Storm the Norm

by Anisha Motwani

  Introducing a ‘Kahani mein twist’

  When other players started trickling in, sensing the opportunity, Kurkure had to reassert its uniqueness and elevate itself above the mass of copycats. It did a re-jig of the product (extra spicy) and linked the product’s transformational experience to the ‘twist’ in any regular and staid situation. The ‘twist on tradition’-centred promotion continued till 2004 even as the brand then signed on the bubbly actress, Juhi Chawla in 2004 in an attempt to target housewives who were the ‘gatekeeper’ audience for the brand.

  Kurkure wanted to do something special with Juhi and decided to leverage her cheerful personality, her amazing sense of comic timing, her non-glam doll image and the fact that she was a mother and housewife too. Since housewives were generally hooked on TV serials, Kurkure decided to target them by making a spoof on Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, a popular TV soap at that time. The campaign continued with many a spoof, be it of Bollywood classics or television soaps that helped tell product stories of ‘Kahaani mein twist’ (A twist in the story).

  If masti (fun) and Kurkure were synonymous with each other, so were masti and Juhi; and what could be better than having all three (Juhi, Kurkure and masti) packaged together. Spontaneous, fun-loving and witty, Juhi helped shape Kurkure as a great family brand with a sense of humour.

  ‘Masti’ continued with new consumption occasions

  Having appropriated ‘masti’, the next strategic growth bet for Kurkure was to increase penetration by appropriating new ‘regular’ consumption occasions and expanding its portfolio with innovative offerings.

  ‘The Kurkure family’ was a powerful platform to plug-in the brand firmly into ‘family teatime moments’ as well as the brand’s innovation roadmap. Starting with 2005, Kurkure strategically targeted evening teatime, at the time the largest occasion for snacking—consuming macro snacks, i.e. biscuits and namkeens—as the consumption occasion. It reached out to the homemaker who desired ‘evening tea’ as the moment for changing gears and to other members who looked forward to evening tea as a moment of relaxation and a joyful collective family huddle. When every member tended to relax in his own individual style, Kurkure stepped in not just as a snack but as a bonding factor that brought the family back into the same living room, creatively rendering ‘Chaitime masti bole to Kurkure!’. The timing could not have been better with the large family as a unit beginning to disintegrate into nuclear set-ups. The brand evoked the nostalgia of the quintessential large Indian family set-up.

  Kurkure aimed to breach the traditional stronghold of Indian snacking: teatime, the biggest gap between meals. Beyond just positioning and advertising, product sensorial work was done to pair Kurkure with tea. Extensive in-home promotions with tea brands were launched nationwide. To further enhance its share of teatimes, Kurkure launched two subbrands ‘Kurkure Solid Masti’, as new-age substantial snack options for that ‘evening peckishness’ and ‘Kurkure Masti Squares’, as an aid to the homemaker who desired versatility in teatime snacks. Both sub-brands, however, did not find much traction with consumers.

  Kurkure kept raising its standards in terms of variants, flavours, formats, occasions and communication to deter copycats that posed a serious threat. Multiple promotions, many of them first of their kind for this category, were conceived that encouraged families to spend time together, with gratifications ranging from holidays to a tea party in the sky. Disruptive large-scale consumer engagement programmes like ‘Kurkure Mast Family Jackpot’, ‘Kurkure Jupp for the Cup’ (during the ICC World Cup 2007) and ‘Kurkure Chaitime Achievers’ were launched to drive consumption.

  ‘Kurkure Chaitime Achievers’ (family face on the pack communication) was not just engagement, but consumer-generated participation, another first from the ever-innovative Kurkure. Families were invited to share interesting, ingenious chaitime recipes using Kurkure. The winning recipe made out of Kurkure was the ‘family’s passport to fame’, with the winning families having their photograph featured on one million Kurkure packs. This was the first-ever consumer-generated participation in the history of advertising in India; and with over 100,000 responses, it lead to a surge in business.

  To leverage yet another consumption occasion, Kurkure came up with ‘Zyada meetha ho gaya? Muh Kurkure karo’ for Diwali, which was traditionally a sweets-centred feasting time. This was again in line with the brand DNA: a twist on tradition. Kurkure boldly pitched a salty snack as part of the festive repertoire by beautifully blending two unrelated insights—the fatigue with excessive sweets at Diwali time and the changing equation between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Kurkure took on the controlling and disciplining mother-in-law whose household was liberated with fun when Kurkure appeared on the scene as an opportune gift from the new daughter-in-law’s maternal home just when the mother-in-law was tired of excessive sweets. In keeping with this, highly decorative gift packs were introduced. Kurkure went on to expand its ‘festival’ strategy by introducing a whole range of chilli flavours, the premise being ‘when you get a strong dose of it, your real self comes out and you start taking liberties and breaking the shackles of formality’.

  ´Tedha hai par mera hai´: Flavours transcending tastes, geographies and cultures

  In its bid to drive habits and enhance its share of teatime, Kurkure started facing a host of challenges primarily due to aggressive competition from many local and one large national player entering the market with products in the same space.

  Kurkure launched its ‘X-treme’ edition of flavours to connect with the youth, which in turn reinforced its positioning as ‘always doing the unexpected’. Unearthing yet another insight into the great Indian family, Kurkure launched its iconic tag-line ‘Tedha hai par mera hai’ in 2008.

  ‘Tedha hai par mera hai’ became a part of everyday conversations and advertising folklore. Some of the novel initiatives during this period included new, unusual ingredients; introduction of regional variants; flavours inspired by master chef sessions around chutneys/pickles; and creating rituals—Kurkure bhel via on-premise bhel carts at PVR. Constantly giving consumers new taste experiences, over the years, Kurkure has created many limited edition flavours that included extreme flavours like Risky Chilli, tangy flavours like Electric Nimbu; regional flavours like Punjabi Kadhai Masala, Mumbai Chatpata Usal, Bengali Jhaal and South Spice Mix; the judwa pack which was loaded with two collet packs that looked alike but tasted different: the irresistible zing of Tirchhi Mirchi (crazy chilli) and tangy zest of Chulbuli Ambi (raw mango) in one pack; the chilli range: Chilli Achari, Chilli Garlic, Chilli Mustard, Chilli Saucy; and indo-international flavours: Punjabi Pizza, Andhra Bangkok Curry and Rajasthani Manchurian.

  Many of these flavours were co-created with chefs who specialized in regional cuisines, or those who loved experimenting with fusion food. While some of them remained limited edition flavours, others became a part of the regular Kurkure portfolio as they acquired a huge consumer fan base—Naughty Tomato for example is one of the most popular flavours in the south.

  Kurkure also introduced the puffed range, again stealing the show with new shapes. Puff corn has been one of the most successful launches for Kurkure in the puffed segment—it grew share by playing to the category code of ‘play’ by creating fun play rituals with the product. This puffed portfolio of Kurkure has seen many innovations since, with new shapes and differentiated textures and flavours.

  To take on the money-for-value players, Kurkure launched ₹2 and ₹3 packs and created the ‘houseful pack’ at the ₹5 price point, a name that implied quantity and all the masti of a Bollywood movie.

  Through this phase, the brand’s communication always tapped into timeless as well as emerging trends in consumer behaviour, and remained a brand with a point of view—be it the changing mother-in-law–daughter-in-law relationship, motherhood, the disintegrating family, the modern housewife, mixed marriages, mother-son relationships, husbands expressing, or not expressing, their love for their wives, the retur
ning NRI—but always connecting back to the product basics, the pack price proposition, the extra quantity or the promotion offer.

  Consolidating its leadership with new promotions, packs and price points

  Kurkure revamped its communications strategy in late 2012, scaling up its ‘Tedha hai par mera hai’ proposition, creating a first-of-its-kind ‘Kurkure screen family’. With a very modern ‘remix bahu’ at its centre, India’s Most Crooked Family is a joint family, bubbling with conversation and energy, disagreements and conflicts, negotiating between the individual and the collective, balancing tradition and modernity, and always looking for ways to resolve everything with warmth and laughter, abundance and abandon. And this quirky family told every new story, be it new taste, new pack size, or new price point.

  To help drive sales in the large pack segment, the family gathered in the living room and tapped into the insight of ‘the making of the guest list’—that, in an Indian family, there is no such thing as a ‘small family party’! The large pack helped Kurkure become a planned purchase in an otherwise impulse category. Kurkure thus managed to get on to the kitchen shelf where the housewife stored it and then served it with pride.

  The ₹5 pack, a salient and recognized price point, was amplified through the campaign ‘5 rupaye mein khaane waali cheez khao’ and addressed the conversion and upgradation opportunity, taking on lookalikes and unbranded competition/local brands and low-quality snacks. While consumers do look out for an affordable treat, research showed that they do not necessarily give too much thought to their choice of snacking options available at ₹5. This indifference and lack of discretion by consumers formed the basic premise of the campaign that asked consumers for a reappraisal of current choices, even if it was only about spending ₹5, that could make both their purchase and consumption experience more worthwhile.

  The launch of the new ₹15 price point was another category disruptor. Enabling greater sharing between two or three individuals, Kurkure wanted to add some spice in those moments of sharing. Family life is supposed to be all about sharing, but there are some things that just can’t be shared. The campaign played on the unwillingness of a mother-in-law to share her most prized possession, her son, with her daughter-in-law. The mast share pack showed that it could even get them to share the man in the middle, so to say.

  A classic ‘challenger’ brand success

  In its bid to become an iconic family brand, over the years Kurkure used a varied mix of penetration conversion and upgradation strategies, to increase consumption and frequency, i.e. share of tea tray and kitchen shelf, portfolio strategies by experimenting with flavours, taste and format, new price point strategies and packaging strategies for special occasions.

  On consumption occasions, Kurkure dared suggest that it could replace the ‘traditional’ namkeen at teatime with its more mood transformational bold taste and later, even, that Kurkure snacks could be gifted on festive occasions in place of sweets.

  In retail, Kurkure challenged the belief that packs had to sit on shelves, instead creating the ‘ladi’ with snack packs hanging like sachets, now a ubiquitous sight.

  In pack sizes, Kurkure turned the practice of calling a ₹5 (23 g) chota (small) pack, ‘houseful’ instead.

  In engagement, Kurkure was the first to challenge the thinking that snacks are an end in themselves, and tapped into the insight that housewives like to create their own signature dishes—creating the first-of-its-kind invitation to send recipes with Kurkure as an ingredient, with the promise of ‘consumer on pack’.

  In communication, Kurkure challenged the traditional notion that a housewife-centric brand cannot be humorous, and not just humorous, but over-the-top funny.

  In the deeper promise that it offered in the space of family bonding, Kurkure challenged the traditional notion that family togetherness comes from every member of the family being perfect and functioning within their role boundaries. Kurkure was the first brand that dared portray a housewife who proudly and happily admitted her family was full of imperfections.

  So how much value can a small crooked piece of a salty something that crunches and melts away in your mouth in no time at all, create? Turns out, Kahaani abhi baaki hai…

  Kurkure: The journey to sustained leadership

  Leadership retention for Kurkure has been no cakewalk. It has faced many challenges along the way.

  Challenge of product novelty: Consistently declining product uniqueness with the Kurkure stick (referred to as collet in the industry) becoming a category generic and proliferation of a lot of ‘copycats’ from a host of local players.

  Challenge of growing competition: The total number of branded players in the salty snacking category more than doubled in a matter of three years (2009 to 2011).*

  Challenge of new and emerging formats: Taking the cue on shapes and attempting to excite the consumer, feeding from the collet category and further expanding consumer repertoire.

  Challenge of commanding a premium: Increasing pressure on commanding a premium when competition is offering less than acceptable quality but with more grammage per bag (more bites per pack).

  Today, Kurkure is a megabrand with a portfolio that straddles four distinct snack formats:

  •Core Collet range with several flavour offerings—Masala Munch, Hyderabadi Hungama, Green Chutney Rajasthani Style, Chilli Chatka, Naughty Tomato

  •New and Emerging range under Kurkure Solid Masti Twisteez

  •Puffed Snack range that has six variants—Monster Paws, PuffCorn, ZigZag, Monster Smileys, CornCups and Crunchy Rings

  •Innovative Namkeens range with the launch of Papad O Nutz in two flavours—Jeera Hing and Chilli Masala—this year

  *Source: Nielsen

  THE WIND BENEATH THE WINGS

  Honda’s dream run in India

  In the derby of global mobility, Honda Motor Company, Japan, is a certified thoroughbred with the rich legacy of being the undisputed leader when it comes to two-wheelers. This is the journey of a brand that challenged convention and rewrote destiny. Since 1948, Honda Wings has symbolized Honda’s two-wheeler business worldwide and has been synonymous with quality, innovation and technology. Most importantly, Honda has earned the trust of over 300 million two-wheeler customers worldwide. That 60 per cent of the contribution comes from Asia shows the importance of this market and brings India to the forefront. However, the trust that Honda enjoys today has not been handed to it on a silver platter. Rather than promotions claiming a No. 1 world ranking in two-wheeler manufacturing, a claim that would not be false, in every country Honda operates in, it has, instead, studied the needs, wants and aspirations of the people. Only after careful scrutiny and analysis has Honda made the best use of technology and expertise to come up with country-specific innovations. This is what has enabled it to carve a special place for itself in the hearts of its customers worldwide. This is the unique story of Honda’s journey in India.

  Testing the track (1999)

  When Honda decided, in 1991, to make its mark as a two-wheeler manufacturer in India, things were none too easy for it. India posed a peculiar problem. Not only was there tough competition from local players, Honda also found itself grappling with daunting geographical diversity and the fast-evolving attitudes of Indian consumers. Further, while technology and R&D were innate strengths of Honda, understanding which technology would be applicable to India was a challenge. It contemplated bringing in technology that would reduce emissions, but this would escalate the cost, as most of the parts would have to be imported. On a daily basis, the Honda team found itself asking whether its Indian customers would be willing to pay a premium for a better and greener riding experience? But, as it turned out, that was not the only issue facing Honda officials…

  Since 1984, Honda had been in a joint venture with the Munjal family-led Hero Cycles—India’s largest bicycle company at that time. In the 1980s the Hero Group was also diversifying its product lines and emerging as a strong player in the auto compo
nent industry. When Hero decided to join hands with the Honda Group in the early half of the 1980s, it was in a position to call the shots and had therefore imposed certain restrictions on Honda by way of business and product parameters. So the the biggest question before Honda was whether or not to embark upon a a solo journey in India at this juncture. These challenges, notwithstanding, Honda Motor Company, Japan (HMC) took up the daunting task of replicating its resounding global success head on, and set up a wholly owned two-wheeler sales and production subsidiary in India—Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) Pvt. Ltd—in 1999. At the same time it walked the tight rope of maintaining confidentiality and trust with the Hero Group, in a joint venture that operated amicably for close to thirty years and became one of the longest in Indian automotive history.

  Honda’s vision for India was built on what has been the core philosophy of the group the world over. This philosophy is encapsulated in their communication tagline, ‘The Power of Dreams’, that has been driving the group since 1948. Keeping the ‘Power of Dreams’ at the core of their vision for India HMSI put together a ‘dream team’, every associate of which would be encouraged to pursue their dream and produce revolutionary ideas to spread the joy of riding to millions across India. This young, go-getter, interdisciplinary core team was handpicked to structure a robust and resilient business model for HMSI. Plans were being implemented full steam from HMSI’s makeshift office at Nehru Place, Delhi, while the first factory was under construction at Manesar district Gurgaon, Haryana.