HUL reinvigorates Annapurna

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Fast moving consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) is repositioning its staples brand Annapurna on the health platform. The company is doing so by taking the fortification route, says Sidharth Singh, vice-president, packaged foods. Annapurnas essence has been about fortification. We would like to play that up, he says. The company had recently begun taking steps in that direction with the launch of a low-sodium salt calledAnnapurna Zinda Dil. The product, targeted at those suffering from high blood pressure, has been placed in the top five metros of the country, Singh says. The initial response has been good. There are many routes you can take while extending a brand diet diversification, supplementation or fortification. We chose the latter because we found it most impactful, he adds. In recent years, Saffola from rival Marico had also taken the fortification route to extend its franchise. From edible oil, the '400-crore Saffola has moved into salt, atta mixes, rice, oats all of them speaking of some health benefit or the other. The fortification route is not new, says Arnab Mitra, an FMCGanalyst at brokerage firm Indiainfoline. Annapurnas contribution to HULs overall foods business is small. This is an attempt to play in niche segments. Shirish Pardeshi, senior FMCG analyst, Anand Rathi Securities, also agrees. The commodity business is a low-margin venture. With fortified foods you can play the premium pricing game, he says. Typically, a packet of branded salt costs anywhere between '12 and '15 per kg. Branded packaged atta, on the other hand, is priced at '40-50 per kg. Key players in the segment include Aashirwad from ITC, Tata Salt and ShaktiBog Atta, etc. Even modern retailers such as Future and Reliance have entered the fray with their private labels.

Kissan : Totally Confused?

Brand : Kissan Company: HLL Agency:Lowe Brand Count:232

Kissan in a way is a totally confused brand. Infact any brand from HLL's stable pass through a stage of utter confusion. The brand came into HLL's fold in 1993 when Brooke Bond India acquired the brand from

UB Group. In the year 2000 the brand was worth Rs 400 crore becoming a market leader in Jams squashes and Ketchup. The brand then went all the way south to become a spectator when its leadership positions was taken by new brands. The utter confusion regarding the longterm strategy for Kissan brand was visible through the experiments that was conducted on this brand by Hll. HLL always wanted to make it big in the food business. Understandably so , the Indian processed food market is having a staggering size of Rs 2,80,000 crores and the market is highly fragmented. Now wonder an FMCG giant like HLL wants a slice of it. But with a brand which had a tremendous equity during the late nineties and early 2000, HLL had weird plans. One of the major casualty of MS Banga's Power brand strategy was Kissan. During the early 2000, the brand Kissan was rebranded as Kissan Annapurna. Kissan Annapurna was marketing not jams and squashes by Atta,salt and other staple foods.Later Annapurna and Kissan was splited into two seperate brands , one concentrating on staple foods and other on processed foods. This migration strategy proved

to be ve ry costly for both Kissan and Annapurna brand. Kissan was synonymous with Jams and Squashes during its initial years. Kissan Ketchup was a market leader in ketchup segment but these experiments and myopic strategies pushed the brand behind the focused and aggressive Maggi. While in squashes , the aggressive campaigns of Rasna and other cola marketers made the squash category irrelevant. So all through the period 2001-2005, Kissan was in a sticky wicket. But now according to reports, the brand mandarins of HLL is now clear about Kissan as a brand for processed food like Jams ,ketchups and like. That change is visible in the recent campaign of Kissan which takes a unique view of Ketchup. Taking the tagline " Ao banaye pakode bahetar" translated to " Making Pakode taste better". In these series of ads, the brand plays a second fiddle to the main snack. The brand takes the positioning of a "Great Accompaniment " .The same theme is reflected in the latest ad of Maggi featuring Javed Jaffri in a Jail. Although the brand had problems at the strategic level, Kissan had its own share of innovations. It had a innovative squeezy package for the Ketchup which became very popular. Besides all migrations, its Jams were very popular . Kissan even used Rahul Dravid to endorse the brand.The brand also has came out with Low calorie jam to appeal to the health conscious crowd. The unwarranted brand extension and migrations had made Kissan's brand equity suffer and that loss is

not that easy to cover. Although Maggi had similarly extended itself to be an umbrella brand, the brand had a focus. But unlike Maggi, Kissan extended itself to Rice, Atta and even salt and also messed up by combining its name with Annapurna brand. Kissan is a classic example of "Messing Up a Successful brand".

Annapurna eyes national market

ROOPAK GOSWAMI Searchlight

- A Guwahati-based agro and dairy products group has opened a sales unit in New Delhi as part of its plan to have a national presence in the next couple

Guwahati, Feb. 3: Homegrown companies of the region are beginning to make their presence felt across the country.

Annapurna Group, an FMCG company dealing in agro-based and dairy products headquartered in Guwahati, is going north by establish Delhi. It also hopes to make its products available all over the country.

According to the companys growth strategy and in order to build its brand image, Annapurna wants to make its presence felt throughou believes that this will also create more job opportunities, the groups managing director Subir Ghosh told The Telegraph.

Ghosh said they were shortly introducing new products like readymade curry paste, carbonated drinks and energy drinks along with ice c other milk-based products. The company makes ghee, honey, sauce, fruit squash, fruit jam, fruit-based beverages, jelly and pickle, and h toned milk and dairy whitener. We are competing with national players like Hindustan Lever, Nestle and others, he said.

The company will be spreading its operational wings in the northern part of India, including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh a 14 and broaden their business across the country by the end of 2015 or 2016. Its sales have been increasing by 10-15 per cent on an av to increase it by another 5-10 per cent in the coming years. The company, however, had witnessed a slump in 2010-11 because of the re

The group started in 1952 with the Annapurna brand and soon became one of the leading players in eastern India. Since then it has add its kitty and now, Annapurna, Fundazz, and Sprint are the three leading brands the group.

The company is divided into four operational units Sundarbans Food Products (I) Pvt Ltd, which is engaged in manufacturing ghee an Agro Products Pvt Ltd, engaged in manufacturing agro-based food products, and two units of Annapurnna Food and Beverages. It opera different distribution channels like super stockists, distributors, whole-sellers and retailers to reach its consumer.

Looking at the present market opportunities, the company has introduced different products in the dairy segment. It recently launched the (ultra high temperature) toned milk in tetra packs and powdered milk in the dairy whitener category.

The company undertakes strength, weakness, opportunity and threat (SWOT) analysis which helps it build a successful presence and ap marketing strategy and proper implementation and follow up of every project and dedicated marketing team has helped it to build its pres

We have been able to provide quality products to the consumers at very affordable prices, an official said. The market is a competitive on quality has helped us make our presence felt. Very soon, all of the groups products will be available in all restaurants, cinema halls and multiplexes, among others, he added.

It also has a women entrepreneurship project where unemployed women can use their talent to uplift the quality of their life and generate

thereby, build a strong brand image of Annapurna in every nook and corner of the country.

Industry officials say companies are targeting the Northeast as a major market to expand their business, as markets in other parts of the saturated.

Neramac managing director S. Bhattacharjee said there is tremendous scope in the dairy sector and the opportunities are large and with nearby, the market is a huge one.