Nestlé has decided to take on Cadbury’s Dairy Milk head on
Spoof ads have been for long the norm in aerated beverages. They have of late been done with telling effect in categories like soap, dental cream, motorcycles and even direct-to-home television. Now is the turn of chocolates.
Nestlé, the country’s largest food products company, has come out with a new campaign for Munch, its price warrior in the market. That it takes off from the clutter-breaking Cadbury Dairy Milk ad which builds on celebrations around payday in small town India is very clear. “Aaj pehli tarikh hai,” (Today is the first day of the month) goes the jingle in the Cadbury advertisement.
Here’s the storyline. The film starts with a young boy looking morosely at his bar of chocolate. When a more confident friend asks him what’s the matter, why isn’t he eating the bar, the boy looks at the clock. A cuckoo steps out and says in a mechanical tone that it is the second day of the month. And the boy is in a dilemma whether it is the right time of the month to eat his Munch.
The street-smart friend slaps his forehead when he comes to know what’s going on and says, “Arre Bhai, ye Munch hai, isse kisi bhi din kha sakte hain.” (My friend, this is Munch and it can be eaten on any day of the month.) Hearing it, the boy puts the Munch bar in his mouth. “Khao bina tareekh dekhe,” (Eat without looking at the date) intones the voiceover. “That’s why mera crunch mahan (my crunch of Munch is so great).” In the last shot, the cuckoo reappears from the recess in the clock to say the 12th day of the month will fall next week. That its tongue hangs out and eyes are laden with boredom are hard to miss.
Spoof attack
Nestlé, on its part, is not saying that it is a spoof. “Over the years, we have used different treatments to emphasise the basic proposition that Munch is a light, crunchy and chocolaty treat that is affordable and can be enjoyed any day, anytime, anywhere. This is woven into all the commercials,” the company spokesperson said in an e-mail response.
And JWT, the agency which did the ad, does not want to be drawn into a discussion. But it does admit that it is a “tactical” campaign. “It’s a tactical ad which again brings out the affordability and great taste of Munch. It will be aired on TV and radio,” says JWT India Managing Partner Rohit Ohri. “We have another Munch ad running simultaneously which is also centered on taste and affordability, but while this ad is more (generic) on the product, the other is more tactical.”
“The consumption of chocolate and confectionery is still evolving in India and has to expand from treats for special occasions to any day, anytime, anywhere. The objective of our communication is to reinforce that Munch is an affordable and great-tasting light eat,” adds the Nestlé spokesperson.
The company also feels that the campaign gels with the imagery of fun that has come to be associated with the brand. Nestlé, to be sure, had signed on film actress Rani Mukherjee some years ago for Munch and ran several ads with her. She played pranks in an essentially rural setting. (The contract ended over a year ago). The latest ad, the company feels, will take the message further down. “Munch is a vibrant brand with a personality that is clearly associated with fun. Our advertising has always highlighted the fun in consumption. The current campaign along with various other activities initiated by the company will strengthen its leadership even further,” the e-mail said.
The chocolate market in the country is worth Rs 2,000 crore per annum. The market leader is Cadbury which has brands like Dairy Milk and Five Star in its portfolio. However, with growing health awareness amongst consumers, there has been a steady shift towards lighter chocolates. This category, say industry experts, is growing faster than the traditional chocolates.
In this category, there are three players: Nestlé Munch and Kit Kat and Cadbury Perk. Nestlé introduced Munch in 2000. The chocolate, which the company calls an enrobed wafer, was developed by Nestlé in India with support from its global research and development team. Over the years, Munch has become the leader in this category. It’s available at two price points: Rs 2 and Rs 5. Recently, the company had launched a bigger pack size priced at Rs 10 and called it Munch Guru.
And this is where the new ad fits in. It is clear that Nestlé is now targeting Cadbury’s old warhorse Dairy Milk for a larger slice of the market. Its competition is no longer just Cadbury’s Perk. “The campaign reinforces the popularity of Munch as affordable great taste,” the spokesperson said. “It is very extensively distributed across geographies and is enjoyed by different target segments. The TV commercial is part of a larger campaign that will be rolled out in formats that support the needs of the different markets.”
Will it click?
At the moment, the question is will the ad work? Will it dent the buzz that the latest Cadbury campaign has created amongst consumers? Brand strategy specialist and Harish Bijoor Consults CEO Harish Bijoor says that when a market leader occupies a higher ground as Cadbury has done with the pahli tarikh campaign, which has been very popular, one should be ready for spoofs from rivals. “This is a positive move for the category. There is nothing unethical about spoofs — they need to be looked at very positively. They make brands which haven’t been able to make much of an impact come alive; they make the whole category much more alive and bring more consumers to it. This advertisement has certainly livened up the chocolate category.”
Bijoor feels that the Nestlé Munch ad has been executed very well and it clearly makes an impact on the target audience in a positive way. “Categories like chocolates and colas cater to the mass of young people in the country. With 54 per cent of the population below the age of 25 and 72 per cent below the age of 35, it is only right to have an advertising proposition where the ad language is very edgy-buzzy and excites the youth.”
More important, how will Cadbury react to this ad? Most experts expect it to come out with a counter campaign. “The response to the pahli tarikh ad has been terrific and the spoof stands nowhere up to it. We are certainly not looking at any counter-spoof,” says Ogilvy & Mather National Creative Director Abhijit Avasthi. O&M was the agency that devised the Cadbury campaign. “Spoofs are about puncturing any pretence, but then the brand character’s has to be such. That’s certainly not the case with Nestlé Munch. It’s not in the brand’s natural scheme,” he adds. In other words, the ad war is unlikely to go on forever.
