Bunge India: Dalda vs 'dalda'

power moves

Bunge India last week revamped the 75-year-old Dalda brand, which it had acquired from Hindustan Unilever in 2003. The re-branding includes a new logo design and positioning for the edible oils category. The decades-old palm tree logo on a yellow backdrop has now been replaced by a mother and child symbol which Bunge says connotes the purity and caring nature of the brand, along with a golden border which signifies premium value and a seal of protection. The font style for Dalda has been made more contemporary and the positioning changed to “Husband’s choice”. Besides, it is being offerred with more vitamins to make the oil healthier.

The reason for the new identity? Primarily, to take Dalda’s edible oils category slightly away from its vanaspati or hydrogenated vegetable oils one. The company acknowledges that the brand’s strong linkage with vanaspati, which today is seen as a rather unhealthy alternative, still plays on the mind of many consumers and the move will help provide the edible oils category a distinct identity.

“It’s not that we’re not growing — we’re growing at over 25 per cent year-on-year. While we are the market leader in vanaspati and have grown over 50 per cent in the oils category in the past two years, our research with over 3,000 consumers pointed towards the brand’s strong linkage with vanaspati and that the oils category needed a new identity. We are looking at future growth of 25-30 per cent a year for which the rebranding was necessary,” says Videh Jaipuriar, vice-president (food business), Bunge India. The new logo and pack have been designed by Shombit Sengupta’s brand consultancy, Shining Emotional Surplus.

As for the new positioning, “Husband’s choice”, Jaipuriar says the consumer study by Shining Emotional Surplus and Bunge’s marketing team revealed a particular worry for most housewives — health of the husband who is overworked, stressed and often eats outside. “Husbands usually prefer tasty food, but while wives go for edible oils as they are healthier option, they have to compromise on taste — our research showed that Indian consumers believe that they are compromising on taste when it comes to edible oils. The dilemma for wives is how to provide for healthier food that also tastes good. With our upgraded product offering, we address that concern and believe Dalda to become the ‘husband’s choice’,” he says.

The company will launch a television commercial on the same line (Husband’s choice) on September 20, which will be backed by radio advertisements, mostly on FM, besides a countrywide retail activation exercise. Forty per cent of Bunge India’s business comes from oils and 60 per cent from vanaspati.