Final Answer BRU COFFEE

Questions 2- BRU instant coffee was entering into rural market to create a new segment in the beverage industry. they were somewhat successful.as a student of marketing identify what communication challenges did BRU faced. they have used innovative media vehicle for making the target group. why they have choosen those vehicles and what else could be used for making or improving the campaign.

Answer-Firstly I would like to introduce about the overall industry overview and HUL’s product BRU instant coffee. Overview of industry The span of the Indian sustenance transforming industry is around $ 65.6 billion, including $20.6 billion of worth included items. The wellbeing refreshment industry is esteemed at $230 million. the Indian drink industry confronts over supply in fragments like coffee and tea. Indian hot drink business is a tea overwhelming business. The aggregate soda (carbonated refreshments and juices) business sector is assessed at 284 million containers a year or $1 billion. The business is very regular in nature with utilization fluctuating from 25 million cases for every month amid crest season to 15 million amid offseason. The business is prevalently urban with 25 for every penny commitment from country regions. Mineral water advertise in India is a 65 million containers ($50 million) industry.

Bru coffee: “Happiness begins with Bru Bru is a power brand from the HUL's stable. A brand which pioneered the instant coffee category in Indian market in 1969 is also an example of many successful marketing practices. According to HUL, Bru is the market leader in coffee segment with a value share of 46.9 %. Prior to 2004, HUL had many brands in the coffee category. It had Deluxe Green Label and Bru instant as the main brands and small brands like Dilkush, Cafe and Cafe Gold. In 2004, as a part of the power brand strategy, HLL decided to phase out Dilkush and Cafe brands . It then consolidated the coffee brands under the masterbrand Bru.

Bru before becoming the family brand was positioned as a coffee that tasted just like filter coffee. But after the elevation to master brand, Bru took the positioning around happiness. Bru was synonymous for instant coffee and had an astounding 21% market share in the first year of launch itself. All these years, the brand has been fighting for the numero uno position with Nestle whose iconic Nescafe brand was the market leader. But in 2008, the brand pushed Nescafe to the second position. Much of the success of Bru can be attributed to following factors: 

Innovation in new products

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Innovation in packaging

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Aggressive campaigns

(source-http://2.bp.blogspot.com) Nestle lost out because of lethargy. The company failed to consistently invest in its Nescafe brand. I do not seeing any memorable campaigns from Nescafe in recent past. This has cost the brand dearly. HUL's marketing acumen is vivid in the rise of Bru as the market leader. It has never stopped innovating for this new brand. Bru was able to give new offerings to customers on a regular basis. One of the recent successful new products was the cappuccino packs. The new flavor gave the brand a new thrust in the market. The new flavors even prompted hardcore tea lovers like me to try out these flavors. The best part was that this cappuccino was available in single serve sachets which prompted consumers to test the flavors. Another innovation was the cold coffee. Bru launched the cold coffee variants which again captured the attention of the consumers. These thrusts in new product development and roll out are visible when one visits a super market. The coffee section is full of various flavors and packs

of Bru which itself creates a positive vibration for the brand. Another factor which made Bru successful was the campaigns. The brand is famous for two campaigns. One featuring Amritha Rao was a big hit. The theme revolves around the shy girl wanting to introduce her boyfriend Sagar to her father. Another campaign which was highly popular was the 'little cup' ad. The ad shows the wife announcing the “good news” through a symbolic ' little cup'. Bru is positioned on the theme of happiness. The brand has the tagline “Happiness begins with Bru ". The positioning and communication has been consistent with the brand's promise of kick starting one's day with a Bru. These slice of life ads put Bru in a growth orbit. Consumers started loving the brand for its innovation and campaigns. For the Bru Cappuccino, it had roped in the Bollywood Director Karan Johar to endorse the brand. Another critical factor that aided Bru's success was the innovation in packaging. The brand made the entry barrier low by launching small affordable SKUs. There are single serve and large packs at different price points making the brand affordable .The brand although is positioned as an aspirational brand is priced affordable thus making it a perfect example of a Masstige brand. Recently the brand has yet again come out with a customer centric innovation in the form of a flavor lock. Most of the customers worry about losing the flavor of coffee powder once the pack is cut open. The flavor lock is a plastic clip which will lock the flavor from escaping. More than actually locking the flavor, the lock gives a psychological belief that the flavors will not the lost. This little plastic lock also gives more convenience to the home maker. Typically when buying powders in packs, home makers have to transfer the powder to a container to preserve it for long. This lock effectively eliminates the need for such a container. Bru is a brand which has reached the commanding position following methodologically all the critical elements for marketing success : customer centric innovation, aggression and new product development.

Challenges that would be faced by BRU for rural market Bru was well known brand in urban India regardless, to tap natural India HUL was bit stresses whether people will recognize this brand and thing as an issue relating into their consistently exists.

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Underdeveloped people and underdevevloped markets

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Lack of proper physical communication facilities

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Media for rural communication

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Many languages and dialects

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Dispersed market

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Low per capita income

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Low levels of literacy

Unique selling proposition of BRU People are careful about use of eating up tea anyway they were not careful about inclination and benefits of exhausting coffee as their beverages. Minute coffee has changed the entire circumstance about eating up coffee. Making an Instant coffee is as basic as hard to make a faultless taste glass of tea and distinctive beverages. It's arranged to open prepared coffee powder is made up with fine coffee beans and included sugar, which tea isn't available in this structure. Little unit pack and minimal effort has made Bru more adaptable in nation showcase and furthermore in urban business. Bru unique prepared offerings and quality pack thing is the USP of Bru Instant coffee.

How BRU entered in Rural and did its marketing: HUL has been trying to build the instant coffee market in rural India through body-mounted DVD players engaging 15 million households. “The task was to build the category by reaching out to non-drinkers and encouraging them to try Bru. The team working on Bru is using body-mounted DVD players to build the market across rural areas and small towns in the South. According to the company, the Bru team of promoters goes from door to door and shows one of three short films depending on whether the householder currently drinks tea, filter coffee or another instant brand and they used mobile vans to reach that villages and villagers. They then offer the consumer a Bru sample. “So far the team has reached over 15 million households with the brand gaining a 70 per cent share of new category entrants and increasing sales by around a third”. They than taken the feedbacks from the people about the sample which was distributed to them free. Penetration of instant coffee in the South is quite low, particularly in small towns and rural areas, so the task was to build the category by reaching out to the non-drinkers of instant coffee and encouraging them to try Bru. Instant coffee offers convenience, economy, ease of use and the ability for every home to be a coffee-making home, never mind that you do not have a filter or a percolator. It is coffee dumbed down to its lowest degree of ease. If one is to penetrate rural markets instant coffee is the best way to go.” With HUL pushing its coffee portfolio in both the urban and rural markets, hopefully the high price of the commodity will not affect its brand building efforts. According to Kaustubh Pawaskar, analyst at brokerage firm, Sharekhan, “HUL's beverages portfolio has been growing between 13 and 15 per cent and is a small segment within the foods portfolio. Considering the segment is still underpenetrated unlike its HPC (home and personal care) portfolio, there is scope for the FMCG player to drive coffee consumption in the country. Hopefully its brand building efforts in the category will not get impacted by the high raw material costs hitting its margins.”

But HUL is ready to splurge on its coffee brand considering Bru has recorded a 26 per cent growth, according to Nielsen. “Commodity prices are at their peak for coffee but we will not stop investing in and building our brand,” says Srinivas.

Alternatives options with BRU Rural market sector is unfocused business sector. Rural market in India has incredible potential which is simply holding up to be tapped. At last the ball lies in the court of potential advertiser. In the event that any organization needs to enter in rustic business sector it is important to focus on every last part of focused on town. Country market needs more center and fascination. In battle they went way to entryway for notice and they requested that them taste the BRU moment espresso so they can feel and understand the taste and significance of the espresso. For any buyer right away moving to an alternate item is not all that simple until and unless they utilize the item and feels the criticalness and need of it. They can likewise promote in Haats and Melas of BRU on the grounds that in that season the villagers pick up the cash by offering the item become in their towns. They can likewise promote by the good example of that town like the on-screen characters and performing artist celebrated in the target zone. Country business sector individuals specifically can just draw in by their good examples just. More ad and more concentrate on individual town will help the BRU Company to become more. Toward the end its all in the hand of advertisers, about how they going to methodologies the business, responds to the call of offering items and ideas through inventive media plan and all the more significantly intuitiveness.

Achievements done by BRU The brand won two gold awards for its instant coffee connect campaign. One, in the category of Best Innovative Rural Marketing Initiative and another for Innovative Communication. The winning campaign was conducted across Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh with the main aim of increasing penetration of Bru instant coffee. The campaign was activated through a promoter going home-to-home with a body mounted DVD player and showing AV of beverages to homemakers. After showing the AV, simple questions based on the AV were asked and a Bru Instant coffee sachet sample was given, thus completing the process of awareness, interest & trial. Through this activity, 2.4 million households have been contacted in 2010. Rural Marketing Association of India was formed in March 2005 and aims to promote, improve, develop and further the cause of rural marketing in India. Bru is India's largest coffee brand that offers a range of products in Instant coffee, Conventional coffee and premixes. Bru also has a stronghold in the southern market. Unilever wanted to explore communication strategies and activation methods to help Bru penetrate the Non- south market and increase the home consumption. Part of the project was also dispelling the perception of Bru as a cold coffee brand and at the same time, promoting unconventional uses of Bru coffee. A four member young minds team was engaged for duration of six month to explore the space and develop solutions. The research primarily targeted housewives as they represent the key decision maker at Indian homes when it comes to purchasing food products. Research in three different cities led to insights about the users' consumption patterns and perceptions about coffee as well as the process of making coffee. Early concepts were developed and clustered based on the insights from the research. The key concepts revolved around sharing knowledge, collaborative problem solving and celebration. Prioritized themes with multiple concepts were validated with users through one-on-one interviews using probe tools and early prototypes. The learning from validation was incorporated in to the finals designs and recommendation. The solution included themes with experiences

which are connected though collaterals, packaging, giveaways, installations, point of sales interaction, and television shows.

Results In overabundance of 1.3 million family units were touched base at through this battle in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The use of development helped the workplace to pass on systematized yet adjusted message at each doorstep. The creative medium ensured high interest regard, vitality and survey.

References 1.http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/brandline/bruing-a-premiummarket/article2473379.ece 2.http://marketingpractice.blogspot.in/2008/11/bru-happiness-begins-with-bru.html