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Tag: ITC Foods

  • With this exciting collaboration, Sunfeast Dark Fantasy aspires to further strengthen its brand positioning as an indulgent offering

    Sunfeast Dark Fantasy ropes in Alia Bhatt as its brand endorser

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sunfeast Dark Fantasy from ITC Foods has signed on Alia Bhatt as its brand ambassador.  The brand has teamed up with feature film and ad film director, Gauri Shinde.

     

    Commenting on this collaboration, Paritosh Wali, COO, ITC Foods- Confections said: “At ITC, our endeavour has always been to provide innovative, delightful & superior quality products to our consumers. Sunfeast Dark Fantasy is a true reflection of our commitment to delight consumers with unique and differentiated offerings. Irresistible indulgence, anytime-anywhere, has been our brand’s promise to our consumers and the new campaign takes this forward effectively. With Dark Fantasy’s new communication we are providing a unique proposition of making an easy yet delightful dessert using Dark Fantasy cookies. I am confident that Dark Fantasy’s association with Alia Bhatt, will only build the excitement about our innovative offerings and enrich consumer experiences about the product.”

     

    Said Nitin Karkare, Chief Executive Officer, FCB Ulka on the campaign: ‘The association of Sunfeast Dark Fantasy and Alia Bhatt is a match made in heaven. In Alia we found the perfect fit as far as seamlessly bringing alive the irresistibility and spontaneity of consumption goes. This association is the perfect next step towards further entrenching the story of an irresistible indulgence, and towards demonstrating the versatility of occasions that the brand can address.”

     

     

  • With this exciting collaboration, Sunfeast Dark Fantasy aspires to further strengthen its brand positioning as an indulgent offering

    Sunfeast Dark Fantasy ropes in Alia Bhatt as its brand endorser

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sunfeast Dark Fantasy from ITC Foods has signed on Alia Bhatt as its brand ambassador.

     

    Said Paritosh Wali, COO, ITC Foods- Confections: “At ITC, our endeavour has always been to provide innovative, delightful and superior quality products to our consumers. Sunfeast Dark Fantasy is a true reflection of our commitment to delight consumers with unique and differentiated offerings. Irresistible indulgence, anytime-anywhere, has been our brand’s promise to our consumers and the new campaign takes this forward effectively. With Dark Fantasy’s new communication we are providing a unique proposition of making an easy yet delightful dessert using Dark Fantasy cookies. I am confident that Dark Fantasy’s association with Alia Bhatt, will only build the excitement about our innovative offerings and enrich consumer experiences about the product.”

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Nitin Karkare, Chief Executive Officer, FCB India added: ‘The association of Sunfeast Dark Fantasy and Alia Bhatt is a match made in heaven. In Alia we found the perfect fit as far as seamlessly bringing alive the irresistibility and spontaneity of consumption goes. This association is the perfect next step towards further entrenching the story of an irresistible indulgence, and towards demonstrating the versatility of occasions that the brand can address.”

     

     

  • The film opens on a group of four jelly bears on a plane

    FCB Ulka crafts a new campaign for Candyman Jellicious Jelimals

    By A Correspondent

     

    ITC Foods has unveiled a new television campaign for Candyman Jellicious Jelimals conceived by FCB Ulka, Bangalore. The film opens on a group of four jelly bears on a plane. One of the Jelimals, Maddy Mango, tries to pull a fast one on his friends and steal the fruits on the plane, while his friends are fast asleep.

     

    To Maddy’s horror, an alarm is triggered and a trap door opens beneath him through which he begins to free fall. Meanwhile, his friends are awakened by the alarm and try to devise a plan to rescue their friend. Smarty Strawberry, the group leader, gets an idea and uses the basket of fruits to surf through the clouds to rescue a free falling Maddy, before he uses Punky Pineapple’s bandana as a parachute. The parachute floats in the sky to form the Jelimals pack.

     

     

    Swati Bhattacharya
    Menaka Menon

    Speaking about the new film, Swati Bhattacharya, Chief Creative Officer, FCB Ulka, said, “This film is about that element of fun and adventure that kids love. It tells us the tale of how the four Jelimals got on to the pack, with their make-shift parachute and their basket of fruit.”

     

    Menaka Menon, Vice President – Bangalore, FCB Ulka, adds, “This film introduces the Jelimals to the viewer. Instead of just being about four flavours of jelly bears, it spins a yarn around the four characters that are the jelly bears. The story builds on the whole friendship and adventure angle, something that appeals to the target audience.”

     

  • The roster of celebrities includes Sneha, Priya Bapat, Mary Kom & Rituparna Sengupta

    Tea time is incomplete without Sunfeast Marie Light

    By A Correspondent

     

    ITC Foods has just launched its new campaign for Sunfeast Marie Light Rich Taste. It is a comprehensive package of films that beautifully capture the tea time moment, and build how that moment is incomplete without Sunfeast Marie Light.

     

    Launching the campaign, and building the space of tea time being incomplete without Sunfeast Marie Light, are three films – Imperfect Surprise, Phone Call & Tea Time Together. These will be followed by a series of films tailored to regional sensibilities.

     

    Rather than follow the usual method of making a film and then dubbing it into all the regional languages, the individual films have been created for regional markets, with popular local celebrities for each region.

     

    The roster of celebrities includes Sneha, Priya Bapat, Mary Kom & Rituparna Sengupta.

     

    The entire campaign focuses on building the inseparability of tea and Sunfeast Marie Light biscuit, by drawing a parallel to the husband wife relationship, and how the ritual of that morning cup of tea is incomplete without one’s spouse.

     

    Speaking about the campaign, Swati Bhattacharya, Chief Creative Officer, FCB Ulka, said – “For Sunfeast Marie Light we’ve taken off from the fact that the morning tea time together is something that both the husband and wife look forward to and cherish. In the hustle and bustle of day to day living, this is their little moment together. And this moment is incomplete without that cup of tea, and their favourite Sunfeast Marie Light biscuit.”

     

    Menaka Menon, Vice President – Bangalore, FCB Ulka, said – “This campaign is built on a strong truth, the fact that the couple holds sacrosanct their morning tea moment together. Combined with the fact that tea & Marie biscuits are an unshakably strong pairing, this campaign simply uses the couple’s strong relationship to draw a parallel to the strong bond that tea & Sunfeast Marie Light share.”

     

  • WYP won the account nearly six months back and has been working behind the scenes for its launch since then

    ITC Foods signs on What’s Your Problem as Digital & Social AOR for Fabelle

    By A Correspondent

     

    What’s Your Problem has been signed on as Digital and Social AOR (Agency of Record)by ITC Foods for its recently announced, high-end luxury chocolate brand, Fabelle.

     

    What’s Your Problem (WYP Brand Solutions Pvt  Ltd) won the account nearly six months back and has been working behind the scenes for its launch since then. Said Amit Akali, Managing Partner and Creative Head: “Winning and launching Fabelle has been like a homecoming for me. I have been lucky to be involved in launching two other successful ITC Food Brands, namely Bingo and Yippee Noodles. And we are very confident the success will continue. We are extremely excited about Fabelle…  It helps that I am a chocoholic and ITC makes one of the finest chocolates in India.”

     

    Hammad Khan, Director – Technology and Servicing, What’s Your Problem added, “Fabelle being a super-luxury brand, a large part of the marketing is digital and experiential. Hence, our mandate has been beyond the typical social digital mandate. We are also working on exciting experiences like a responsive web-site, digital menu apps and video content for in-boutique digital screens. Every small touch point has to be an experience and every piece of content a piece of art.”

     

  • Most company bosses expect things to get better soon, but a bad monsoon looms as a threat over rural consumption.

    Indians cut spending on discretionary goods. Consumption at 10-yr low. Sale of consumer goods down to 7.5% in FY15

    By Ratna Bhushan and Sagar Malviya

     

    Sales of consumer goods have slowed the most in about a decade, suggesting that Indians are making cuts in spending — especially on discretionary products — amid high inflation and a sluggish economy. Most company bosses expect things to get better soon, but a bad monsoon looms as a threat over rural consumption.

     

    The overall consumer products market slowed to 7.5 per cent in the year to March from 10.6 per cent in the previous year, according to Nielsen data. The declining pace is across urban and rural markets and covers all three broad categories — food, home and personal care, and over-the-counter products.

     

    “The last time FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) saw singledigit sales growth was in 2004-05 when it grew 8 per cent soon after a drought situation,” said Abneesh Roy, associate director at Edelweiss Securities. “Hence, last fiscal’s growth is the slowest in over a decade after strong double-digit growth of 15-17 per cent, especially with the rural market opening up.”

     

    The trend has hit consumer stocks — the BSE FMCG index rose 13 per cent in the year compared with a 63 per cent jump in the Sensex.

     

    “A lot of discretionary spending slowed down because economic sentiment hasn’t been positive for the most part of last year,” said Chittranjan Dar, CEO of ITC Foods, which makes Sunfeast biscuits and Bingo snacks. Things may be turning around, he suggested. “Indicators that things are looking better, though, are reflecting in the latest quarter and we should see a brighter picture going ahead.”

     

    Annual performance figures also reflect the direction of the market. Nestle and Godrej Consumer posted decade-low sales growth in FY15. Dabur posted its lowest revenue in nine years. Hindustan Unilever’s income growth in the past two fiscal years was its worst since 2005.

     

    Within the overall picture, companies report two contrasting trends — a shift to the value segment and premiumisation, or higher-priced products in the same category.

     

    “Over the past two years, the market has shifted more towards mass and popular pricing and towards sachets as opposed to large packs,” said HUL Managing Director Sanjiv Mehta. “(But) there are consumers who still have the capacity to consume brands such as TRESemme (hair care products) and Magnum (ice cream). We focus a lot on unlocking the potential not just at the bottom of the pyramid, but also at the top end of the fill.”

     

    More pain could be in the offing if predictions of a deficient monsoon come true, derailing any positive growth sentiment. Consumer goods firms are taking steps to hedge themselves against this risk, especially since the Nielsen data suggest rural market growth has outpaced that of urban areas, albeit on a smaller base.

     

    Leaning on urban demand

    Companies are leaning on urban demand to improve the numbers as it accounts for nearly 65 per cent of the total market. “We believe revival in the FMCG sector will be led by urban markets as the sector is expected to be at the forefront of development and growth,” said Sunil Duggal, chief executive of Dabur, the maker of Vatika hair oil and Real juices.

     

    He too is optimistic about things improving soon. “While the overall macro environment continues to remain challenging, consumer demand has started showing signs of a recovery,” he said. A gradual improvement in the consumption environment has helped the company perform well on several operating parameters.

     

    Dabur has piloted a new sales and distribution initiative, called ‘Project 50/50’, aimed at leveraging the potential of the top 130 towns that account for 50 per cent of urban consumption. The project involves segregating the grocery channel teams for wholesale and retail as both trades have differing requirements. “At the same time, rural demand has proved to be resilient, and we plan to focus on 60,000 high-potential villages over two-three years,” Duggal said.

     

    The economic situation has meant that the urban poor, who account for nearly 20 per cent of the market for most consumer product companies, have been facing a squeeze.

     

    “A lot of the urban poor or people like construction workers, because of job challenges, ended up moving back to villages or cutting down spends,” said Godrej Consumer Managing Director Vivek Gambhir. “While we would all love to see much faster growth, at least it is trending in the right direction with higher growth every quarter. It is achallenging environment.”

     

    Some analysts have been sounding a note of cautious optimism.

     

    “Consumption demand, until recently, was seeing a continuous decline despite lower inflation and improved consumer sentiment. However, Q4 results imply that demand in at least consumer staples has clearly bottomed out. The worst is possibly over (if monsoon is normal), but it would be a long wait before the party begins,” Axis Bank analysts Sanjay Singh, Ajay Thakur and Mihir Shah wrote in a recent investor note.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2015, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • Companies will delay price increases, emphasise on low-priced packs, explore new value price points and step up promotions to prevent possible downtrading, or consumers switching to cheaper products, in case of a crisis

    FMCGs brace for a weak monsoon

    By Ratna Bhushan & Sagar Malviya

     

    Consumer goods companies are busy firming up contingency plans to stem any decline in volume sales in case a deficit in monsoon rainfall hit crop yields, escalate food prices and impact consumer spend.

     

    Companies such as Dabur and Parle Products said they will delay price increases, emphasise on low-priced packs of Rs2, 5 and 10, explore new value price points and step up promotions to prevent possible downtrading, or consumers switching to cheaper products, in case of a crisis.

     

    “If there’s a monsoon deficit, we would obviously look at protecting volumes,” said Sunil Duggal, CEO of Dabur, which makes Vatika shampoo and Babool toothpaste.

     

    “Contingency plans could include a combination of things like putting off price increases, accelerating focus on smaller packs and allocating more spends on consumer promotions, depending on where the deficit is,” he added.

     

    BK Rao, general manager at top biscuits maker Parle Products said the maker of Parle-G, Monaco and Hide & Seek biscuits will focus on smaller price points if the situation is bad.

     

    The monsoon has revived significantly in the past week to reduce total deficit in the country so far to 22 per cent from 31 per cent and accelerated crop planting. But crop yields may still be lower as rainfall has been uneven, with some regions, including parts of Karnataka and Maharashtra, remaining practically dry for three weeks. Economists warn that food prices may rise sharply if rainfall weakens again.

     

    FMCG companies have been bucking the overall slowdown in the economy and posting an average 15 per cent growth, but a weak monsoon could change it.

     

    “A weak monsoon will naturally reflect on costs and we will have to work around that. The industry will feel the impact around September-October,” said Chitranjan Dar, divisional chief executive of tobacco-to-chips maker ITC Foods.

     

    While impact of inflation on the premium urban rich is not very significant, mid-rung and rural demand is strongly linked to the monsoons. Thus, top FMCG firm Hindustan Unilever, Dabur and biscuit maker Britannia, which have large rural presence, could be hurt more than Nestle and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer, which have an urban focus for their products, say experts.

     

    Analysts say consumer goods companies tend to push ‘magic price points’ of Rs2, 3, 5 and 10 in an inflationary scenario to minimise any negative impact on discretionary spends. Such low-unit packs account for over 25-30 per cent sales of makers of shampoos, hair dyes, biscuits and snack foods.

     

    Also, with local competition always posing a threat, established players would have to step up volume discounts and consumer promotions in a weak monsoon scenario. A significant 70 per cent of low unit packs are sold through kirana shops (mom and pop stores).

     

    “Small SKUs and distribution expansion may save the day. Downtrading too would be arrested at the small-pack level,” Shirish Pardeshi, executive director and co-head, research, at financial services firm Anand Rathi Securities, wrote in an investor note two weeks back. “Rural expansion of distribution (for example, HUL’s Project Shakti and Emami’s Swadesh initiatives – both aimed at accelerating expansion in rural markets) would help arrest drop in consumption,” the note said.

     

    Some analysts, however, believe the impact of a weak monsoon will be limited on rural consumption because dependence on agricultural income has been declining. “Our discussions with rural trade and consumers have always highlighted that one bad monsoon does not result in consumption declining. Instead, it leads to trade credit terms becoming more onerous in rural India,” Ambit Capital’s Anand Mour wrote in a report.

     

    Some companies such as Marico, maker of Saffola edible oil, say they would wait for some more time before start worrying about monsoon. “The June-July period is too early to take any decision. We will have to wait for August to check the monsoon trend and get a clearer picture,” said Marico CEO Saugata Gupta.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved