Tea, coffee or cola?

ADVERTISING: Spurred by growing consumption and new launches, the F&B sector pours monies into print advertising.

A shift in consumer preference towards healthier alternatives has changed the composition of the food and beverages industry's ad spend.

According to a report by AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research, tea's share in print advertising went from 19 per cent to 50 per cent between January-June 2006 (HI 2006) and HI 2007.

According to the report, HI '07 saw the tea category garnering more than 50 per cent of the total volume of print advertising in the beverages segment. Aerated soft drinks was the second highest advertiser in print during this period with only a 15 per cent share.

According to FMCG analysts, consumers switching to healthier drinks has resulted in lesser intake of aerated beverages, thereby letting tea, coffee and milk-based beverages carve a niche for themselves. The shift was triggered off some years back by the pesticides-in-cola controversy.

FMCG companies too have been quick to notice this shift. For instance, PepsiCo is now looking at entering the milk-based beverages segment in India. Nestle India recently expanded its liquid milk portfolio with specially formulated milk for people who may be lactose-intolerant or diabetic.

On the other hand, tea companies are leaving no stone unturned to cash in on the trend. For instance, Assam Company, one of the oldest tea companies in the world, is looking at increasing the number of "Camilia" small format tea bars, to popularise tea drinking.

According to the AdEx report, HI '07 saw the food & beverages (F&B) sector seeing approximately 643 new brand launches, 254 of them in packaged food items, followed by 176 new beverages brands.

According to AdEx, during HI '07, Brooke Bond Lipton and Gujarat Corporative Milk & Marketing Federation (GCMMF) were the biggest advertisers in print. GCMMF was the top F&B advertiser in print during January-June '06 as well, followed by Today Tea.

Although neither Brooke Bond Lipton nor GCMMF revealed their ad spends during the period, analysts point out that overall ad spend by GCMMF on its two brands "" Amul Sugar Free Frozen Dessert and Amul Profile Probiotic Wellness "" were the main drivers for its second position in print advertising throughout HI 2007.

According to analysts, brand launches automatically push up overall ad spends by a company, which would dip if there were not enough activities within the brands. In case there are no launches, companies could resort to regular promotions and contests for its existing products to create brand recall.

Other top advertisers during HI '07 include Coca Cola India, Mohani Tea Leaves Pvt Ltd, Sugana Poultry Farm Ltd, Vadilal Enterprises Ltd, Smithkline Beecham, Nestle India Limited, Raja Biscuits Industries Ltd, and Parle Products Pvt Ltd.