Vishal Jindal on Biryani By Kilo’s content plans to fortify its marketing

Launched in 2015, Biryani By Kilo has been a pioneer in delivering fresh ‘dum-cooked’ handi biryanis across the country. The company currently operates 100+ outlets across 45+ cities all over India.

The quick service biryani brand is now fortifying its marketing strategy by launching a web series honoring the food, heritage, and culture of four different Indian cities – Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Bengaluru. Titled ‘Dum Laga ke India’, the web series has been made in partnership with Disney+ Hotstar.

The series showcases select accomplished celebrities from different backgrounds who carved a niche for themselves in their respective fields but hold the same passion for food and culture. Each episode highlights their love for authentic local food, capturing a few fun moments and their memories associated with the city. While the show takes the viewers on a journey to depict the culinary secrets of culture-rich cities, it subtly weaves in the flavourful dum biryani by BBK into the show.

In an interview with Adgully, Vishal Jindal, Co-CEO and Founder of Biryani by Kilo, speaks about the web series ‘Dum Laga Ke India’, the marketing strategy, partnering with Disney+ Hotstar, and more.

What was the idea behind the ‘Dum Laga Ke India’ web series? How did you come up with this concept?

We have 100-plus outlets in more than 45 cities; we are one of the top kebab and biryani brands in India. We cook biryani fresh in a handi.

Since we already have our own USP and hold a strong position in the market, we wanted to get our audience to know about the love we are receiving from our consumers.

The campaign, ‘Dum Laga Ke India’, is created on the foundation of two meanings of Dum. Here, Dum is the Dum of Biryani, which celebrates the rich culture and heritage of different cities in India via their authentic taste in food. Dum is also the ‘Dum’ in youngsters of India such as Vani Kapoor, Arman Malik, PV Sindhu, Pranitha Subash and Ranveer Brar.

While planning, conceptualising and creating the show, what were the struggles that you had to go through and how did you overcome all those challenges?

It was a process of 9-10 months for conceptualising and from having chef Ranveer Brar for the show to researching authentic tastes from these four cities, discovering the lifestyle, culture and heritages by talking to celebrities about their lifestyle, and how food plays a role in their life. So, the challenge was to explore the authenticity of food in these four major food capitals of India.

What are the distribution strategies and marketing plans for the show and who is your audience?

For the distribution or broadcasting of the show, we are in talks with Disney+ Hotstar. We are also looking for pan-India as the audience for this show, as the show is very entertaining for all age groups, regardless of the gender.

What sort of content are you providing to the users?

The concept of this show is very easy to understand. The show is showcasing four different cities of India that are rich in following culture and famous for their authentic food. In this show, we are having a conversation with celebs representing each city and sharing about their lifestyles, growing up relatable scenarios. This show lets you meet the real version of your favourite celebrity.

Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Delhi are rich and known for their culinary heritage, that’s why we have selected these cities.

The celebs we have selected have some connections with their respective cities and they are representing those cities by sharing their lifestyles there. Vaani Kapoor represents Mumbai; Armaan Malik, Kolkata; Pranitha Subash, Bengaluru; and PV Sindhu represents Hyderabad.

What kind of investments has the brand done and what are your expectations?

We are expecting to reach 20-40 millions views at least, as far as we understand how Disney+ Hotstar is generating views. Hotstar usually generates at least this kind of viewership for any show during the initial stages and we are looking forward to great success.