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FMCG firms spice up marketing plan

January 20, 2006 13:12 IST
FMCG companies are using innovative marketing strategies to attract consumers in the wake of cut-throat competition in the sector.

To lure passers-by into its newly-launched brand Cafechino, Pepsi is using an aromatic point at the sales joint, emitting coffee aroma.

The company also put up a preview of the product in the Pepsizone on the web. This enables the consumers to order the product online.

"We have been getting an average of 200 orders an hour on the website, so the response has been great," said Vipul Prakash, executive vice-president (marketing), Pepsi Foods.

Last month, Kellogg's ran an interactive commercial on television where consumers were asked to write how the ad should end.

"The aim was to do something interactive to induce more consumers," said Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, director (marketing), Kelloggs India . The options were provided on the packets.

The consumers had to send responses on the way the commercial should end. According to Bandyopadhyay, the response within the first few weeks itself had been amazing.

Even for an otherwise mundane product such as cooking oil, it becomes important to break through the clutter. This is what Marico realized while introducing the Losorb variant of Saffola.

The result was the first MMS ad campaign, which the company launched. "It becomes important to reinvent mediums when communicating with the customers today," says R Chandraseker, category head, Marico India.

"This is largely an attempt to break through the basic consumer disinterest in products," said Anand Halve, partner, Chlorophyll, a brand consultancy firm.   

Halve said the basic sequence of a brand launch, that included generating awareness and conducting trials, was not working anymore.

"While advertising can manage to generate awareness, people are not induced to go in for trials, because in most cases, there is essentially nothing new that is being offered," he said.

Priyanka Sangani in Mumbai
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