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Tag: Kwality Walls

  • Kwality Walls is frozen dessert, which looks and tastes like ice cream but is made with vegetable fat and not milk fat. Hence, under Indian laws, it does not qualify as ice cream

    HUL asked to erase ‘Ice Cream’ from Kwality Walls ads

    By Ratna Bhushan

     

    India’s advertising regulator has told consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever to stop mentioning its Kwality Walls brand as ‘ice cream’ in certain advertisements following a complaint by top ice-cream brand Amul.

     

    Kwality Walls is frozen dessert, which looks and tastes like ice cream but is made with vegetable fat and not milk fat. Hence, under Indian laws, it does not qualify as ice cream.

     

    “The consumer complaints council has concluded that the mention of Kwality Walls as an ice cream is misleading,” said Alan Collaco, secretary general of Advertising Standards Council of India, the self-regulatory body of advertising industry.

     

    The advertisements in question are in the form of advertorials, or advertisements designed in the style of editorial matter. HUL published three print advertorials, each featuring a celebrity talking about Kwality Walls brand, complete with heading, extensive text and photograph. They feature singer Shaan, chef Sanjeev Kapoor and TV actress Smita Bansal along with their families.

     

    An HUL spokesman said the company will replace the word ‘ice cream’ with ‘frozen dessert’ in the ads. “We have agreed with ASCI that wherever the word ice-cream appears in the said advertorial, it should be considered as an expression of opinion of the celebrity featured in the advertisement. However, with a view to close the issue amicably, we agreed with ASCI to include the words ‘Kwality Walls frozen dessert,’” he said in an email response to ET’s query.

     

    Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, which markets Amul, had complained to ASCI that the mention of Kwality Walls as ice cream was a deliberate attempt to mislead people.

     

    “The advertorial makes a clear mention to Kwality Walls Strawberry Cheesecake being an ice cream when in reality it is a frozen dessert,” wrote Nitin Karkare, COO of ad agency DraftFCB Ulka that represents Amul, in a letter to the regulator soon after HUL released the first ad featuring Shaan.

     

    “This is a case of a deliberate attempt at misleading the consumer, considering that the term has been strategically highlighted and hence cannot be a case of oversight,” he added.

     

    The ice cream-plus-frozen desserts market in India is estimated at about Rs1,700 crore, with market leader Amul holding about 40 per cent share. Other big players include Kwality Walls, Ahmedabad-based Vadilal, NDDB’s Mother Dairy and Ravi Jaipuria group’s Cream Bell.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

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

     

  • The consumer goods companies said the next few quarters could be challenging if the monsoon is weak and the rupee continues to fall

    HUL, Dabur & Colgate Q1 sales up 20%, next few Qs challenging

    By A Correspondent

     

    Consumer goods companies Hindustan Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive and Dabur said the next few quarters could be challenging if the monsoon is weak and the rupee continues to fall after reporting about 20 per cent jump in their first quarter sales.

     

    Hindustan Unilever, the country’s largest consumer goods company, whose presence in a range of daily consumption items such as soaps, shampoos and food makes its performance a good proxy for consumer sentiment, said it has not seen any evidence yet of customers trading down for cheaper products but delayed monsoon, weak rupee and volatile raw-material prices remain a concern.

     

    “When we look into the medium term, we believe that the growth drivers for FMCG are really positive,” said R Sridhar, chief financial officer at Hindustan Unilever. “But when we look at the next 2-3 quarters, clearly there are few challenges-the final shape of how monsoon distribution happens, rupee has depreciated quite significantly and inflation continues to be at a very high level,” he said.

     

    Dabur CEO Sunil Duggal too said: “As of now, we have not witnessed any slowdown in rural consumption, but there could be some amount of demand contraction this (July-September) quarter.”

     

    HUL’s total income rose 20 per cent to Rs6,378.7 crore in the April-June quarter from Rs5,323.6 crore in the year-ago period, outperforming the broader FMCG industry that grew 16 per cent during the quarter. Profit after tax before exceptional items at the Indian unit of Anglo-Dutch Unilever rose 48 per cent to Rs855 crore in the three months to June. Exceptional items included sale of properties worth Rs607 crore.

     

    The company said it was able to increase its operating profit margins by 180 basis points. Its cost of goods sold during the period was 200 basis points lower than in the year-ago period.

     

    During the quarter, HUL’s sales of soaps and detergents-its largest business segment-rose 24 per cent to Rs3,163.05 crore, helped mainly by price increases. Double-digit volume growth drove up sales of personal care products by 17per cent  to Rs1,847.08 crore, while beverages sales were 7per cent  higher at Rs654.07 crore. New launches in brands such as Kwality Walls helped its packaged foods business grow 17 per cent to Rs436.98 crore.

     

    What pleased analysts the most about the results was the companies’ sustainable volume growth. HUL, Dabur and Colgate-Palmolive grew their volumes between 9-12 per cent as the makers of daily household products sold more goods despite increasing prices. “Across companies, margins have expanded and ad spends increased too. With sales of premium products growing, there isn’t even first signs of slowdown yet,” said Anand Mour of Ambit Capital. Colgate-Palmolive reported a 17 per cent jump in first quarter profit at Rs117 crore, while its sales grew 20 per cent at Rs736 crore. “In an inflationary environment, the company’s continuing efforts and focussed programs to enhance efficiencies and reduce costs continue to yield strong, positive results, helping to maintain margin and fund investments in building and strengthening brand equity and the business,” Colgate said in a statement. The company said prudent price increases and cost management helped it maintain its strong gross margin.

     

    Dabur reported 21 per cent jump in April-June sales at Rs1,461.9 crore, while net profit increased 17 per cent year-on-year to Rs149.4 crore, riding on categories like health supplements, shampoos and food. Faster network expansion in rural markets too helped the firm drive sales. Dabur CEO Duggal said the company was forecasting double-digit growth over the next two quarters although there could be some slowdown in demand.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

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

     

  • Cornetto ‘Luv Reels Take 2’ by Kwality Wall’s Cornetto and MTV is hitting theatres on Friday, October 7 and premiering on MTV on October 14.

    Take 2 of Cornetto Luv Reels on MTV

    By A Correspondent

    Youth brand MTV and Kwality Wall’s Cornetto in collaboration with Kunal Kohli Productions will present the second season of its series of romantic short films ‘Cornetto Luv Reels – Take 2’. After the successful first season of the series a year ago, this one of a kind project that provides a platform to anybody who has the passion for acting, singing, and writing scripts is back yet again. Starting October 14, 2011, at 7 pm on MTV, it will exclusively showcase a series of three short films / love stories directed by Kunal Kohli Productions.

    Kick-starting the movie careers of several new aspiring actors, singers and music composers; ‘Cornetto Luv Reels – Take 2’ will air a 60-minute short film every week.  Kunal Kohli Productions has extended support for the direction as well as the production of these films. The lucky winners of the contest who will be making their debut on screen are Rahul Preenja as Karan Kriplani, Saahiel Sehgal as Gaurav, Sukhmani Sadana as Payal and Gaurav Kakkar as Karthik. The short films from the ‘Cornetto Luv Reels – Take 2’ series will also be exclusively screened at select PVR Cinemas in Mumbai & Delhi and INOX theatre in Mumbai for the audience.

    ‘Cornetto Luv Reels – Take 2’ brings to your television screens three exciting, delightful and heart-warming love stories to reminisce – ‘Phir’, ‘Ishq Holiday’ and ‘The Saviour’.  ‘Phir’, is a story of two strangers, Karan and Ayesha and their journey through Mauritius and the mysteries surrounding their pasts. ‘Ishq Holiday’ will take you through Payal’s dream of a perfect romantic holiday with her Mr Right only with a few twists and turns.  ‘The Saviour’, is a story about Pia who meets Karthik on her way to her cousins wedding and how circumstances unfold a spell binding saga.

    On the launch of the second season Mr Aditya Swamy, EVP and Business Head – MTV India said, “At MTV, we are continuously looking at boosting the spirit of the youth and searching for new avenues/creative ways to showcase young talent. Cornetto Luv Reels is one such platform for the raw and young talent at large in varied fields”. He further added, “After the tremendous response from the project last year, this year too we have received an overwhelming number of entries, reassuring us that we are doing something that the youth really wants.”

    Mr Sapan Sharma, General Manager Kwality Walls Cornetto Ice-creams commented, “Cornetto is a brand for the youth and is all about expressing what’s inside their heart. That’s what we call Say it with Cornetto! Cornetto Luv Reels has a mission of bringing to surface the talent hidden inside our youth. This is a unique contest in which the aspirants upload their videos, pictures, songs and scripts on www.cornetto.in to take a shot at Bollywood. This year we received over 1.36 lakh entries and that has tripled from last year. Also our Facebook fan numbers are surging and we have close to 5 lakh young consumers on our page.”

    “Cornetto Luv Reels – Take 2 is a path breaking example of how co-creation really works. One of the key tasks at HUL in developing world-class Media Innovation is to drive consumer engagement, media effectiveness and build repeatable and sustainable properties. Cornetto Luv Reels – Take 2 is one such successful example” says Mindshare’s Mr Ravi Rao, Leader-Team Unilever, South-Asia.

    Kunal Kohli, Kunal Kohli Productions also commented, “We are thrilled to be associated with MTV and Kwality Wall’s Cornetto on the project this year too. After gruelling online auditions we came up with the winners who would get an opportunity to be part of three romantic short films this year.”

    The concept of Luv Reels is developed by Mindshare, a Group M Company.