How ITC is indulging India’s sweet tooth, one dessert-in-a-cookie at a time

Sunfeast Dark Fantasy, the premium center-filled cookie brand from ITC Ltd., is introducing a new offering – Dark Fantasy Desserts. Created with an aim to redefine the dessert experience for the country, the dessert-in-a-cookie range has two new products – Choco Chunks, and Choco Nut Dipped. The new offering strives to bring an excitement and an elevated appeal to the brand. 

This launch is the brand’s endeavour to open up and explore a completely new segment – Desserts, and is a part of its portfolio expansion strategy. With this launch, the brand aims to not only stay ahead of the competition and strengthen its position in the market, but also elevate for the consumers the choco experience, which has been intrinsic to the flagship brand Choco Fills from the house of Dark Fantasy. 

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, Ali Harris Shere, Chief Operating Officer, Biscuits & Cakes Cluster, Foods Division, ITC Ltd, elaborates on the company’s plans to offer consumers a superior chocolate experience, leveraging a new segment – Desserts – for the Sunfeast brand, marketing & communication strategy and more. 

Dark Fantasy as a brand distinctly stands out with its choco-filled cookie range. What triggered you to introduce a dessert variant and how have you positioned the same? 

The Dark Fantasy range of offerings is celebrated for its indulgent choco creations aimed at providing consumers with a superior chocolate experience. At every stage, we look at how we can reimagine the centre-filled cookie experience for consumers. The idea of launching Dark Fantasy Desserts germinates from our constant endeavour to expand consumption occasions of the brand. India has long been known as a nation with a sweet tooth. The intent behind introducing something like this was to elevate the overall dessert experience for consumers. With this new offering, we bring to the consumers an exquisite and indulgent dessert experience. 

With the promise of enhanced sensorial experience, Dark Fantasy Desserts strives to elevate the level of chocolate cookies available in the market. The idea was to bring out a newness in the world of Dark Fantasy. Hence, we say that it is a new avatar of Choco Fills, which is more premium, indulgent, and luscious than a Choco Fill. These packs are called “Dark Fantasy Desserts” as we believe this dessert-in-a-cookie range gives consumers another reason to end their day, the Fantasy way – an extension of Dark Fantasy’s core brand thought – ‘Din Khatam Fantasy Shuru’. 

What are your expectations from your launch and how do you plan to leverage it further and introduce more exciting offerings in the dessert category? 

The idea behind introducing Desserts was to elevate the overall dessert experience of the consumers. With this launch, Dark Fantasy Desserts strives to be the go-to dessert for the new age Indian consumers. This new premium offering is in tune with the evolving consumer preferences. This launch has not only brought more excitement and an elevated appeal to the brand, but has also opened up a new segment – Desserts – for the Sunfeast brand. I am confident that this will create even more interesting avenues for us in the cookie domain. 

What will be your pricing strategy and who is your core target audience for this product? 

Dark Fantasy Desserts is the most premium offering from the brand. Pushing the envelope, the range has been priced at a premium to enhance its appeal to the more aspirational consumers who choose experience over value. The range is priced at Rs 50 for 100 gm (Choco Nut Dipped) and 75 gm (Choco Chunks).

Consumers of gourmet cookies (imported, hand-crafted, niche) and premium chocolate products are our primary target audience. We aim to provide them an elevated choco experience with the new super-premium range of Dark Fantasy Desserts. 

What are the markets you are looking at and how do you plan to make it available at various retail points? 

The idea is to make Dark Fantasy Desserts easily available to anyone seeking a premium dessert experience. We are targeting major cities in the Southern and Western region, viz. Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Trivandrum, along with metros like Delhi and Kolkata. 

Dark Fantasy Desserts will be available across retail stores and select modern trade stores in these prime cities across the country along with ITC’s direct-to-consumer channel, www.itcstore.in

This is a new category and this category needs a good promotional push to create awareness and generate trials. What’s your campaign strategy to promote the brand? 

We’re undertaking a digital-first approach for the launch of the Desserts range. While our major focus would be driving organic awareness using drool-worthy product assets, strategic partnerships are a key for this range as well. We’re exploring collaborations with chefs, premium bakeries, food influencers and lifestyle platforms to reach consumers. Quite a few on-ground activations are planned along with point of sale visibility. Since, the range is first of its kind, driving share of voice in new age channels like e-commerce and modern trade occupy a key role in our promotion strategy. 

How do you plan to engage with your audience? What kind of 360-degree communication is being planned to create good visibility? 

We want to engage with our audience via multiple platforms and channels. In that endeavour, the launch of this premium offering will be supported by a 360-degree communication campaign. As a part of our consumer outreach plan, we will be collaborating with influencers and other lifestyle platforms to drive engagement on social media. 

Media
@adgully

News in the domain of Advertising, Marketing, Media and Business of Entertainment