Happy Happy: Happy days are here again

Remember Michael Jackson’s Black or White video showing cheerful faces morphing within seconds? Now watch out for its desi avatar in Parle Product’s latest television commercial (TVC) introducing low-cost chocolate-chip cookie Happy Happy. With extensive use of special effects, a catchy jingle and lively display, the campaign aims to generate instant appeal among the cookie lovers.

Extending its biscuit portfolio beyond the economy brand Parle-G and the slightly premium Hide & Seek and Hide & Seek Milano, the company wants to leverage the brand Happy Happy to have a foothold in the lower end of the chocolate-chip cookie market (available at two price points of Rs 5 and Rs 10). “Our instruction to the agency was to create a simple, effective and a clutter breaking communication that compliments the name and the USP of the brand,” shares Shalin Desai, group brand manager, Parle Products.

 

The Happy Happy TVC attracts attention for its execution. It uses faces that morph into new ones representing people from all corners of the country and age groups. “It’s a simple yet effective idea. The task is to reach the masses. Morphing has always been an interesting entertainment technique,” says Samir Chonkar, ECD, Everest Brand Solutions, the agency on the account.

The accompanying jingle, ‘Jo bhi khaye woh ho jaye happy happy happy…’, has been put together by Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani, known for their scores in Hindi movies. The TVCs of other Parle biscuit and snacks brands are woven mostly around action and humour. The Happy Happy campaign is visually very different from the others in the company’s stable.

Launched in January this year across India, Happy Happy is aimed at consumers who are looking for a more affordable alternative to Hide & Seek and Hide & Seek Milano. Says Parle’s Desai, “The cookies segment, both low cost chocolate chip cookie and the indulgence cookie segment, is currently exploding, growing at 15-20 per cent. This makes it a right time for us to expand our presence in the category by offering consumers multiple options at different price points.”

For the records, the size of the country’s biscuit market is estimated at Rs 12,000 crore. The Indian Biscuit Manufacturers’ Association estimates the overall biscuit industry to grow in the range of 15-18 per cent over the next five years. And the potential is immense. The per capita consumption of biscuits in the country is only 1.8 kg, compared to 2.5 kg to 5.5 kg in the South East Asian and European countries, and to the tune of 7.5 kg in the USA, according to the Association.

Coming back to Parle, the biscuit portfolio generates close to 80 per cent of its total revenue. Parle is planning to take the advertising to different platforms to get maximum visibility for the new brand. Incidentally, the Happy Happy ringtone had nearly 14,000 downloads in less than a month of the TVC going on air.