How Britannia is wooing digital natives with a Western Snacking offer

Britannia Industries Limited, India's largest bakery foods company, has forayed into the Western Snacking space with the launch of the all-new Treat Croissant. Staying true to its promise of delivering ‘Exciting Goodness’, the brand has made Croissant, a popular European snack, accessible to the Indian consumers.

Croissant is a very intricate product made through a painstaking process, perfected by generations of expert bakers. What results is an incomparable delicacy with the softest of breads and dollops of rich filling inside. And hence, the phrase, ‘Don’t Dare Compare’. The brand recently launched a TVC with Prabhu Deva, titled ‘Don’t Dare Compare’, which emphasises on the elevated snacking experience that the product delivers. This new launch was also to elevate the snacking experience and build a strong connection with today’s youth. Interestingly, today’s youth are spoilt for choice and when it comes to snacking, which Britannia wanted to make the decision easier.

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, Badri Beriwal, Chief Business Officer - New Categories, Britannia Industries Ltd, speaks about their foray into the Western Snacking space with a new category – Croissants. Through croissants, the brand aims to target the youth and the millennials with a digital-first approach.

What prompted you to foray into the western snacking space with the launch of the all-new Treat Croissant? How have you differentiated yourself?

Keeping true to our mission of being a Total Foods Company, it only seems but natural to bring the best in global snacking to Indian consumers. Of late, the Indian consumers, especially the experimentative young ones, have been introduced to a wide range of Western flavours and formats. With Britannia’s stronghold in the bakery segment and expertise from Chipita Foods, our joint venture partners, and global leaders in packaged Croissant, it served as the perfect choice to foray into this space with Croissant, which is an immensely popular snack in the West.

Britannia has always been about understanding the finer nuances of what consumers want. That’s what has encouraged us to make a bespoke Croissant for the Indian market. For example, the cocoa in our cocoa croissant is very different from what is prevalent in other parts of the world, and incorporates regional palate preferences. Similarly, the Mixed Fruit Croissant is based on the bread-butter-jam experience reminiscent of childhood for so many of us.

Tell us about the positioning of this new brand? What’s the objective of the new film for the launch?  

Croissant is a very intricate product made through a painstaking process, perfected by generations of expert bakers. What results is an incomparable delicacy with the softest of breads and dollops of rich filling inside. And hence the phrase, ‘Don’t Dare Compare’.

We wanted to establish this elevated snacking experience, and build a strong connection with the youth. Young consumers today are spoilt for choice when it comes to snacking and we intend to make this decision easier for them.

Who are you targeting and which markets are you targeting? What’s your pricing strategy?

Britannia has products that cater to a large set of customers. Croissant aims to target the youth – the GenZs and the millennials, who are young, restless, up for new experiences, and always on the move. As far as markets are concerned, we’re not restricting or focusing on a particular geography since it’s a new product and regional skews, if any, are yet to be seen.

The Britannia Treat Croissant is available in 3 different flavours – Cocoa, Vanilla and Mixed fruit – at an affordable price point of Rs 20.

What was your brief to the agency and how did they come up with the concept? Any particular reason to choose Prabhu Deva as the brand ambassador?

Our TG today is very discerning. They are well exposed, are active on multiple devices simultaneously, and with a short attention span. Any attempts to woo them through regular convincing strategies are likely to not succeed. Hence, the route of analogy through dance was chosen. Prabhu Deva seamlessly fits into the idea since he epitomises excellence in his field, just like Croissant does in the world of bakery.

How do you plan to pan out your media strategy? Are you looking at a 360-degree communication? 

Our TG is what some refer to as ‘digital natives’, and that’s why we are looking at a digital-first approach for the brand. While conventional media will be present to maximise reach, we’re increasingly looking at platforms where the young consumer is mostly consuming content, and that can be beyond a screen as well. We also intend to leverage social to deliver and amplify byte-sized, snackable content, aimed at initiating and sustaining the conversation around Croissant in India.