AgTalk | We are a very wide and democratic brand: Britannia's Neeraj Chandra

Britannia, a brand who has ruled the country with rich, healthy and tasty product offerings, has maintained its position and marked its presence with some amazing and inventive launches. The best part of the brand is that we can live with it the entire day. They have always reached their consumers with a variety like, 'office products', 'on the go products', 'tea products' etc. Through a combination of innovations, branding, designing the right products and making them connect better through their good marketing practices, brand 'Britannia' has remained at the forefront and is one of the leading food brands of India.

Speaking exclusively with Adgully, Neeraj Chandra, COO & VP, Britannia Industries Ltd. shared some insights about the brand and also explained how he plans to drive growth for the FMCG major.

Neeraj Chandra, joined Britannia in July 2005 as Vice President - Marketing, Sales and Innovation, responsible for orchestrating the revenue side of the business. He was later promoted to hold a more eminent position of COO of the company. Chandra has worked with Hindustan Lever, and has also worked on building several power brands like Pond's, Fair and Lovely, Lux, Lifebuoy and Clinic.

Adgully (AG): Share with us some highlights of your brand 'Britannia'.

Neeraj Chandra (NC): Britannia, as a brand is a part of our culture, is part of our history and we have been in the industry for over ninety years. The brand always been a relevant, active and updated one and has always catered the needs of its consumers which is very important for a brand. So it has always provided healthy options. We have lived up to offer consumers with the products which are good in taste and good for health, which is a very tough combination. In a context of giving healthy and tasty food we have always renovated our brand, we have had so many innovations for our consumers. So we have innovations coming in not only in the biscuits space but also in dairy space, cakes and therefore we have always offered delicious and healthy products. We are a very wide and democratic brand.

AG: Shed some light on Britannia Nutrichoice and the reason behind this launch of Nutrichoice.

NC: Britannia Nutrichoice is brand which is catering to provide healthier options to the consumers and today people are seeking health in whatever they eat. So we introduced biscuits like Nutrichoice High Fiber and also we have more specific entries like Diabetic friendly ones etc. Today the scenario is that what people eat is main meal outside and some snacks on their move. So basically, now a day's food is getting defused over time and place. So it was really natural for a brand like Nutrichoice, who has always focused on healthier side, to come up with a healthier option for people to have healthy food products. The brand has reached the number position in terms of providing nutritious and tasty food.

AG: What have been your key marketing and communication strategies?

NC: One of the key parts of our communication strategy is to find out really our people looking for and having a right message for them. For example: we are right now advertising cakes, with a story giving the message that 'milk + eggs + fruit is equal to health'. And this is the right message which consumers get and therefore they adopt it. So the important part of our strategy is to find what consumers want and what is relevant for them and communicate that. Secondly we will embrace the channels which are doing really well in the digital space. Thirdly, we will be constantly doing things which are really pertinent for the society and will be always connecting with what is the latest buzz.

AG: Share with us your thoughts on the advertising and promotion plans and strategies.

NC: At the end of the day whatever we do in terms advertising, promotions etc, it is about building the brand and meeting the consumer needs. According to me whichever way we go, our priority will be meeting consumer needs and you are going to deliver business and that however you do it, may be by building campaign or whatever, it will finally come back to you..

AG: How has Indian market grown in terms of your brand?

NC: We on the Indian context have had good growth in terms of economy. But more importantly, since we work in the food industry, we have faced a very fast changing sector as food preferences of the consumers change at a very fast speed. In many senses India is at inflection point on food.

AG: How do you see 2012?

NC: What we did ten years ago no longer holds true in the market now. The market is growing bigger and better with newer products and innovative needs and demands. On the whole we would see a dynamic, ground-breaking, pioneer and a good year ahead, obviously full of new challenges as the inflation will be high. There will challenges that will be positive in terms of delivering to the needs of the consumers as well as challenges in terms of handling things like inflation and make sure that it will not impact the consumers.

AG: What has been you share in the market?

NC: Our share is around a third of the market. We are leaders in products like cakes, national leaders in bread; we have a large share of value added dairy products and we are probably the leaders in cheese products. So basically, we have differential shares in most of the sectors. We are very much consumer focused. | By Aanchal Kohli [aanchal(at)adgully.com]

Check out the video interaction with Neeraj Chandra, COO & VP, Britannia [CLICK HERE]