At 116 years, how Vadilal has managed to stay forever young and relevant

It may be over a century old, established in the pre-independence era, but Vadilal Enterprises has managed to remain innovative and relevant to the Gen Z and Gen Alpha as well. Leading ice cream brand in the country, Vadilal has been re-inventing itself over the years to hold its own amid growing competition from global brands as well as changing consumer preferences.

Leading the branding at Vadilal is Aakanksha Devanshu Gandhi, the third generation of the Gandhi family, promoters of Vadilal. Aakanksha heads the parlours segment, and is closely involved with branding, sales, training, and other operations, including P&L. Having grown up with tales of Vadilal’s inspiring journey from a small soda shop in Ahmedabad to the country’s second largest ice cream manufacturer, Aakanksha always aspired to be a part of Vadilal, and to help take it to the next level.

Vadilal Enterprises recently embarked on its Summer 2023 campaign with an upbeat, trendy and relatable music video – ‘Dil Bole Waah Waah Waah’. The vibrant music video is core to Vadilal’s popular campaign, ‘Dil Bole Waah Vadilal’, which revolves around the concept of how people spontaneously appreciate and applaud, saying ‘Waah’, after tasting something delicious and especially, Vadilal ice creams. This idea works as the driving force behind the brand’s new campaign.

Commenting on the latest campaign, Aakanksha said, “Vadilal has a brand legacy and is yet super young. We are a trendsetter with an innovative streak. The song, ‘Dil Bole Waah Waah Waah’, is so unbelievably Vadilal that your heart will automatically say Waah Vadilal!”

In conversation with Adgully, Aakanksha Devanshu Gandhi, President – Branding, Vadilal Enterprises, speaks about Vadilal’s over century-long journey, she shares some deep consumer insights from the ice cream industry, addressing consumers’ growing health concerns, emphasising on an experiential and emotional connect with consumers, and more.

Vadilal has been in the Indian ice cream and flavoured milk industry for over a century. What are some of the prominent changes right from consumer behaviour to marketing tactics?

We started in 1907, so, we’ve been here for 115-116 years. My great grandfather’s father started the first ice cream parlor in the pre-independence times, which was the first ice cream parlor in India. I think what has changed the most in the last 20 years is the per capita consumption of ice cream. 20 years back, the per capita consumption of ice cream was about 100-150 ml. A cup of ice cream would be around Rs 10, while a cup of tea was priced at around Rs 5. As years passed by, you now see a Rs 10 ice cream cup as well as Rs 10 tea. Back then, ice cream was looked at as a luxury and it still is. Even though it is a very affordable luxury, it is looked at as if it’s a premium product which helps in boosting happiness. So, that is where we’ve seen the incline. People’s per capita consumption of ice cream has gone up to about 300 ml in India, which is more than double the amount that it was before. That is why we’ve seen a lot of ice cream brands come up in India, and that has aided the ice cream industry in general to grow at this rate.

Since, the per capita consumption has increased that means there’s a demand for bigger bite products. There used to be 35 ml simple chocolate bars and now we have massive big bite-sized chocolate bars. We have a better bite range, which is around 70-80 ml, then we have ‘Flingos’, which are 110 ml. People are moving towards bigger bite consumption products. So, that is one change that has been persistent.

Another change that has been seen is in the post-COVID period – because people have been craving organic and natural products, the trend has shifted to that side. That is why we came up with Gourmet Naturals as an entire range, which contains no artificial flavours or artificial colours. We are there in Mithai and fruit flavours as well, so I feel that has also really caught up as a trend.

How does Vadilal maintain relevance and appeal to its consumers, especially given the growing health consciousness among Indians?

Today, especially in Tier 1 cities, the consumers are – in Gen Z language – more ‘woke’. Nowadays, everyone’s looking at the back label of a product. They want to know not just what they are consuming, but also what goes inside. So, that has become very important. We believe in being extremely transparent with our consumers. We always say out loud on our packaging exactly what we sell and what ingredients go inside, because we want to be transparent with our consumers and that helps us build brand loyalty and trust amongst consumers.

What I have seen in that segment is that people are craving for organic, natural products in the post-COVID times. So, the highest and quickest growth that we have seen in any category would be in Gourmet Naturals. It is growing faster than all of our categories; also given the fact that Gourmet Naturals, in general, was launched only a year back. So, for us to experience that kind of growth in that segment is tremendous. Also, there is a demand for sugar-free products now. We’ve had our sugar-free range for about 7-8 years. I’m also seeing the growth building up there now.

What are the trends that are currently dominating the ice cream industry from a marketing perspective? What is that one mantra, which makes Vadilal stand out from its competitors?

I have mentioned about the consumer being more woke from a product perspective. I would like to add a little more on the marketing and branding side of it. The economy is progressing in such a way, where digital has completely changed us, and we have been exposed to and are also adopting global cultures. Consumers today, especially in the target segment of 18-35 years, are becoming more conversational in general, and not just with their friends and relatives, they are becoming conversational with influencers, with personalities, and with brands, because they want that one-on-one touch with whoever they are related to.

Even if it comes to just buying that one particular product from them, but because they are devoting their money and they are tied to that brand, they want the brand to be attached to that consumer as well. So, that’s one trend that is definitely picking up in the marketing side of things and which is what we believe in. How we are lifting our branding up is basically by having more conversations with our consumers on the digital front. We are talking with our consumers, we are listening to their feedbacks, we are interacting with them – be it small moments like a birthday celebration – wishing someone on their birthday on Twitter and sending them an ice cream cake – or being part of the bigger moments. We listen and we are always interacting with our consumers.

I think this is one thing that helps us stand out because what we believe in is not selling a product, but selling an experience and an emotion. At the end of the day, people are very emotionally attached to ice cream, because it brings out different emotions in people. So, we believe in packaging and emotions basically and that is what helps us stand out. That’s why we have this massive range of products catering to all ages and genders, region-specific, festival-specific and all put together catering to emotions in general.