IMC Term Paper-Complan

7/28/2019 IMC Term Paper-Complan

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Industry Profile:

The milk shortage of the 1960 s was what first fuelled the growth of the Health Food Drink

sector. With the availability of milk being rare and quality always suspect, milk additives

were in high demand. The following decades saw the sector cruising along at an 8-10%

growth rate, with milk shortages fuelling growth. Encouraged by the growth, lot of

companies jumped onto the bandwagon. The sector saw a flurry of launches from Complan,

Nutramul, Boost, Maltova etc.

Traditionally positioned as milk substitutes, the biggest markets for Milk Food Drinks

(MFDs) were in the milk deficient Southern and Eastern regions of India. However, after the

success of Operation Flood by the National Dairy Development Board in the 1980s, MFDswere repositioned as health beverages. (Operation Flood was a programme launched in

Gujarat and was aimed at increasing milk production). A decade later a flurry of re-launches,

nutrients, freebies galore health food drinks are fighting to regain stamina as industry goes

through trying times. After a rapid 10% volume growth between 1996 and 1997, the market

tanked in 1998.

Today, the market for health beverages as a category is valued at Rs.10, 400 million and

comprises a volume of 48,000 tonnes (Source: ACNielsen Retail Audit, MAT September 2003). It has grown at an average compounded annual growth rate of between 10% and 12%

per annum over the last decade and is retailed in over 700,000 outlets. MFDs can be broadly

segmented into the Whites (milk derivatives) and the Browns (malt derivatives). While the

Whites were considered therapeutic, the Browns were perceived simply as taste modifiers.

Browns being water additives, they are looked upon as a substitute for milk, especially in the

areas where there is milk shortage, like in the east and south. White beverages have an added

advantage of being perceived as convalescent foods, which enhances the consumers healthimage. Today, Whites account for 69% of the category with Browns accounting for the rest

(Source: ACNielsen Retail Audit, MAT Sept. 2003).

Milk | Malted Food Drinks category is segmented into brown drinks positioned as energy

boosters and white drinks positioned as milk substitutes. White drinks account for almost

two-thirds of the 90,000 ton market. Demand keeps shifting between the brown and white

drink categories, driven by advertising and promotional efforts of major players. In the white

drink segment, Smithklines Horlicks is the market leader. . Cadburys Bournvita is the leader in the brown drink (cocoa based) segment. Other significant players are Heinz (Complan),


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Nestle (Milo) and GCMMF (Nutramul). South and East are large markets for food drinks,

accounting for the largest proportion of all India sales. Both SmithKline Consumer and Heinz

have extended their malted drink brands to the biscuit category.

Health drinks is a relatively mature category. In the past, the southern markets were the high

growth markets for white drinks, due to the scarce availability of milk. Demand growth in

recent times has been driven more by advertising led positioning, coupled with promotional

efforts. Major players have repositioned their brands on the health platform in the last few

years. Domestic market is unlikely to witness exponential growth but higher exports could

drive sales.

Company Profile:

HEINZ INDIA (P) LTD AND Complan:

HJ Heinz Co. is the iconic US based global food giant. It has a world-class portfolio of

powerful brands which hold the number one and number two positions in 50 different

countries around the world. The 130 year old company is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Valued at $ 10 billion its top 15 brands account for almost two thirds of the annual sales.

With a presence in almost 200 countries it has massive reach across continents.

Heinz India Pvt. Ltd was formed in the year 1994 by buying out the consumer products

division of pharmaceutical company Glaxo in a Rs. 210-crore deal that gave the 100-per cent

subsidiary of HJ Heinz Co a readymade portfolio of brands such as Complan, Glucon-D,

Nycil and Farex. Today after almost 12 years of its entry its turnover is valued at almost 450-

500 crores.

Heinz with its global reach offers a range of 5700 product varieties. It major category of operation is in the FMCG sector with a concentration on the packaged foods industry. The

major flagship product for HEINZ is the Heinz Tomato Ketchup. Inspite of the wide range of

products the major revenue is from a few selected products. In India, Heinz distributes

products like Glucon-D, Complan, Nycil; Sampriti Pure Desi Ghee.It recently entered into

agreement with MJF Tea Ltd. to distribute Dilmah Tea in India.


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Complan EVOLUTION NEED | WANTS | DEMANDS:

When British soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy during World War II, they were

carrying more than just ammunition for firepower. They carried with them a powdered

nutritional supplement called Complan which had been introduced by Glaxo. Glaxo brought

Complan to India in 1964 and marketed it through doctors as a convalescence drink. After it

went OTC in 1969, Complan continued to be perceived as an ethical product. In those days

its tag line Complan has 23 Vital Nutrients whereas Milk has 9 had established Complans

superiority over milk on nutritional delivery.

The brands next major milestone wa s reached in 1975 when, in order to expand its user base,

Complan made a strategic shift in its target market and positioning. Complan was now

repositioned as an ideal nutritional supplement for growing children.

In 1994, Heinz bought out Complan from Gla xo. Given Heinzs commitment to quality and

leadership, Complan has evolved into Indias premium health beverage for growing children.

It has now come to stand for the Gold Standard of Nutrition (Source: Pathfinders Track -

Kolkata). The brands positioning as the Drink for growing children coupled with its

superior nutritional formulation are its greatest strengths today.

Complans current consumer base runs into hundreds of thousands of households across the

country. It is retailed through more than 225,000 outlets and has an impressive 16.8% share

across the entire MFD category (Source: IMRB Household Panel, MAT August 2003). Apartfrom India, Complan is also available in the UK, Australia, Venezuela, Nepal and Sri Lanka.


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Complan is a key player in MFD category. In fact in two of the largest category markets

Kolkata and Chennai the brand outperforms competition on two key image parameters:

high on nutrition and childrens growth (Source: Pathfinde rs Track).

There are two important reasons for the brands success. On the one hand, Complan has been

able to successfully establish itself in the mothers mind, as a food essential for growing

children; on the other, Complans availability in exciting flavours has endeared it to children.

Competitors:

Horlicks

Horlicks is a flagship product from the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) stable and came into

existence in 1873. Horlicks commands about 54% market share in Indian Health Drink

industry which is valued at around Rs 1300 crores. Horlicks positions itself with nutrition. It

had a strong nutritive association for very long period. GSK decided to extend this nutritive

association and the communication was changed from Great Family Nourisher to

Pleasurable Family Nourisher. GSK began to introduce different f lavours (Chocolate,

Vanilla, and Elachi) in an attempt to create excitement in the customers. The packaging of the bottle was also changed in order to give the bottle a more attractive look. Horlicks also

decided to tap the market of the aged with the introduction of Horlicks lite. Horlicks lite is a

sugar free drink targeted at the health conscious /diabetic people. This is a good marketing

move since this segment is fast growing and Horlicks have the advantage of a positive brand

image. The brand was further strengthened by the launch of Horlicks Mother (For pregnant

women and lactating mothers) and Junior Horlicks (For young kids between the age group 3

to 12). Other than the Junior Horlicks, most of the variants have met with a cold response.(

source: FCB ULKA Comstrat 2000 ).


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Bournvita:

Bournvita is a product from the stables of Cadbury India. Bournvita has a market share of

about 13 percent in the entire market share. There was a transition in the marketing

campaigns of this product from the 70s where it just represented a good upbringing to the

new millennium where the company tried to reposition itself as a means for children to build

the ir confidence levels to be able to take on any challenge. Tan ki shakti man ki shakti

became an anthem among kids. Contemporary packaging and a new communication strategy

supported the new product. Cadbury Bournvita advertising has moved with the times to

reflect the changing needs of the consumers. Bournvita has also been attached to various quiz

competitions (such as Bournvita quiz contest) and has been promoting this event which has

played a major role in promoting the brand and the brand has become synonymous with the

quiz contest. To strengthen the brand proposition, Cadbury has set up Bournvita Nutrition

Centres (BNC), where nutritionists propose the RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance)

percentage for a child.

Boost:


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Boost is a product from the Glaxo SmithKline (GSK) stable. Boost is health food drink

(HFD), which is positioned on the energy platform in India. Developed by the Indian R&D

team in 1974, and launched in 1975-76 in Kerala, Boost has been one of the fastest growing

brands in the Indian GSK Consumer portfolio. It has a market share of 13% in the industry .It

has the maximum market share in the South India. Leveraging the brands successful cricket

association, it has chosen Sachin Tendulkar to be the brand ambassador. The brand is targeted

at boys in the age group 5-12 age bracket. Boost has had to restage itself since 2005 as a more

exciting product which is visually more appealing to all through its packaging .The company

has also added advance energy boosters wherein extra additions have been made such as

magnesium, calcium etc so that the maximum amount of nutrition is given to the children.

Maltova:

Maltova now owned by GSK, was acquired from Jagatjit Industries Limited in Feb 2000. It

was relaunched in June 2002 with enriched formulation and improved packaging. The

relaunched New Maltova had Active Rechargers TM , a combination of essential vitamins,

minerals and carbohydrates. Maltova was again restaged in November 2004, with an

attractive new packaging that connotes an extremely high taste appeal and a sense of fun and

excitement. The communication and the promotions have been made more exciting by

bringing in cartoon characters like Scooby doo. Through this it was primarily aimed at the

children.


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Milo:

Milo, worlds largest selling chocolate beverage, introduced by Nestle India in 1996 -97 has

managed to make impressive gains in this competitive market. Milos energy promise is in

line with its international positioning. The company believes th at energy and taste is a

more credible positioning for this category than nutrition, as the latter is more a function of milk with which it is taken. Buying market share is the mantra of Milos success. An integral

part of their strategy is continuous promotions, which finds immediate appeal with children.

Not only has this strategy helped Milo gain market shares from Bournvita and Complan but

also it win market shares for the white beverages. Though this strategy has helped Milo post

early gains, it is yet to be determined whether volumes can be sustained.

SWOT Analysis:

Strength: Strong brand name. Good advertising. Excellent reach and distribution Long Term association with many markets like India.

Weakness:

Lack of launch of new products in the Milk Powder segment.

Food products have a limited shelf life


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Opportunity: The Indian market and more specifically the urban areas where the penetration is low

can be developed as a future market through affordability and availability.

Untapped rural markets Better product packaging and preservation Using information and technology to bring efficiency in logistics and distribution.

Threat:

More chocolate based milk drinks in market

Children prefer more flavours like strawberry, rose milk.

IMC of Complan:

The Name:

The name of the product. The term Complan comes from its tagline Complete Planned

Foods. The name is intended t o give an essence of a complete nutritional meal in the mind

of the consumer. In this respect, we feel that Complan has been very successful since

Complan is considered less of a drink than a meal in itself that children should intake for a

healthy growth.

Logo and Colour:

The logo of Complan has always been understated even with variations in its design over the

years, with a strategy to underplay the design of the logo and bring out the value of the

product more. The same has been the case with the colour of the packs. The strategy of Glaxo

and Heinz has always been to make understated packaging designs with background colour

changes for different flavours.


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Impression on Customer:

The strategy of the owners of Complan to understate its packaging design has had opposite

effects on the consumers over time. Due to its positioning, Complan is perceived to be a

serious drink, a drink which the mother might want the child to drink because of its

nutritional values but the child might want to drink a drink which is considered to be more

peppy. What this means for Complan is that it is not gaining new converts in the present

generation. However the advantage for Complan is its brand value is firmly ingrained in the

mind of the older generation. The challenge for Heinz is to leverage this advantage to gain a

foothold in the market which will have the overwhelming numbers in future. As we see, the

brand perception has a flaw as far as the younger consumers are considered. This is

something that needs to change as the bulk of consumers in the Indian market today are

below the age of 25 and if a brand is not able to appeal itself to this market segment, it will

eventually be rendered obsolete.

What Heinz needs to do is bring out a line extension or a sub-brand of the brand Complan

with a complete new packaging and a new form of promotion which will be targeted at the

market segment discussed above.

The taste factor is also something that can be looked into. The current USP can be kept for

the present product and for the new product, a different composition can be tried out which

will not compromise on the nutritional value of the product but at the same time improve the

taste of the product. For this, Heinz needs to invest in relevant R&D and conduct extensive

market and perception surveys.

Pricing:

Complan is available in different flavours in different package sizes with different price

points. We are putting forward some of the most popular Complan flavours and their packing

sizes and the price points at which they are sold.


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Flavour Package Size Price

Promotion:

Like most marketing decisions, an effective promotional strategy requires the marketer

understand how promotion fits with other pieces of the marketing puzzle (e.g., product,

distribution, pricing, target markets). Consequently, promotion decisions should be made

with an appreciation for how it affects other areas of the company. For instance, running a

major advertising campaign for a new product without first assuring there will be enough

inventory to meet potential demand generated by the advertising would certainly not go over

well with the companys production department (not to mention other key company

executives). Thus, marketers should not work in a vacuum when making promotion

decisions. Under the concept of Integrated Marketing Communication marketers attempt to

develop a unified promotional strategy involving the coordination of many different types of

promotional techniques. The type of customer the marketer is attempting to attract and which

stage of the purchase process a customer is in will affect the objectives of a particular

marketing communication effort.

Since a marketer often has multiple simultaneous promotional campaigns he can have two

ways to address the consumers


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Unified Objective with one underlying objective.

The objective of each could be different.

Complan follows the unified objective option for its ad campaigns. Complan targets the

Health Drinks market specifically; also the target audience of Complan are also traditionally

fixed, being children in the age group of 5-15 yrs.

Objective of Advertisements:

Taking good care of yourself means making sure you get all the nourishment you need? Evenif you have a small appetite, are out of sorts, or simply cant? Find the time to eat. Thats

what Complan is all about it can provide all the nourishment of a complete meal in a

delicious, easy-to-prepare, and hot or cold drink or healthy cereal you can enjoy anytime. We

all remember the advertisement many years ago on TV where a Complan boy takes his

mother around his bicycle after drinking Complan.

Slight change in strategy: In the initial years Complan, like most other health drinks was

completely aimed at school going children but it was the first amongst its competitors whoshifted to grabbing a burgeoning market of youngsters, the first shift in this strategy of

Complan was noticeable in the ad where a 17-18 yrs old boy comes home late and has a tacit

fight with his parents, after which he sits down to study and has a mug of Complan, the ad

again cashes on the parents-child sentiments but more laconically.

Innovations in Advertisements:

Linguistically Suitable Ads: Complan has come up with linguistically differentiated

advertisements like one Bangla Advertisement has a tag line: epaN opaN jhOpaN. This

organisation of advertisement is anchored by the picture of growing kids turning the

Complan- cup this side, that side and then drinking it at once eagerly. The terms epaN,

opaN actually are meaningless forms in the standard C olloquialBangla (SCB). They are

coined in order to have a rhyming effect with jhOpaN an expressive in SCB expressing a n

imitative sound of falling some heavy liquid/ something heavy on liquid. The effect of sound

symbolism is manifested in the use of velar nasal sound in the word final position indicating


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some abruptness of action -thus making the advertisement funny and interesting for the kids.

Usage of models in the age bracket of 18-20 yrs, which was not very common initially.

Usage of Medical certification; this was consistent o n Complans initial s trategy of

positioning itself as a health drink prescribed by medical practitioner. Complan had an ad in

which a doctor is speaking about the benefits of Complan and tells us about the ingredients in

details.

How Complan Reaches Its Target Markets?

After much ado we get back to the basic question as to what are the means by which

Complan reaches to its target market:

TV Advertisements News Papers, Print Media. Retail Outlets-Layout Schools

TV advertising forms the backbone of Heinzs strategy in p romoting the brand. Heinz India

has repositioned Complan since it was bought from GSK. Newspapers and print media do not

form a very big part of promotions for Heinz and this phenomenon has been observed across

the market of health drinks. Health drinks of the same market like Horlicks which is

undoubtedly the market leader, Maltova, Milo, Boost etc also follow a similar strategy.

1.

A woman returns home after shopping and unloads the bags on the table, as her kids eagerly

crowd around to see the purchase. She opens the packet and extracts a pair of pants for eachof them. As they hold it against their waists. They see that they are way too long to be worn


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in the near future. As disappointment dawns on both, their mother smiles mysteriously. and

extracts packets of Complan. The MVO adds, "New Complan money saver pack." Product

window. Super: 'Complan. Extra growing power. Heinz. Trust. Taste. Nutrition.'

2.

A kid steps into his bus and immediately starts laughing. Two girls also occupants of the

same bus, laugh at something. The object of their ridicule is one of their classmate is hanging

from the top bar of the bus. Seeing this one boy advices the boy, "Sirf latkne se height nahin

badegi, Mummy ko bolo Complan pilaye." "Complan mein hai sau pratishat milk protein,teyis atya avashyak poshak tatva, jo de extra growing power." As the two friends meet up

again, the adviser asks, "Latkna band? Kyon Mummy ne Complan dena shuru kiya na?" With

an enthusiastic, "Haan", the shorty jumps up and shows off how much taller he is than his

friend. Speaking up excitedly, the boy says, "Ab main bhi Complan boy."


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Conclusion:

Complan as a product and as a brand enjoys a very high brand recall among consumers and

enjoys a high awareness among them regarding its nutritional value and the benefits of

consuming the product.

However if we see the market share and the brand loyalty that the product has, it is surprising

to see Complan fighting to keep its market share at above single digits. Consumers know

about Complan and understand its values and yet they are not inclined to buy the product and

even if they do are highly inclined to experiment on the next purchase an indication that

Complan did not excite them enough for making repeat purchases. What could be the reason

for this imbalance between the tremendous brand equity and the abysmal market share?

The changed market scenario and the changing consumer preference in terms of consumer

demand for augmented features and addons. Complan has successfully positioned itself as a

brand which provides immense quality with its promise of nutrition. But what the brand

managers seem to have forgotten is that the consumers have come to accept this as a given

and find similar value in competitor products such as Horlicks; at the same time, consumers

are demanding other benefits tangible and intangible e.g. better taste, better packaging, a

fun factor etc. It must be noted that its the fun factor that is most import ant for Heinz andComplan today if they want to improve their market share. Indian economy is being

increasingly driven by consumers who are in the age group of 10 25. If a company fails to

respond to this age group properly and if they unable to position themselves attractively to

this consumer group, the product would die a slow death.

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IMC Term Paper-Complan