Say cheese! Dairy brands increasingly turning to chefs to whip up recipes

Heritage Foods, Amul, and Parag Milk have chef-run campaigns to bring down marketing cost by a tenth

In a significant shift in strategy, leading dairy companies in India have started hiring famous chefs for brand endorsements to directly reach their target consumers.

Hyderabad-based Heritage Foods has engaged celebrity chef Bhakti Arora to launch ‘Heritage Bytes’ — a campaign to promote the nutritional, health, and happiness dimensions of its assorted palate.

“This campaign showcases quick recipes from milk, curd, paneer, and ghee. We would like to target the health-conscious and nutrition-oriented millennials, discerning homemakers, and career-oriented working women,” said Brahmani Nara, executive director, Heritage Foods.

Arora curated recipes for celebrating Diwali, Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Day, and Holi. Some of the recipes include daily quick snacks and dishes for parties and get-togethers. This campaign will also promote the brand as a wholesome nutrition company and strengthen the belief of ‘Health & Happiness’ and ‘Nutrition to Nation’. The campaign is live and active on all social media platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

SAY CHEESE!

• Chefs bring out new recipes made for their in-house products
• Firms promote brands and recipes with one chef
• Helps reach target customers nationally and locally
• Brings cost of brand promotion down to one-tenth

Another celebrity chef Vikas Khanna brings out exclusive recipes from the House of Mother Dairy.

“Until a few years ago, the Indian consumer preferred to buy foreign dairy products. This preference gradually shifted to national and regional brands. Hence, dairy companies need to change their marketing strategy. We preferred to hire national, regional, and local chefs to present recipes in native tongues,” said R S Sodhi, managing director, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, the producer of India’s leading Amul dairy products.

Another leading dairy company Parag Milk Foods, the producer of Gowardhan, Go, Pride of Cows brands, had hired celebrity chef Ranveer Brar to promote recipes discovered through its home-grown dairy products.

“Hiring a renowned chef is at least one-tenth the cost of hiring a Bollywood actor,” said a senior executive of Parag Milk Foods.