GSK Consumer to focus on health food drinks

FMCG and healthcare company GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSKCH) is planning to undertake a special campaign this summer to drive growth in the health food drinks category, consisting of the 'Boost' and 'Chocolate Horlicks' brands.      

"We started this campaign with Chocolate Horlicks in 2006 and this year we have extended the campaign to Boost as well. This innovative campaign is targeted towards driving consumption in the Health Food Drinks (HFD) category  in the summer months," GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare General Manager (Modern Trade) Adityea Kapoor told PTI.      

The Cold Consumption campaign was started in 2006 with GSKCH's Chocolate Horlicks and it includes promotional offers, in-store branding and sampling activities and the company is now expanding it to include its energy drink brand Boost.      

He said the campaign will be activated at GSKCH’s partner modern retail outlets, including Food Bazaar, ABRL, Reliance Megamart, Shoprite, Hypercity and Dmartand Metro.      

"A total of 416 stores across eight cities are being activated. There will be in-store visibility, lucky draws, liquid sampling and we will support the same through in-store media as well," Kapoor said.

GSKCH had reported a 20 per cent incremental sales of Chocolate Horlicks in 2006 as compared to the previous year due to the Cold Consumption campaign and is aiming to replicate it again this year.      

"Summer is a traditionally lean period for HFD. This year, the company has also extended the campaign to Boost with a two-month long activation and are expecting the campaign to do even better (than 2006)," he said.      

Asked about the target customer, Kapoor said: "This campaign is to encourage cold consumption of our brands amongst children even in the summer. Children and mothers are the target audience, children being the actual consumers and mothers being the shopper."      

In addition, GSKCH  has also introduced a special limited edition pack of Butterscotch Horlicks which will be available only in the summer months.