Brands & Branding and Private Labels Case Study

Branded Indian Snacks Market: Case of PepsiCo's 'Kurkure'

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Abstract:
The sunrise sector of the Indian process foods business - branded snacks segment, was growing at about 30% annually. Unbranded players dominated the market with a 50% share, while the organised market had national players like PepsiCo in the western style segment and Haldiram's in the traditional segment. PepsiCo's 'Kurkure' brand, a bridge category, was promoted as 'The Great Indian Snacking Brand' and was able to garner a significant market share for itself. Kurkure kept updating its brand image with changing times. But the fast growing snacks segment attracted established players like ITC Ltd that launched the 'Bingo' snacks brand in March 2007. Within 10 months of launch Bingo cornered about 16% of the market share. PepsiCo, which had built a strong presence in the market with 'Lays' and 'Kurkure' brands, supported Kurkure with innovative promotions and advertising, to secure its position. It changed its positioning platform for Kurkure. However, increasing competition, innovative advertising and promotional efforts by rivals made it difficult for PepsiCo to retain loyalty of its consumer base. The case helps to understand the role of advertising in brand building.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To analyse the power of advertising.
• To understand the role of brand communications in marketing.
• To understand the importance of positioning.
• To repositioning to be relevant to the target group.

Keywords :  Indian snacks and savoury market, Brand communications, Snacking habits of Indians, Haldirams, Repositioning, Brand recall, Food processing sector, India, Ready to eat packaged foods, India, PepsiCo India, Mindset segmentation of India