More twists and turns

PepsiCo, which has been hit in recent times by dwindling sales and several senior level exits, has given a fresh twist to the communication of its made-in-India snack-food brand Kurkure. The new tagline says, “Seedha toh sadha hota hai, isliye Kurkure kehta hai try tedha yaar,” reiterating the brand’s fun positioning. The message is simple: when daily routine becomes predictable, and therefore boring, it is time to try something tedha.

The company has been relentless in launching variants and flavours under Kurkure, which joined the Rs 1,000-crore club last year. The new television commercial (TVC) uses protagonists in the garb of regular Indian mothers who transform into ‘Tedhi’ mummies after snacking on Kurkure. The TVC features Juhi Chawla, the brand ambassador of Kurkure, playing mothers living a “seedha” life as well as those that are “unconventionally progressive.”

The ad has been conceptualised by JWT and the brief given to the agency was to scale up the brand proposition of ‘celebrating unconventionalism’ and make it more relatable and meaningful for consumers. “We have explored the attitude of ‘assertively unconventional’ in all its glory,” says Joy Chauhan, executive business director, JWT, the advertising agency on the Kurkure account.

When Kurkure was launched in 1999, the advertising harped on its irresistible taste (“Kya Karein control nahi hota”). In 2003 it shifted to its fun positioning and tried to include the entire family in the conversation (“Masti bole to Kurkure”). In 2008, the brand changed tack to say “Tedha Hai Par Mera Hai” which celebrated the imperfect and unconventional individual in all of us. The idea was that young confident Indian consumers are no longer striving to be perfect in everything, but are comfortable about their imperfections and quirks. “We are taking this idea a step further in 2012 with a powerful thought that would give the campaign a certain scale and enable it to resonate with a larger consumer base,” says Nalin Sood, EVP, Indian snack category, PepsiCo India. The campaign TVC is on air across general entertainment, movie and music channels. Along with the communication, the brand has also refreshed its packaging to a new bolder, more energetic look that will appeal to consumers.

To put things in perspective, the total snack food market in India stands at Rs 6,000 crore, and is growing at more than 30 per cent. The branded players occupy a small portion of the market and have big play in potato chips and biscuits. PepsiCo, which has shifted focus to the snack food market, fights with players like Haldiram’s (which has a big share in traditional snack foods), Parle and MTR, among others.

Apart from growing competition, these players have a major concern to deal with now. According to the third annual snacking study for Knorr Soups conducted by research agency AC Nielsen last year, urban India just does not find the time to snack. The frequency of snacking has gone down considerably, suggesting Indians have become too busy to eat through the day!