Q] How do you maintain uniformity in the marketing strategy of all sub-brands under Ferrero India?
For Ferrero India, the marketing principle that is uniform across all brands is its relentless efforts on quality. We like to ensure that our consumers are delighted. Further, we are an impulse product, hence, marketing on TV is important, but marketing at stores is equally important. If you see the amount of theatricalization we do in-store, the visibility executions, and GRPS, you’ll find that the entire product category comes automatically with a self-dispensing unit. The consumer can notice and consume the product on the spot. These are the two key elements that are a part of the marketing mix which are uniform across the product portfolio.
Q] Do you depend on the brands’ international appeal or work per the region?
The Indian consumer is now a global consumer. They travel across markets and experience the product; hence, you can’t have a duality. You can’t have a brand in the premium category in the US, and on the other hand, present it as an economical brand in India. The brand needs to maintain a standard positioning across the globe, and that’s what we do. However, we localize the emotion, cast scenario and execution, while retaining the brand personality, vision, and ethos.
Q] What goes behind building these brand identities, and what sums up your outlook?
Consumer understanding comes into play here. We research where the category consumption is taking place; look for available sweet spots; and find ways to position the product in those particular sweet spots. For example, Tic Tac is a refreshing mint, and the Indian youth consumes mints regularly, so, it’s the youth that we are targeting. Now the youth want to not only be cool through mint, but also in their demeanour. Hence, the entire setup is done in that manner.
Gifting Indian sweets is pertinent in Indian culture. But even sweets need variety and premiumization. This was a latent need that pushed us to introduce Ferrero Rocher as a gifting product. We know Ferrero Rocher is limited in terms of distribution because it is only in select stores where we can sell the product. To meet the length and breadth of the country, we launched a purely localized product, which is Ferrero Rocher Moments.
Q] Please share a few insights on the Vibe Hai campaign for Tic Tac in collaboration with Ranveer Singh and Yashraj Mukhate.
This is our second collaboration with Yashraj Mukhate. We believe that Mukhate understands brands and the youth lingo very well. For a confectionery brand with high purchase incidence, you need to create the lingo and plant that seed in the consumer’s mind. With ‘Vibe Hai, Tic Tac wali vibe hai’, I’m trying to create incomplete sentences in the consumer’s mind, which can be filled by Tic Tac as a brand. I’ll be able to create top-of-mind awareness, and that will lead to purchase. That’s how the funnel works for Tic Tac in its current context.
Q] What is the brand’s media plan?
All brands have a unique advertising footprint. For a brand such as Nutella, we are going for purely digital and ground-level activation via the Push strategy. Ferrero Rocher Moments too is Digital with sharp targeting of the right consumers, the right demographic, and psychographics, and we are trying to activate the consumer accordingly. Tic Tac is a TV-plus digital brand, and right now we are on a journey where we are becoming digital-centric. We construct our media plan purely based on the consumer TG.
Q] What about the ad spends?
We are gradually increasing our ad spends. A couple of years back, we were only active as brands investing in Kinder Joy and Tic Tac. These were the only two brands that were advertised if you see the entire spectrum. And now if you see I am advertising Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, and Ferrero Rocher Moments. We have already launched Kinder Creamy, and Kinder Choco Bon Crispy. So, the entire bouquet of brands is increasing. As a result, spends is also increasing.
In some cases, equality does not work, and we can’t use A2S ratios. We try to support the new brands that are bringing more growth, volume, and value to the company. If a brand is very small and even if I do 20 percent A2S, it will not cut the clutter. If the source of business is festivities, and you do all year-round consumption, then of course, you block festivity first, and then you go for all-year-round business.
Q] What is your social media strategy?
On social media, we move from broadcast to conversations. You need to have conversations with your consumers, and for that, you need to have a content engine. Brands like Tic Tac, Nutella, and to a certain extent Ferrero Rocher have ongoing content pieces that have topical relevance, where the content comes first, and the brand becomes secondary. If I need to dial up more consideration, and engagement, I need to dial the way the consumer connects and interacts with the brand.
PROFILE
With over 23 years of expertise in creating demand across the value chain, Zoher Kapuswala is an accomplished sales and marketing specialist. He now manages several product categories at Ferrero, including Tic Tac, Ferrero Rocher, Ferrero Rocher Moments, and Nutella. Kapuswala has diverse experience in sales, marketing, trade marketing, channel management, and is known for his high level of adaptation.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Ferrrero India started its commercial operations in 2004. India is a production hub for Ferrero in Asia and the Middle East and exports half of its local produce. Headquartered in Pune, the company has regional sales offices in Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata with a robust distribution network across all the metros
and mini-metros of India.
FACTS
Creative Agency: Nutella & Ferrero Rocher Moments - LK Saatchi & Saatchi Propagate | Tic Tac Influencer campaign - Collective Creative Labs
Social Media Agency: Denstu
PR Agency: Avian WE
