Cadbury's silk route

A dominant leader in the volume segment, the company’s latest move is designed to strengthen its presence in the value market as well.

Even as Kraft Food’s recent acquisition of its UK parent made headlines globally, Cadbury India has just made its latest strategic move.

The new initiative is in the premium segment with the launch of Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk, a brand priced at Rs 49 for 69 grams and Rs 99 for 160 grams available in Milk chocolate, Roast Almond and Fruit & Nut variants. The company aims to position Silk as ‘smoother, creamier and chunkier.’

The rationale for the launch is simple: distinct products add to growth. “We already have 70 per cent of the Rs 2,000 crore chocolate market in India and now with the retail environment changing, Silk will help us tap into a wider audience,” says Cadbury’s executive director, marketing and international business, Sanjay Purohit.

But there’s another reason for this. India’s per capita chocolate consumption is just 54 gm compared to the UK and US’ 10.5 kg and 10 kg respectively. Thus, the Silk offering is an attempt to replicate the Dairy Milk that is available in international markets. Globally, premium chocolate accounts for about a quarter of the market in terms of value, but just 10 per cent of the total volume.

With that in mind, the company has paid keen attention to the recipe. Typically in India, Dairy Milk contains more cocoa-butter than milk-butter as the latter melts at higher temperatures thus making it more conducive for India . The reverse is true in other markets, where milk-butter helps give the chocolate a smoother taste. “With the quality of the retail environment changing in India, we can offer smoother creamier dairy milk,” says Purohit.

For the product, retail factors play an important role. “We can offer it only in places that have an air conditioner,” Purohit admits. As a result, the company is targeting only the top 35 cities and about 30,000 outlets. “It is for a different type of audience,” he adds.

Cadbury is of course not a novice in the premium category. Last year, the company announced its foray into the dark chocolate segment with the fashionably packaged Rs 75 Cadbury Bournville Fine Dark chocolate. Within a year the Bournville brand has managed to capture 2 per cent of the overall chocolate market in the country, while Cadbury’s other premium brand, Temptation, has about 1.5 per cent of the market. With the launch of Silk, Purohit hopes that the premium offerings will garner 5 per cent of the overall market. At present, the existing Cadbury Dairy Milk has a market share of 35 per cent.

Analysts say the “premiumisation” trend in the chocolate market will pick up further as a growing body of medical evidence suggests that chocolate with a high cocoa content is actually good for health. Also, while chocolate sales in India have increased 64 per cent, premium dark chocolate sales are growing at a much faster rate.

For both brands, Cadbury India is going full throttle with its marketing plans. Within a year of Bournville’s launch, it has already come out with two brand ads and three product ads. In January, the latest TVC was released reiterating the “You don’t buy a Bournville, you earn it” positioning. The ad shows an irate butler who disobeys his boss and consequently pays the price. For Bournville, Cadbury India chooses to use British faces to highlight the brand’s heritage. “It’s a different chocolate eating experience and the character of the brand is quirky British,” Purohit points out.

Not surprisingly, for Silk too, it has come out with a full 360 degree campaign that includes three television commercials, outdoor, print and internet. Keeping the audience in mind, Cadbury has been sampling Silk on flights as well. All three TVCs underscore the finger-licking, messy joy of chocolate eating that ends with the tagline ‘Have you felt Silk lately?’

The campaign, Cadbury says, takes chocolate indulgence to a new level -- it’s about blissfully losing yourself in the smoothness of the chocolate.