Parle official websitehttp://www.parleagro.com/whats%20new.htm

Creativeland Asia Adds Mother’s Love In New Hippo TVC

Parle Agro’s campaign marks the launch of Hippo’s new variant Round-Round

munchies.

Hitesh Ranot | Delhi | January 17, 2011

‘Nobody cares the way a mother does, especially, when it comes to

eating. But at times when a mother can’t be around to feed her children, someone else

needs to.’ Creativeland Asia underscores this simple truth in their new TVC which launches

Hippo’s new variant Round-Round munchies which comes in six regional flavours.

Parle Agro’s Hippo Round-Round munchies are available in some of India’s favorite regional

flavours like the Gujarati Mango Chutney, Punjab da Pickle, Goan Butter Garlic, Shillong

Noodle Masala, Firangi Cheese’n’ Spice and Tanjore Tangy Sambhar. In other words, in

flavours a mother would passionately prepare. Hippo Round-Round is the first ever wheat-

based, round-shaped snack and is available in packs of Rs.5, Rs.10 and Rs.20.

Like in the previous Hippo commercial, the film is seen through Hippo’s trademark

perspective. Hippo now advances in his philosophy; charming the audience with mother-like

care. Reaching out to all those who miss home and long for its essence, Hippo offers them

munchies in regional home-made flavours, much to their delight.

So when Hippo notices a Meghalayan boy left unattended in a hospital far away from home,

Hippo offers him ‘Shillong Noodle Masala’ flavoured munchies. Hippo even pampers the boy,

bathes him and puts him to bed like his mother would and leaves behind a pack of munchies

for him. Likewise, Hippo attends to and cheers up a few soldiers at the border with ‘Punjab

da Pickle’ munchies and makes a foreign tourist, who seems to be lost in a town, feel at

home with ‘Firangi Cheese’n’ Spice’ munchies. A heart-warming sequence of mothers from

different regions of the country shows them preparing munchies. The mothers chop

vegetables, pound spices and taste the munchies, before packing them and handing them

over to Hippo. Hippo then sets off on his hunger-fighting expedition.

Shedding light on the thought behind this TVC, Sajan Raj Kurup, Founder and Creative

Chairperson, Creativeland Asia said, “We decided to position the popular regional

flavours of Hippo Round-Round Munchies as ‘maa ke hathon se bane flavours’ rather than

just doing one of those regional stereotypical numbers. This charming piece of

communication is born out of the unconditional love we have for home made food in India

and the universal truth about mother’s care and concern. It is blissful to watch and is really

close to my heart.”

Commenting on the TVC, Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director, Parle Agro,

said, ‘With this communication, Hippo also encourages snacking to be taken as a way to

keep in touch with one’s roots. Hippo, with its ‘food for thought’ not only tempts the Indian

palette with its unique regional flavours, but also strengthens its position as the solution for

both hunger and its consequences.’

The commercial’s background score is a happy and heart-rending track titled “Maa, meri

maa”, sung by Mohit Chauhan, of Silk Route fame. Conceptualized by Creativeland Asia,

the film has been directed by Ram Madhavani and produced by Equinox Films. The

commercial has been released in over six languages. The creative team that has worked on

this campaign includes Sajan Raj Kurup, Vikram Gaikwad, Anu Joseph, Huzefa Kapadia and

Maria Iqbal, while Jay Gala managed the Account.

‘Hippo think mumma’s food work wonders! It inspire Hippo to make munchies in mumma’s

special flavours. So, Hippo go to places and offer munchies to people who miss their

mumma and her love,’ beams an earnest Hippo explaining his philosophy.

Hippo : Fights Hunger Brand : Hippo

Company : Parle Agro

Ad Agency : Creativeland Asia

Brand Analysis Count # 446

Another brand has entered into the highly competitive snack- food market.

The brand Hippo was nationally launched recently by Parle Agro. The

Indian branded snack-food market is worth Rs 6500 crore has now become

a battle ground of titans.

Indian snack-food market growing at 25% p.a is witnessing marketing fight

worth watching. The players are trying every tricks of the trade. This

intense marketing competition has expanded the market and also created

new segments. One such new segment is the healthy snack segment.

Marketers were aware of the gradual trend among consumers towards

healthy foods. Although this trend is limited to certain sections of society,

marketers are calculating that healthy snack-foods will become a mainstay

category in the snack-food market. Infact Ms Indra Nooyi of Pepsico had

openly stated her vision of Pepsico leading the healthy food movement.

The healthy snack segment in the Indian Snack market has got a big boost

in recent times with the launch of Aliva brand by Pepsico and Monaco

Smart Chips by Parle. Earlier, Lays tried its hand by launching a low-calorie

version to counter Bingo's claim of 'baked not fried 'proposition. The high

profile campaign of Monaco Smart Chips featuring Aamir Khan put the

spotlight on the healthy angle of snacks.

Hippo calls itself " Delicious Baked Munchies ". This baked wheat based

munchy is neither a potato chips nor a biscuit, but something in between

( source Business India). The munchies are available in Pizza flavor,Chinese

Manchurian, Hot N Sweet, Thai Chilly , Yoghurt Mint Chutney and Indian

Chatpatta. The brand is priced at Rs 10 per pack.

Hippo is currently running its launch campaign across channels.

Watch the ad here : Hippo

Hippo has tried to position itself differently from the rest of the brands.

While the other snack brands have positioned itself on product properties,

Hippo brand tried to take the generic need platform.

For example :

Lays is positioned as a convenient snack,

Bingo on the different tastes,

Aliva also on health + taste

Monaco Smart Chips on health ( baked ).

Hippo is being positioned as a hunger- killer. The brand wants to be a guilt-

free snack for hunger moments. The brand is banking on two properties -

made from wheat and free of MSG & GMO to prove its healthy snack claim.

The brand also chose a different way to communicating its positioning to

the consumer . The brand is trying to tell a story. The story is based on the

premise that ' Hunger is the root cause of all evil. So the brand motto is '

fight hunger, fight evil'. The brand has adopted the mascot Hippo who is in

the forefront of eliminating hunger and thus eliminating evil. Hippo has the

tagline " Hippo Fights Hunger ".

Although the brand has tried to tell a story and successfully created an

initial hype, I have serious reservations about the differentiation of the

brand. The brand has taken the " Hunger" platform, but how is it different

from other snack-foods that offer same qualities ? How is Hippo different

from a Bingo or Monaco Smart Chips ? .

I feel a lack of uniqueness in the brand. The problem of lack of

differentiation will come into forefront when the initial consumer interest

dies down. Without a clear USP, the brand needs to constantly stay on top

of the Share of Noise to drive the sales. If you observe the campaigns of

Parle Agro brands, the company adopts a " On/Off " kind of advertising

strategy. Sometimes there are lot of ads, and sometimes, there is no sign of

any brand communication. In a category like Snacks such intermittent burst

of ads may not work. One needs to have a steady continuous stream of

campaigns ( ATL and BTL) to drive the sales.

From the first campaign, I don't see any attempt from the brand to create a

differentiation. What the brand had tried to do was to establish brand

familiarity which it had done successfully. But the brand needs to find a

meaningful differentiation if it wants to survive for the long term. The brand

can develop its positioning further using its core brand promise of " Guilt-

free snack for hunger moments ".

One of the most striking aspect about this brand is the packaging. The

company has put in lot of work behind making the packaging stand out in

stores. Since the purchase of snacks are highly spontaneous, the packaging

offers immense strategic importance. Hippo has really differentiated itself

from the rest of the crowd in the packaging front.

Another aspect of the brand is its emphasis on ' After-Marketing". After-

Marketing is what the brand does after it has sold itself to the consumer.

Like Appy Fizz, Hippo has cleverly used the packaging to engage the

consumers after the purchase. The pack contains interesting information

and one-liners which takes the brand-consumer conversations beyond

advertising .

As a new product launch, Hippo has done all the right marketing moves.

The brand has a catchy name , good product qualities, excellent packaging,

nice pricing, distribution reach etc. It has also created right kind of noise in

the media during the launch. The real test is after the initial euphoria. The

brand is fighting players with deep pockets. It will be interesting to watch

how Hippo takes on the giants.

Parle Agro Hippo: Redefining the role of snackingBy Devina Joshi, afaqs!, Mumbai, February 04, 2010 Section: News Category: Advertising

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In a bid to be different, here's a snack brand that doesn't go the 'time pass' way. afaqs! explores Parle Hippo's do-gooder image

For the longest time, the snacking category has munched on creative ideas that are centred around the 'time pass' way in which these products are consumed. In a bid to step away from the fun (and often frivolous) positioning adopted by some snack brands, Hippo - the new baked munchies from the Parle Agro stable - has attempted, in its very first campaign, to veer away from category norms.

Not that it is getting all sombre: the brand has simply tapped upon the insight that at the root of every problem is a common enemy: hunger.

The commercial, a satire made by Creativeland Asia, has the Bollywood song, Pyaar baante chalo, for a music track and revolves around a mascot, Hippo, who solves the world's problems by simply helping people fight hunger. Whether it is a war situation, riots, politicians resorting to violence during assembly meets, terrorism, corrupt 'doodhwalas' mixing water with milk, or children robbed of their childhood as they make firecrackers, Hippo's take is that an empty stomach is the devil's workshop.

He offers the snack to people in a bid to solve their problems and cheer them up. It works, as everyone celebrates winning the 'fight' over hunger (and hence, the victory of good over evil), with packs of Hippo.

Munch on this

Nadia Chauhan, joint managing director, Parle Agro tells afaqs!, "Hippo doesn't want to be a me-too in a category cluttered with frivolousness in its communication. Hippo has taken snacking responsibly by positioning itself as a solution for hunger. The brand, in its sweet, light-hearted manner, takes a social stand."

Raj Kurup, founder and creative chairperson, Creativeland Asia, says, "Hungry people are often grumpy. In India, we respect food and it is a fantastic way of calming people down. If two people are fighting at home, often an elderly figure will calm them down by asking them to eat." This insight led to the final creative idea. To make the commercial identifiable, macro situations were chosen instead of household problems or micro ones. Some 90 situations involving societal/world problems were first penned down, of which six odd were shortlisted for the final film.

The creation of a mascot - Hippo - as the brand's messenger was decided upon then. According to the agency, Hippo is this earnest, easygoing guy who understands that often, we don't take care of our health by neglecting to eat. As a character profile, Hippo resembles the affable waiter who loiters in the background at a party, serving food tactfully to ensure no one goes hungry and then quietly slips away. The creation of Hippo as a mascot (and one that stays behind the scenes, as his face isn't shown throughout the film) is, in a way, the brand's way of saying that the true heroes are its consumers, and that Hippo cares for them. "As a society, we share food in India and by way of doing that, we share love and joy. Hence, the 'Pyaar baante chalo' track fit in well with our idea," Kurup shrugs.

The commercial, shot in Mumbai, has been released in seven languages and is directed by Ram Madhvani of Equinox Films, who was also behind the LMN work for Creativeland Asia. The 90 second ad has 50 and 20 second edited versions airing on TV as well.

A digital site, www.hippofighthunger.com, has also been created to generate buzz around the brand, and shall involve contests and other engagement properties to get people to submit their own Hippo stories, videos and ideas. Some corporate social responsibility initiatives are also being planned, apart from outdoor and radio advertising.

A budget of Rs 7-10 crore has been chalked out by Parle Agro on Hippo for the coming year.

Hippo has been in the market for about six months. Its branding process started with the packaging itself: about six eye-grabbing, bright colours (with the character Hippo on them) have

been released to represent the different flavours. In fact, the brand has walked a different path by not showing the product in action, either in its communication or on its packaging. "The whole point is to break category norms and tell a brand story that generates interest," Kurup says.

Hippo-notic?

For its feel-good factor and taking on a social stand, the commercial scores in the eyes of the ad fraternity. Thomas Xavier, chairperson and national creative director, Orchard Advertising, says, "It is a breakthrough idea for a snack brand as the category usually shows humorous/family situations as points of consumption. However, Hippo gives itself a larger sense of purpose/mission by trying to change the world in its own way. That's a great way of talking for a brand."

Xavier adds that it is an idea that has a long shelf life and has a'70mm' feel. "Hippo is not playing safe and that's good," he adds.

Prathap Suthan, national creative director, Cheil Worldwide, feels Creativeland Asia has done it again - first with LMN and now with Hippo - when it comes to a brand name that is sticky, memorable and 'snacky'. Further, he gives points to the bright packaging and branding and the healthy ingredients for a new snack brand.

"However, at the end of the commercial, I still don't know what kind of a snack this is," he says. As a customer in a competitive environment, Suthan aka Pat feels that he would like to know whether these are crispy chocolates, wafers, biscuits or potato chips. "By not showing them, there's mystery," he says, "But mystery may not make one want to put his hand inside the packet."

Pat feels that the film is definitely entertaining, with a big thought. "I empathise with the truth of hunger being the root of all evil, and therefore kill hunger - and kill evil," he says. "But it's just that I'd rather snack, refresh, get my breath and get back into more evil ways. But that's just me!" He adds that the social arena is a bit of an overkill, with too many people getting into the same box. However, this one is a "likeably mad film".

Parle Agro launches first ad campaign for its snack brand - HIPPO

Announcement / Corporate February 11, 2010, 18:47 IST

Parle Agro, a trusted household name in the beverage industry and an upcoming player in the foods segment, released the first TVC for its new snack brand ‘HIPPO’.

Having completed a nationwide rollout since its launch in June last year, the brand has come out with its first television commercial. With social consciousness high on the company agenda, HIPPO’s first ad is a lighthearted and satirical take on an issue with social relevance.

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The TVC is based on the belief that hunger is the root cause of evil - therefore kill hunger, kill evil. The campaign highlights the evils of society being resolved by offering HIPPO in situations of conflict, restoring cheer, goodness and happiness amongst people.

The entire film is seen through the eyes of Hippo, the brand mascot who is on a mission to make the world a happier place by fighting hunger. Throughout the film, Hippo relentlessly fights tribulations such as terrorism, child labour, violence and adulteration by offering HIPPO munchies to people. The line in the TVC, “Hippo ka manna hain ki duniya mein harr buraayi ki jadd hain bhook. Toh please, bhooke mutt raho” (Hippo believes that the root of all evil in the world is hunger. So please, don’t be hungry), explains the HIPPO philosophy. The classic

Kishore Kumar number, ‘Pyaar baante chalo’ which plays in the background further strengthens the brand’s message of spreading love through snacking.

The insight that an empty stomach is the devil’s workshop stands true when one observes how an irritable or grumpy mood can be changed by killing hunger. Thus food is a great way of calming one down. The HIPPO ad campaign shows everyone resolving their problems and celebrating the 'fight' over hunger with packs of HIPPO. This approach not only breaks category norms but generates interest as well.

Speaking on the ad campaign, Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director & CMO, Parle Agro, said, “With the new TVC for Hippo, we have attempted to move away from category norms. Hippo doesn't want to be a me-too brand in a category cluttered with frivolousness in its communication. In he TVC, we have tried to integrate a social message into the brand in order to add soul and purpose to HIPPO. Hippo has taken snacking responsibly by positioning itself as a solution for hunger.”

The commercial, shot in Mumbai, has been released in seven languages. It is conceptualized by Creativeland Asia and directed by Equinox Films. The 100-second ad has 50 and 20 second edited versions airing on TV as well.

A website, www.hippofighthunger.com, has also been created to generate buzz around the brand and take the proposition forward. It will involve contests and other engagement properties. Some corporate social responsibility initiatives are also being planned, apart from outdoor and radio advertising.

About Parle AgroParle Agro is a trusted household name in the beverages industry and has been refreshing India since two decades with leading brands like Frooti, consistent winner of India's most trusted fruit beverage brand, Appy, Appy Fizz and packaged drinking water, Bailley. A pioneer in the Indian industry, Parle Agro is associated with many firsts. We were the first to introduce fruit drinks in tetra packaging, first to introduce apple nectar and the first to introduce fruit drinks in PET bottles. In 2007, Parle Agro forayed into foods with the launch of two confectionery brands, Mintrox mints and Buttercup candies. This was soon followed by two more brands - Buttercup Softease and Frewt Éclairs. Recent beverage products from Parle Agro include Saint Juice, LMN and Grappo Fizz. In 2009, Parle Agro forayed into snacks with the launch of Hippo, a move that will take the company closer towards its vision of becoming a leader in the foods and beverages industry.

Moneylife » life » advertisement » parle-hippo-maa-to-the-rescue

 

Parle Hippo: Maa to the rescue!

January 21, 2011 01:12 PM |

Anil Thakraney

Mother’s love is wasted on the wrong product. ‘Hippo’ was better off solving the world’s hunger problem

There's an old saying in the advertising world: When all else fails, use emotion. And when that seems a trifle out of

sync proposition in the product category, rush to good ol' mother's love. Can't go wrong in India with maa ka pyaar.

Well, 'Hippo', for its new 'Round-Round' munchies variant, has tried to do exactly that. Earlier, the Parle Agro snack

brand had attempted to solve the world's hunger problem. That bleeding heart strategy appears to have done little

magic… more people are dying of starvation on Earth than ever before. So I suppose that prompted the advertiser to

drop the idea of saving the world, and instead switch to selling the munchie on the promise of love and care.

Now the 'animal' (we only get to see shadows for some reason) substitutes mummy's affection. Especially for

'children' far removed from their dear mommas. Army jawans, a boy in a hospital, a firangi tourist, etc. And of course,

moms from all parts of India make an appearance to force in the pan India positioning. The Hippo, like a Mumbai

dabbawalla, takes their 'preparations' and circulates them all over. And yes, there's that expected emotional jingle,

which pays glowing tributes to maataji.

So will it work? Well, maa can't go wrong in this mother-obsessed nation, can she? It's always a safe trick to pull.

However, for this particular product category, which is nothing but a fatty, mass-produced snack, I find the connection

a bit corny. Which mother would like to send out frivolous food to her ailing son? Or to her jawan son posted at the

border? If this was a deliciously produced health food, loaded with vitamins, proteins, minerals, etc, etc, the 'maa ka

dulaar' concept may have worked. But for a floozy tit bit, this idea is totally incredible. In fact, the last thing a caring

mom would want is to courier a time-pass munchie to her hospitalised son. Come to think of it, security guards posted

at good hospitals won't even allow it to be carried into the premises!

Net net: Mother's love wasted on the wrong product. Hippo was better off solving the world's hunger problem.

Especially in India where the aam aadmi isn't able to afford basic food stuff like onions, toor dal and tomatoes. "Can't

afford a chappati? Go for Hippo instead!" I can hear Soniaji muttering in Italian.

Bottom of Form

Parle hopes to be second time lucky

Sohini Sen / Mumbai December 23, 2010, 0:58 IST

Musst chips launched with much fanfare in 2008 flopped, but the firm isn’t giving up yet on the fast-growing fried snacks segment.

Two years ago, Parle products, the market leader for biscuits, had forayed into the fried snacks segment with much fanfare. The products, launched under the brandname, Musst Chips and Musst Sticks, were supposed to take on the big boys in the segment – Pepsico’s Frito Lay’s (60 per cent market share) and ITC’s Bingo (15 per cent). Parle, which had also launched Musst Bites in the flavoured cheese category, was looking at a market share of 20-25 per cent within one year of the launch.

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But the experiment bombed as Musst could never go beyond a 3 per cent share in volume terms. Lack of adequate independent wholesalers led to distribution problems. Product quality also needed to be worked on as some of the flavours were not up to the mark. Add to that a not-so attractive packaging, and the company had to withdraw the snacks brand.

Cut to 2010. Parle has relaunched the potato wafers line under a new name. Parle Chips, as the wafers are now known, is the company’s plan to take home a part of the big pie. The names have been changed to Parle Chips and Fulltoss and the flavoured cheeselings segment has been renamed as Parle Cheeselings.

The company now hopes the ‘Parle’ in the name will help as there is a strong consumer recall of the name, which is known as a trusted biscuit maker with products such as Parle-G, Monaco and Krack Jack.

Pravin Kulkarni, general manager (marketing), Parle Products, says “We had launched the products under the brand ‘Musst’ as we felt the density in advertising would work in our favour. Instead of advertising for two separate brands, we were talking about one. It should have saved us on advertising costs. However, consumer research showed that the same brand name was creating confusion in the buyers’ mind. Therefore, we rebranded the categories.”

Parle is now talking about a 20-25 per cent market share within the next one year. That can be a difficult task. The organised snack category — estimated to be around Rs 3,500-Rs 4,000 crore (the chips and sticks type of snack variety only) has a bevy of players already. Pepsi’s Frito Lays is the current market leader in the segment, followed by ITC, which came out with Bingo in early 2007. Parle Agro’s Hippo Chips has also caught the consumer’s eye with its smart packaging and innovative flavours. However, Hippo is not a direct competition as it falls under the baked snacks category.

But mere rebranding may not be enough. So Parle has gone in for a change in packaging and an improved distribution system. “With an impulse-driven category like chips, one has to be seen to be sold,” says Kulkarni. Parle has invested in separate racks and hangars to display the products in shops and has roped in independent wholesalers. It has also tied up with modern store outlets for the whole year, where the brands would be rotated every two months. The modern store outlets is more of a brand building step, and accounts for only five to six per cent of the brand’s total sales.

The company has not yet started using much of its advertising budget of Rs 5-10 crore for each brand and will launch above-the-line advertising campaigns shortly.

The products are priced at Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 20 per pack. Since there is not much leeway for pricing in this category, Parle has decided to offer more in quantity to stay ahead. Musst followed the same strategy, but Parle is now being more rational in view of the rising input costs. While Musst offered as much as 50-60 per cent extra every pack, Parle chips will give 20 per cent extra as compared to competition.

But the problem is this may not be enough, as regional players like Balaji and Haldirams can still afford to offer more in quantity since they do not advertise their products much. So margins are wafer-thin, more so because of the rising costs. Kulkarni plays down the problem and says, “once production increases, costs will come down.”

Parle Chips has been launched on a national scale after the rebranding. In the urban market, the cream and onion flavour, made famous by Lays, has proven to be a safe bet so far. For the mass market, the tomato flavour has proved to be one of the biggest draws. Parle now is planning to add more spice to the snacks war by launching its signature flavours such as ‘red chilli achar’ and ‘aloo chat’.

Parle joins snacks war, launches Hippo munchies

By Priyanka Dasgupta Brahma Jun 23 2009 , Mumbai

Tags: Hippo munchies, Launches, Parle, Companies

The baked foods segment is suddenly becoming the battleground for the big foods companies. After Pepsi’s Frito-Lay division launched biscuit brand Aliva to take on ITC’s Bingo, Parle Agro best known for its Frooti mango drink, has entered the market with five variants of wheat munchies called Hippo.

According to industry experts, these kind of products give better margins to the company, in addition to the fact that companies want to capitalise on the growing health consciousness of Indian consumers.

Nadia Chauhan, joint managing director and chief marketing officer, Parle Agro, said, “We entered the foods segment in 2007 with confectionery. With Hippo, our aim is to diversify further by adding snacks to our portfolio. This is a significant step for us as we move closer towards being a complete foods and beverages player.” The Indian branded snacks market is valued at over Rs. 6,500 crore and is growing at an annual rate of 25 per cent.

“The margins are higher in the snacks category. The companies are increasingly looking at driving higher margins by addressing the growing awareness among consumers to consume healthy snacks” said Nilanjan Dey, director, Wishlist Capital Advisors.

Marico, the maker of Parachute, recently launched Saffola Zest a baked snack positioned on the health platform in a couple of flavours. Hippo is a baked snack made of wheat and comes in five flavours, as compared with three flavours for Frito-Lay’s Aliva.

Each variant will be initially available in packs of Rs 5 and Rs 10.

“We are planning to launch Hippo in more stock keeping units to increase penetration and serve different consumption needs” Chauhan said.

The new brand is at present being manufactured at Parle Agro’s plant in Vatwa, Gujarat. The company also plans to make investments to increase its manufacturing capacity, distribution network and market infrastructure. Hippo will be distributed through the company’s existing distribution network for confectionery, which was created keeping in mind the entry into the snacks category.

Frito-Lay India’s launch of Aliva is being seen as a move conforming not only to the PepisCo’s portfolio transformation strategy, but also as an attempt to capitalise on the growing Indian salty snacks and biscuits market.

A growing number of young, urban professionals, working women, nuclear families and changing lifestyles have led to a significant rise in the demand for ready-to-eat snacks, say analysts.

Review: Parle Hippo Chips Ad

Showing just the Hippo hands holding packets adds intrigue to the overall treatment and is a useful visual device that can be employed in static media as well.

Reviewer: Manish Bhatt & Raghu Bhat

Raghu Bhat (left) and Manish Bhatt.

With around 13 years of experience in advertising, Manish Bhatt and Raghu Bhat, founder-directors of Scarecrow Communications Ltd, have worked on brands such as Cadbury, Asian Paints, Aegon Religare insurance, Wonderbra and Vaseline, among others.

Campaign: The ad for the baked snack is shot through the point of view of the mascot, Hippo. It shows him at different scenes of crime, war or conflict, offering the involved parties some Hippo chips. Everyone takes a bite and this is shown to resolve issues.

What did you all think of the ad?

Hunger is the root of all evil—that’s a great premise dripping with creative possibilities. The execution does full justice to the idea. The hand-held camera feel takes you on a roller-coaster journey into the underbelly of society. The track has “superhit” written all over it. The casting can’t be faulted. The format allows them to display the product range intelligently. In short, this is a labour of love. I like it because it’s funny without being inane. It projects a personality which is very confident of itself and doesn’t try too hard. For this reason alone, I think it will resonate with the audience. And lovely packaging too.

What are some of the key things advertisers should keep in mind while advertising healthy food options?

Most brands, while advertising healthy food options, get too carried away with the “health” bit. This is not smart thinking because the consumer is well aware that even baked snacks have their share of maida (refined flour), salt and preservatives. Copper sulphate might be healthier than potassium cyanide, but only relatively. No snack can hold its own against a bowl of dalia or a plate of steamed idlis. So instead of pretending that the baked snack is a “health food”, the communication should tank up on the parameters of fun, attitude and creativity. These can build an emotional connect. Health parameters like “baked, not fried” can be addressed as supers. Trying to build “health” into the storyline is as pointless as trying to shovel smoke.

Review – Parle Hippo Chips Ad

What do you think of their use of Hippo, considering that it’s not seen at all?

Smart thinking. Trying to show an animated hippo would’ve hiked production budgets and would’ve led to undue dependence on the animation studio. Plus, the hippo looks better as a flat coloured graphic as compared to the real thing (the real thing, with warts and adipose tissue, might have a slight bearing on the appetite appeal. Of course, if they had hired a celebrity to play the hippo, that would have added to the costs as well! Ha ha!). Showing just the Hippo hands holding packets adds intrigue to the overall treatment and is a useful visual device that can be employed in static media as well.

Sense of Marketing

This blog will share cases, news, and thoughts on new trends in marketing.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Parle Agro Hippo: Using Twitter to track inventory and replenish stocks I recently came across the initiative by Parle Agro for its baked snack brand Hippo where they have utilized the social media to track inventory and replenish stocks. This post examines the initiative.

Parle Agro launched snack food brand Hippo in 400,000 stores across India. Since its launch in June 2009, the brand has operated by the philosophy of establishing itself in the US$ 1.5 billion Indian snack market with its unusual tagline, ‘Hunger

is the root of all evil. Don’t be hungry.’ The package of Hippo baked munchies sported its mascot, an unusual black-coloured character named Hippo. In February 2010, Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director & CMO, Parle Agro Pvt Ltd. stated that “It’s been nearly seven months since the brand was launched and by now we have a national footprint. The response has been very good following the launch and we have exceeded our expectations in these seven months. We also opened four factories since the production began”. However, the unexpected sales pressure along with a new, unsettled sales and distribution network created problems in inventory management as stocks were drying up in stores and they found it challenging to track and re-stock the empty stores quickly. The coverage of retail stores was further complicated because more than 90 % of Indian snack market was still catered through unorganised retail.

In order to reinforce its sales and distribution network, Parle Agro partnered with Creativeland Asia and turned to social media to experiment with alternative retail inventory tracking methods. The snack brand explored the possibility of using social media to crowdsource the sales and distribution network in a huge country like India and get consumers to voluntarily work on augmenting its supply chain efforts. Both the partners came up with something very special on Twitter, pushing the boundaries of what 140 characters can do for a snack food. What they have achieved, in short, can be called crowdsourced inventory tracking.

Hippo asked his Twitter followers to send a tweet whenever they couldn’t find Hippo in stores and promised to replenish stocks within hours. On February 2010, the @HelloMeHippo twitter account sent out this message: “Hippo ask you tell to Hippo when you not find Hippo in shop. Hippo come there at once and fight hunger.” The company called it ‘Hippo English,’ ostensibly straight from the mouth of the mascot itself. Parle Agro acted on the tweets by sending word to local distribution partners to get snacks into the newly empty shelve who restocked the store within hours. Hippo also reciprocated with incentives and real-time stock replenishment updates on Twitter.

As people followed the Hippo’s call, Parle Agro became beneficiaries of the first Twitter-based real-time nationwide stock checker. At negligible cost Parle Agro managed to leverage Tweeters, ‘mostly… in cities where Hippo was present but maybe temporarily unavailable,’ as an essential part of their supply lines. The company had Tweets pouring in from 45 cities across India. Thus, Parle Agro had 400 additional people helping it in its sales and distribution efforts over Twitter – equivalent to almost 45 % of the strength of its sales and distribution network itself. The company claimed that sales rose by 76 % in the first few months of its launch of the campaign.

The resulting response prompted Parle Agro to set up a core cell which instantly passes the information received as tweets to the respective area sales and

distribution teams. Hippo continues to respond to the tweets with regular and meticulous updates on stock replenishment and also sends out personalised anti-hunger hampers to the most active tweeters, complete with a handwritten note. The initiative became one of the six entries from Indian agencies which were shortlisted in the Media Lions at Cannes 2010 in the Best Use of Social Media Marketing sub-category.

While the initiative focused on places where Hippo was already sold, it has potential to be much more. Parle Agro believes that they haven’t just created infrastructure to track stock, they’ve created one that can identify, gauge demand in, and prioritise new markets. Nadia Chauhan stated, “if a retailer doesn’t stock Hippo but there is a consumer demand for it, we can convince him to stock it. The initiative has also helped us to identify markets where Hippo sells out fast” While the company says that the initiative aimed to sharpen Hippo’s distribution, it can be said that it also helped in spreading up awareness, top of mind recall and demand from consumers.

Thanks to their popularity, Hippo munchies flew off the shelves; thanks to social media, they flew back on them.