Cadbury's Oreo looks for the ‘Togetherness Quotient'

As Cadbury Kraft India makes an aggressive foray into the biscuits category, it will position its iconic Oreo brand on a social movement based on a ‘Togetherness Quotient'. Taking the help of the Nielsen Company, it has decided to figure ‘how together is India' in terms of parents spending adequate time with their children.

Using on-ground, on-air, radio and social media, Cadbury India is launching a ‘social movement' whereby parents are expected to take a pledge to spend adequate time with their children.

Mr Chandramouli Venkatesan, Director - Snacking, Cadbury Kraft India, says, “We have decided to take a platform to explore the state of togetherness and the Nielsen company has helped us in creating this movement. There would be a concept of a ‘Together Quotient' on which the Oreo brand will be positioned.''

Compelling situation

Pulling out all stops to make sure the Oreo brand succeeds in the cluttered Rs 2,000-crore biscuit market with stalwarts such as Britannia (Treato) and ITC (Dark Fantasy) already occupying the cookie cream category, Oreo, in spite of being a global leader, would need to invest heavily before its starts reaping profits in India. Cadbury India has already appointed the services of on-ground (Candid Marketing), on-air (Interface Communications), social media and radio to ensure the ‘Together Quotient' built around the Oreo brand reaches out to consumers.

The Rs 2,500-crore Cadbury India has also set up branded Oreo buses across 10 cities which will run for 40 days. These buses will have activities for parents and children which will drive the ‘Together Quotient' for the Oreo brand.

Aggregating approach

“Today the focus is to make the Oreo brand strong in India. We have to get a platform which is disproportionate compared to others to cater to all age groups. We are fighting all formats of biscuits and believe Oreo has a universal proposition that works for all. The purpose is to have an ‘aggregating approach' to get business from all formats and age groups,” added Mr Venkatesan.

However, already there are look-alikes of its iconic Oreo brand and this could hamper its biscuits entry.

Both Britannia and Sunfeast have ‘me-too' brands which are look-alikes of Oreo and Cadbury is already fighting a case with Britannia, the market leader in the cookies segment.

According to marketing analysts, Cadbury, instead of fighting cases in the courts, should be fighting in the market place as its brand is going to suffer.

Besides, scaling down the price of Oreo, which enjoys a premium pricing, is not going to help either.

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