Cadbury India: The calcium connection

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Cadbury Bournvita has once again revamped the packaging for its health food drink Bournvita. Besides addressing usage issues like air-tight storage and better shelf visibility, the new packaging, designed by London-based agency Blue Marlin, aims to highlight a change in product formulation: The addition of vitamin D.

The company says the change in product formulation was driven by evolving consumer needs, as its research indicated. Unlike in the past, when powder-based drinks were added to augment the taste of milk or add more nutrition to poor quality milk, the health food drinks category is now driven by holistic nutrition. “Our research shows that children in urban India have increasingly sedentary lifestyles. They play video games at home and the proportion of time they spend outdoors is limited. Hence, vitamin D supplementation is important,” says Narayan Sundararaman, director, powdered beverages, gum and candy, Cadbury India.

To bring the product changes to the fore, the brand has launched a new campaign that highlights, through dialogue between two mothers, how vitamin D aids calcium absorption in the body, calcium intake being the prime reason for mothers to insist their kids have more of milk and milk-based products.

According to a Euromonitor report, the Indian health food drinks market, in which Bournvita competes, is valued at Rs 4,000 crore. While GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) Horlicks brand maintains the lead with over 60 per cent share, Cadbury’s Bournvita fights neck and neck with GSK’s second brand Boost, each commanding 15 per cent of the market. There are some other marginal players, like GSK’s Maltova and Viva (acquired from Jagatjit Industries in 2000) which have single-digit shares. Abbott’s PediaSure, previously sold through pharmacies, is also getting aggressive. Early this year, it underwent a packaging change and the company decided to sell its product through the retail channel.

What are the other avenues the brand is exploring to improve market share? Will it follow the strategy that peers like Horlicks have adopted, wherein the brand has launched multiple variants ranging from Horlicks Lite to Junior Horlicks, to broadbase its target audience? Is an out-of-home consumption option on the cards?

Sundararaman admits there is enough opportunity available in the age-group 5-15 where the brand has traditionally focused. Also, typically mothers see the preparation of Bournvita as a ritual and bonding session, and hence the opportunity for in-home consumption is still strong. To widen its target audience, the brand had launched Bournvita Li’l Champs three years ago, which has done fairly well, says the company. This product is targeted at toddlers and will be a second focus area for the brand. Like the flagship product, Bournvita Li’l Champs too is undergoing a packaging change.

Sundararaman believes Bournvita has the right mix of pack sizes to score in the market. While the 1-kg packs are designed for bigger families, the 200-gm pack is targeted at smaller ones. Sundararaman notes the 500-gm pack is the largest selling unit and will continue to drive growth for the brand. A Rs 20 pack is also available to drive sales in rural areas, but Sundararaman says the focus will be on improving reach in urban pockets where the bulk of the sales in the category come from.