Parle Products is giving a leg up to its confectionery portfolio by getting Amitabh Bachchan to endorse its largest selling confectionary brand — Parle Mango Kaccha Bite.

Having got on board the legendary actor last year during the IPL for Gold star, its new cookie brand, Parle has now extended his endorsement services to the confectionery brand.

Praveen Kulkarni, Marketing Manager, Parle Products said, “While we have been using celebrities for the last ten years, this is the first time that we have a celebrity endorsing any of our confectionery brands. Parle Kaccha Mango bite is our largest selling candy today.”

While margins have always been low in the Rs 6,000-crore confectionery category, greater volumes can always help improve the bottom line for the category. As Kulkarni said, “Margins are low, but if volumes increase, profits can go up in absolute terms. By getting a megastar like Amitabh Bachchan, we are hoping for a volume increase, and a similar strategy to work for us.”

In the past, Parle has roped in big celebrities such as Aamir Khan (for Monaco), Kajol (for Parle Marie Digestive), Hritik Roshan (for Parle Hide & Seek) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (for Parle Milk Shakti). Going forward, the biscuits major is expecting the rub-off of using a celebrity to work for the rest of its confectionary portfolio and for brands like Melody and Poppins.

“We will be launching more formats and confectionery brands going forward,” added Kulkarni. Today, confectionery contributes 12 per cent of Parle’s sales turnover, while biscuits are the mainstay of the company where it continues to be a leader in the glucose segment. Snacks are going to be next category where Parle is set to push the pedal. In the past, it has withdrawn snacks such as Monaco chips, but a renewed focus would emerge for the Rs 5,000 crore snacks category dominated by multinationals.

“Wafers and traditional namkeen have been our main offerings under snacks. We have never had a celebrity for any of the snack brands,” said Kulkarni.

Main challenge

However, the main challenge for Parle distribution of its confectionery and snacks portfolio. While its core category of biscuits reaches out to nearly 6 million outlets, snacks and confectionery are way behind in terms of distribution.

“Today, both confectionery and snacks are one-third of our vast biscuit distribution. We have realised snacks is a different ball game compared to biscuits and would need a separate distribution network,” claims Kulkarni. purvita@thehindu.co.in

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