KURKURE - SAFE & HEALTHY SNACK

Ever since it was launched in 1999, Kurkure has believed in doing things differently. This seems to have worked well for the brand, propelling it past the Rs 1,000-crore mark in sales and it is still widening its product range.

A couple of years ago, in typical fashion, it began to suggest the offering of Kurkure at festival time, traditionally a time to gift sweets. This year, it moved a step up by offering specially designed festival packs - with a twist.

afaqs! chatted with Nalin Sood, category director-Indian Snacks, PepsiCo India, Foods, on the turns and twists (pun intended) in the Kurkure journey. Excerpts:

Q. Tell us briefly about Kurkure's raison d'être?

It is a homegrown brand that was launched as an alternative to traditional namkeens. Indian consumers were looking for something new in snacking and yet did not want to let go of their traditional tastes. So, the product actually offered a great twist on tradition. It was familiar in taste but innovative and convenient in the product format.

At the beginning, the entire campaign was built on irresistibility, where the protagonists keeps eating and saying, 'Kya Karen, control nahin hota hai'. In a couple of years, Kurkure moved to appropriate the largest snacking occasion, tea time.

Q. What about the changing nature of advertising?

Kurkure's advertising has always provided a twist on tradition. If, for example, it showed the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship, it showed a certain comfort in that relationship.

In 2004-05 we roped in Juhi Chawla as the brand ambassador: Juhi's and the brand's DNA matched perfectly. Both were very vivacious, cheerful, and progressive with a great sense of humour.

In 2008, we got into the whole new positioning with 'Tedha Hai Par Mera Hai'. And that again was from a progressive family insight: that we have members who may have their imperfections but are nevertheless dear to us. The campaign was a great hit. This was also the time when ITC launched Mad Angles and challenged us in the category because they realised that the segment is becoming attractive.

Two years ago, we changed the look and feel of the brand. In our repackaging exercise, the names of our flavor became prominent. Last year, we extended the brand into the puffs category which appeals to tweens. That segment is growing, but it is fragmented and there was no national player.

Q. Why did you replace Juhi Chawla who had worked so well for the brand?

She was working well but we replaced her this year with a celeb family of five people because the brand had to move forward. We did not want to restrict ourselves to a single format or product when there is huge snacking category outside the Masala munch. We felt it was time to monetise the Kurkure brand equity and enter larger spaces in the business.

To extend the brand into new formats we needed to appeal to a larger number of cohorts. While Kurkure was always appealing to the family through the lens of a housewife, we needed to do innovations, to sharply target the other cohorts, such as tweens and younger adults, for example. You cannot have all the innovations appealing to the same person or the one thing appealing to everybody.

That is why we created a new family of quirky characters. So, the mother-child relationship is used for the puffs category. To promote XL party packs we use the entire family, because in India no party is a small party. Each character may not appear in each communication but when the consumer sees the ad, he is able to identify that this is a part of Kurkure family.

Q. What is the next big challenge for the brand?

I would not see it as a challenge but as an opportunity. And that opportunity out there is in the huge salty snack space, (outside Lays and potato chips). And Kurkure really has a right to succeed in this segment. We have already begun our endeavour with the launch of puffs, and we are now scaling up Solid Masti. We will also play big with other categories where our presence is small.

Q. What is the idea behind the latest packaging initiative for the festival season?

The festive season is a very large consumption occasion and while snacks are not associated with it, three to four years ago Kurkure began to play an active role in this space. That's when Kurkure came up with 'Zyada Meetha Ho Gaya, Muh Kurkure Karo'. If you are being overwhelmed with sweets, why not offer a great alternative? And it was also in line with the DNA of Kurkure: a twist on traditions.

We decided to take that forward. During festivals, we not only consume sweets, our behaviour becomes overtly sweet. We are sweet to people we haven't met in a year. In some cases, this takes the fun out of the occasion because a certain formality creeps in. But if you can break away from it, things become more enjoyable.

So, we've tried to counter not just meetha (sweets) but meethapan (sweetness). Our thought was, festivals are about sanctity so in the Kurkure tradition why don't we add some sanction to make the festival more fun? Tradition was sanctity and the twist was sanction.

With this thought, we looked at gift packs which until now were pretty traditional. We hired Ray+Keshvan and asked them to create something clutter-breaking. That's how we have the Raja Rani pack: they are dressed traditionally but they have a wink in their eyes.

Then we decided to add another leg and roped in Manish Arora to create limited edition packs. If you look at the structural packaging and complete design, it is very conventional and yet very unconventional.

We added a third leg to our festival initiative by launching a whole range of chilli flavours. We chose chilly because when you get a strong dose of it, your real self comes out and you start taking liberties and breaking the shackles of formality.

Q. The packaging is attractive but seems a little too sophisticated for a brand like Kurkure.

We are saying that sanctity and sanction go hand in hand. The packs are very unconventional and many people did get back with apprehension about how they would be accepted. But as it turns out, they have been very well received.

Q. Since 1999, how many times has Kurkure redone its packaging?

Prior to the change that we did last year, I think the core pack was changed only once a long time ago - and that was when we changed the name from Lehar Kurkure to Kurkure. It wasn't that we didn't try but consumers were so much in love with the pack that they didn't want to accept anything that was different - until last year.

The name is now more prominent, also the way the product is displayed has changed. There is also a fresh force and energy which was missing in the past. The product visuals are great and show abundance.

Q. You have been harping on the Rs 5 touch point. Why?

This pack has been there since the beginning. It is the largest segment within the category. At this price point consumers are most disloyal because they can easily flirt with other options, be it street food or any other. Through our campaign we are saying that even if you spend only Rs 5 and munch mindlessly, eat something that is worth eating. We basically wanted a larger share in the Rs 5-consuming audience.

Q. What is the logic in the flavours that you keep introducing and phasing out?

There are several permanent flavours plus we keep coming with new ones for a limited time period. After a certain quantity we phase them out. The reason is that in this category people want to experiment with new stuff, and once they have done that, they want to go back to the regular product.

Q. Though Juhi Chawla no longer represents the brand, people continue to associate her with it. Does that bother you?

They will, because she was associated with the brand for a very long period - plus there is nostalgia. But the brand still moves on because what they are seeing from the brand is far bigger than what they have seen in the past.

Q. Do you feel threatened by look-alikes brands?

I would see it as a threat if the market was flat but that is not the case. There are more than 2,000 players in this segment and barring a few, the market is extremely fragmented. There are people operating out of shacks who sell in a range of 25 km. All these people are not killing the market but they are helping it to grow.

Source:http://www.afaqs.com/interviews/index.html?id=380_Kurkure-has-added-sanction-to-sanctity:-Nalin-Sood---Pepsico