 "Gift packs: HUL's new recipe")
The bright green tin boxes are hard to miss if you are a frequent visitor at modern trade outlets. In the last few weeks, the country's largest consumer goods company, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), has been distributing the green Kissan gift packs in modern trade. There are two Kissan jam bottles of different flavours with recipes (for the mother) and games (for the kid) included in the box. The kit is priced Rs 220.
Gifting in the packaged foods industry is not new. We have seen players such as chocolate brands Mondelez Cadbury and Ferrero Rochero, PepsiCo (Kurkure), Britannia with Shubh Kaamnayein and even Dabur (Real fruit juices) come out with special packs with extra goodies, during festivals.
HUL seems to have pre-empted the trend this year. But that is because the company claims that its gift packs in the foods business would not be restricted to the festive season.
HUL is looking to formalise such gift packs and introduce more under its other food and beverage brands. In the next few months, brands such as Bru and Taj Mahal are likely to follow suit. But why this rush to produce gift packs?
Abhiroop Chuckarbutty, general manager, foods, HUL, says, that this is one way of "building back to brands", simply put, brand-building.
"Kissan is, what I call a mom's ally, helping them in their endeavour to get their kids to have food. It is at the same time loved by both moms and kids. We were looking for an opportunity to engage the child as well as the family in a slightly different way. A gift pack, we felt, was a good idea to get the child interested in the product. The excitement is in the discovery of the pack, gifted by a parent. You have the recipes first, followed by the jam bottles, and the game at the bottom of the tin," Chuckarbutty says. "The child can play the game with her friends or even family. The idea is to get everybody to the food table," he says.
Excitement and engagement critical to HUL's foods business At Rs 4,960 crore in FY-14, HUL's foods business, which includes packaged foods, beverages and ice creams, trails behind peers such as Nestle, Britannia and ITC, whose toplines for the period are Rs 9,062 crore, Rs 6,913 crore and Rs 5,717 crore respectively. (See chart).
Analysts have been vocal in pointing out that rivals, mainly, ITC, have been ahead of the curve when it comes to innovation and excitement in foods. It has been able to carve out market share from other players and scale to top-three lists in categories it entered, such as instant noodles, packaged wheatflour, wafers/chips and biscuits. Nearly ten years since its entry in packaged foods, it is now uptrading consumers to premium product lines in its portfolio.
With HUL now putting significant investment behind innovation, the company, say market experts, is looking to take the fight in foods ahead with initiatives such as gift packs and initiatives like Kissanpur, which encourages city-bred kids to grow tomatoes.
Launched two years ago, Kissanpur has seen myriad kids in cities such as Mumbai and Delhi plant tomatoes and then send in their pictures and stories to HUL, which prints some of them on their Kissan ketchup bottles or uploads it to a dedicated website.
Nestle tried something similar for its Maggi brand of noodles last year, when it invited consumers to put down their experiences with the brand, some of which appeared on packs and television commercials.
While brand-building initiatives such as gift packs are welcome, say analysts, HUL will have to up the ante in terms of launches and innovation if turnover has to improve.
In the first half of the current calendar year, HUL rolled out its premium ice cream, Magnum, in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai.
It has recently launched Rs 10-cup packs of instant soup under Knorr in a bid to give a boost to its soups portfolio. It leads in market share in soups, jams and ketchup.
In its 2013-14 annual report, HUL hinted at the strategy it would take in foods. "We continue to be driven by a single-minded focus on core brands and driving market development across key categories in food and beverages. The packaged foods category continues to represent a significant consumer and business opportunity, given the shifts in the income pyramid, increase in working women, growing health concerns and the need for taste with convenience. The company is focused on developing newer offerings that can best fulfill existing consumer needs, driving affordibility and distribution as well as building salience for its brands."
Gifting in the packaged foods industry is not new. We have seen players such as chocolate brands Mondelez Cadbury and Ferrero Rochero, PepsiCo (Kurkure), Britannia with Shubh Kaamnayein and even Dabur (Real fruit juices) come out with special packs with extra goodies, during festivals.
HUL seems to have pre-empted the trend this year. But that is because the company claims that its gift packs in the foods business would not be restricted to the festive season.
HUL is looking to formalise such gift packs and introduce more under its other food and beverage brands. In the next few months, brands such as Bru and Taj Mahal are likely to follow suit. But why this rush to produce gift packs?
Abhiroop Chuckarbutty, general manager, foods, HUL, says, that this is one way of "building back to brands", simply put, brand-building.
"Kissan is, what I call a mom's ally, helping them in their endeavour to get their kids to have food. It is at the same time loved by both moms and kids. We were looking for an opportunity to engage the child as well as the family in a slightly different way. A gift pack, we felt, was a good idea to get the child interested in the product. The excitement is in the discovery of the pack, gifted by a parent. You have the recipes first, followed by the jam bottles, and the game at the bottom of the tin," Chuckarbutty says. "The child can play the game with her friends or even family. The idea is to get everybody to the food table," he says.
Excitement and engagement critical to HUL's foods business At Rs 4,960 crore in FY-14, HUL's foods business, which includes packaged foods, beverages and ice creams, trails behind peers such as Nestle, Britannia and ITC, whose toplines for the period are Rs 9,062 crore, Rs 6,913 crore and Rs 5,717 crore respectively. (See chart).
Analysts have been vocal in pointing out that rivals, mainly, ITC, have been ahead of the curve when it comes to innovation and excitement in foods. It has been able to carve out market share from other players and scale to top-three lists in categories it entered, such as instant noodles, packaged wheatflour, wafers/chips and biscuits. Nearly ten years since its entry in packaged foods, it is now uptrading consumers to premium product lines in its portfolio.
With HUL now putting significant investment behind innovation, the company, say market experts, is looking to take the fight in foods ahead with initiatives such as gift packs and initiatives like Kissanpur, which encourages city-bred kids to grow tomatoes.
Launched two years ago, Kissanpur has seen myriad kids in cities such as Mumbai and Delhi plant tomatoes and then send in their pictures and stories to HUL, which prints some of them on their Kissan ketchup bottles or uploads it to a dedicated website.
Nestle tried something similar for its Maggi brand of noodles last year, when it invited consumers to put down their experiences with the brand, some of which appeared on packs and television commercials.
While brand-building initiatives such as gift packs are welcome, say analysts, HUL will have to up the ante in terms of launches and innovation if turnover has to improve.
In the first half of the current calendar year, HUL rolled out its premium ice cream, Magnum, in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai.
It has recently launched Rs 10-cup packs of instant soup under Knorr in a bid to give a boost to its soups portfolio. It leads in market share in soups, jams and ketchup.
In its 2013-14 annual report, HUL hinted at the strategy it would take in foods. "We continue to be driven by a single-minded focus on core brands and driving market development across key categories in food and beverages. The packaged foods category continues to represent a significant consumer and business opportunity, given the shifts in the income pyramid, increase in working women, growing health concerns and the need for taste with convenience. The company is focused on developing newer offerings that can best fulfill existing consumer needs, driving affordibility and distribution as well as building salience for its brands."