Parle official website http://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.
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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.
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.
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
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.