you spend on the campaign?
Wrigley is a privately held family business and does not share financials outside of the organization. However, the A&P spends account for close to 15% of our net sales.
Q] What is the biggest market for the brand and the emerging ones?
The market has been largely urban-centric for us so far. Doublemint has been launched in the top 14 cities in India - Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Cochin, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Vizag, Coimbatore, Madurai, Mysore, and Goa. We plan to launch this in another 21 cities soon. We conducted extensive research around this product and understood the need gap in the segment. Our research facility in Bangalore identified the taste, product and packaging format that will work well with the Indian market and we are happy that the product has been received so well.
Q] You enjoy 33% market-share in the gum and mint category. What is the target you have set for yourself for 2017?
We see great potential in mint as a category in India. It constitutes only 20% of the Rs 1,000 crore gum market, 80% of it is all about confectionery. With the launch of Doublemint Mints, Wrigley has entered the mouth-freshener space in India, a space that it rules globally. India is the first country to have launched this version of Doublemint Mints, and this unique offering is perfectly suitable for both traditional and modern retail formats. We will work towards strengthening our position in mints and gums. It’s too early for me to specify a certain number, but more importantly we believe that there is huge headroom to grow. We are going to establish the brand and its connect with the consumers, and lastly are very confident of growing the category in a big way.
Q] How different is the Indian market vis-à-vis those you operate in abroad?
According to me, the most glaring difference between the Indian market and others is the taste profile. The Indian taste palate is the most complex and diverse with so many local flavours to keep in consideration. Each region has its own taste preference and specialties which compels brands to be innovative with their offerings. Also, due to the strength of the population, the volume of sales for a product is way higher when compared to all other markets. For Wrigley, India is among the top 10 markets in terms of priority. From a category perspective, India stands the highest in the world in terms of its transactions. But, given the price points, India ranks about 10th-11th in terms of value.
Q] How would you describe the average profile of a Doublemint consumer?
It’s basically teenagers and young adults. We are very clear about not targeting children either by the virtue of the product or by virtue of an advertisement, which is a conscious stand.
Q] Who do you see as your biggest competitor?
It’s not so much about competition, right now. When I look at the various consumer parameters, be it per capita consumption or the penetration levels, both are fairly low in India for mint as a category. Here I am talking about the urban phenomenon and not so much the billion population. So, there is huge headroom for all of us to grow. At this point of time, it’s not a share game, it’s really about how intentional we are in terms of establishing the category before we start talking with respect to specific competition. And the other thing we are extremely focused upon is making sure that the consumers love our product and that we are able to provide the desired service levels, etc to them. So, it’s a combination of many things at this point of time, and too early in the game to talk about competition.
Q] Are you planning to launch your other global brands like Juicy Fruit, Spearmint and Freedent, in India any time soon?
We will continue to evaluate opportunities here, but it would be one step at a time. At the moment we are focused on Doublemint.
Q] In the 1990s, Boomer was extensively advertised. Why don’t we see any campaigns for the product anymore?
It continues to be an important part of our portfolio, but we don’t plan to launch a commercial on it.
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