Britannia Kicks Off Brand Rebuilding Exercise

"Our survey shows that we are no longer perceived as just a biscuit company, but a premier food company," company officials said.

Britannia has rearranged some of its regional biscuit brands into clusters based on common consumer segments. This exercise enabled Britannia to offer a more balanced buffet of products and prices to consumers in the premium, medium and mass market segments, the officials added.

In a bid to meet the consumer needs, the company has recently launched Good Morning biscuits and Vita MarieGold in the medium and Tiger Protein in the mass segment.

In its first year of launch, Tiger achieved a turnover of over Rs 100 crore in the mass market segment and contributed a substantial proportion to its overall business.

Pursuing its vision of making "Every third Indian a Britannia consumer" and envisaging growth plans encompassing a strong presence in the mass market and entry into the dairy segment. It entered the mass market through its Tiger range of products and dairy through cheese, butter, dairy whitener and flavoured milk. Prior to 1997, Britannia was perceived as a bakery products company. "Thereafter, we launched a re-engineering exercise to make the brand more contemporary, robust and youthful," the officials said.

Milkman, the umbrella brand name for the dairy portfolio, was launched only six months ago. The dairy range has shown significant growth over the past three years, the officials pointed out.

But the repositioning of the company as a food company was carried out through a brand-building exercise, which was initiated in 1997. Within a short span of time, the cheese business garnered 35 per cent market share. Other dairy products like ghee, butter, dairy whitener and milk beverages recorded satisfactory growth, the officials said.

"The key driving force is cost reduction and serving consumer needs better," the officials said. However, the company is not contemplating any tie-ups with other companies for technology and packaging. Groupe Danone provides it all the necessary back up.

The company has appointed TERI to conduct a power audit. Its recommendations will be implemented only after the report is received and discussed with us, the officials said..