By Simran Sabherwal
From being a dominant player in NCR to taking on the big guns across India, Mother Dairy has set itself aggressive growth targets. Vaibhav Kumar, Chief Marketing Officer, Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt. Ltd., talks about the company’s marketing initiatives, re-inventing the brand proposition and targeting young adults by offering them healthy, guilt-free indulgences
Q] What was the insight behind your campaign ‘Taste that Lifts You’?
With a new range of dairy products and tagline of ‘Taste that Lifts You’, we are targeting young adults. The insight behind it is that young adults today do not only look for indulgent products, but are also aware of the fact that such products are not always good for their health. They are very concerned about their wellbeing. With our range of extremely indulgent products that are also healthy, as they are milk-based, and hence good for the consumer, we are looking at offering our target group an option of guilt-free indulgence, which we believe is a differentiated proposition. Our new corporate tagline of ‘Happy Food, Happy People’ signifies the fact that we offer pure, healthy and adulteration-free quality products to our consumers, which are also innovative and healthy. It also makes them happy when they consume it, allowing them to indulge without fear of negative impact on their health and well-being, unlike other indulgences. This defines Mother Dairy’s commitment and this has been the strength, differentiator and heritage of the brand over the years.
Q] What are the fundamental principles of your marketing strategy? What does your media mix look like?
As far as our marketing strategy is concerned, we are now targeting the emerging consumers of new India, i.e., young adults. Accordingly, we are moving from targeting the housewife/home-makers to young adults and re-inventing our proposition, coupled with a relevant product portfolio and re-positioning ourselves with relevant communication and activation. Our media mix will reflect our new consumer targeting and accordingly, you will see us on relevant media vehicles for our new target group.
Q] Currently, you are not very active in the social media space. Why is that?
The statement is only partially correct, as we have just initiated our social media presence and are now transitioning our media mix with our fresh strategy. You will soon see changes in the media vehicles that we use.
Q] With so many brands in your portfolio, how do you link them back to your mother brand?
Our corporate tagline signifies what we stand for, and soon you will see how we link all our brands to our commitment to consumers. This is something we are working on, and will be ensuring in the market in the near future.
Q] How are you tackling the distribution and logistics challenge?
We have factories across the country, which makes this job slightly less tough. Indeed our robust supply chain team is also working hard on this and tackling it seamlessly.
Q] Do you have plans to widen your portfolio to cater to regional tastes?
Yes indeed, we are in expansion mode across the country. The accompanying challenge to this is to be relevant to consumers in different regions of our nation, while being focused on our core target group of young adults. Mishti doi has been launched in Eastern India and it is one such example. You will soon see many more innovations catering to regional tastes.
Q] How have value additions helped in brand positioning and profitability? Though you have just hiked milk prices by Rs 2, the milk space brings low profit margins...
Value added products give us maximum traction and profitability, apart from milk, of course. Furthermore, they are in line with our proposition of guilt-free indulgences. Some examples are mishti doi, ice-creams, lassi and chaas. Hiking the price of milk by Rs 2 has impacted our margins, but this is due to unavoidable circumstances. It is in line with our commitment and value as an organization of having a fair and just supply chain for milk, giving a fair price to farmers at one end and consumers at the other end.
Q] In every category you operate, you have very strong competition, be it from national players like Amul, Unilever, Pepsi, Nestle to strong regional players. How do you manage to capture marketshare?
Yes indeed, we have a lot of competition from strong players whom we respect, but we believe our organizational commitment and values on the basis of which we set up our business as well as our new and differentiated proposition with a revamped product portfolio will help us capture market-share.
Q] The company had set a revenue target of Rs 10,000 cr by 2014-15. Is this still on track?
We have been growing at a CAGR of 15% over the past three years, which has been our target, and so far we have been successful in achieving our targets.
Q] What are the challenges faced by Mother Dairy in the marketplace and in its communication?
The key challenge being faced by us is to reposition ourselves from our old proposition of ‘Maa Jaisa Koi Nahi’, which our target consumers of young adults might not find relevant in today’s day and age.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Mother Dairy was set up in 1974 under the Operation Flood Programme as a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). Mother Dairy manufactures, markets and sells milk and milk products under the Mother Dairy brand (milk, cultured products, ice-creams, paneer and ghee), Dhara range of edible oils, Safal range of fresh fruit & vegetables, frozen vegetables, processed fruit & vegetable products and fruit juices at a national level through its sales and distribution networks spread across the country. With a market-share of close to 50% in the branded milk sector in Delhi, it undertakes its marketing operations through 1,400 exclusive retail outlets in Delhi & NCR region. The company derives significant competitive advantage from its unique distribution network of bulk vending milk booths, retail outlets and mobile units. Launched in 1995, Mother Dairy Ice-creams has grown to become the brand leader in North India and is expanding its footprint in major markets across the country.
CMO FILE
Vaibhav Kumar, Chief Marketing Officer- Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt. Ltd, has over 13 years of experience, with core experience in marketing. His knowledge and experience in the marketing domain has helped Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt. Ltd. Strategic marketing initiatives and enhancement of brand image with apt ideas and their execution. Prior to joining Mother Dairy, Kumar was associated with Unilever for over 14 years and has served across countries in various strategic marketing roles. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from BITS, Pilani and has completed his Masters in Business Administration from IIM-Ahmedabad.
MARKETING TIP
Re-invent a proposition with a relevant product portfolio, and reposition it with relevant communication and activation.
FACTS
CREATIVE AGENCY: OGILVY & MATHER
MEDIA AGENCY: AEGIS MEDIA
SOCIAL AND DIGITAL MEDIA MARKETING AGENCY: WATCONSULT FOR MILK DIVISION AND ALIVE NOW FOR ICE-CREAMS
PR AGENCY: ADFACTORS PR
Feedback: simran.sabherwal@exchange4media.com
