As a brand, it has just entered its teens, having been launched in 1999, around the time when many of its ardent consumers were actually born. But Kurkure, the only home-grown salty snack brand of food and beverages giant PepsiCo to have thrived and grown under the looming shadow of the company’s giant global snack brands like Lays and Cheetos, has already acquired a family. A family of not one or two, but as many as five brand ambassadors, all at the same time.

PepsiCo is betting big on the new strategy, with a high-exposure, high-decibel campaign to push the brand’s new line of “ tedha hai, par mera hai ” (‘twisted but mine”) line. In an unprecedented move, the company even launched an expensive line of teaser ads across television, radio and digital to ‘introduce’ the main characters.

All this activity might hint at signs of the brand being under pressure in the marketplace – but the numbers say otherwise. Kurkure (from the Hindi word for ‘crunchy’) is a genuine success story. It is the first snack brand from PepsiCo India’s stable to cross the Rs 1,000-crore-per-year-in-sales milestone. It is not just the segment leader, but the market leader in all salty snacks, and depending on whether you look at it as a Western snack or a ‘bridge’ snack between Western and traditional Indian nibbles, enjoys a market share of 40 to 47 per cent.

So if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

“If you look at it, Kurkure as a brand has always been constantly active,” insists Vidur Vyas, Marketing Director – Foods, PepsiCo India. “We have been innovating throughout. From major innovations, like Kurkure made from dal (lentil) for example, to regional innovations, like South or East flavours for regional markets, or more recently, the launch of Kurkure Puffcorn or Kurkure Monster Paws. Innovation is in the brand’s DNA.”

But the new campaign aims at taking the brand into newer consumption segments, and not remain a snack predominantly consumed by kids.

“Sometimes the biggest challenge a leader brand faces is its own success,” adds Bobby Pawar, Chief Creative Officer and managing partner (India) of JWT, the agency which came up with the creatives. “There is the danger of the brand stagnating while the consumer moves on,” he admits, adding, “We decided to act way before there were signs of either happening.”

There were some signals from the marketplace. Over the last year, according to industry estimates (the company declines to share market share or revenue numbers for the brand), Kurkure may have lost up to 3 per cent market share to newer rivals from Indian snack manufacturers.

There was also another signal – a very different one, and one which PepsiCo hopes will be the way forward for the brand. When Kurkure entered the market in 1999, it was a runaway hit – with kids. But over time, some of the early consumers have grown up. “We found that the brand has appeal for various age cohorts. From a pre-teen or teenager to even 50-plus consumers,” says Vyas.

That diversified target audience is reflected in the fictional ‘family’ of brand ambassadors who have been created – Farida Jalal, the ‘social butterfly’ grandma, elder son (and one with a secret personality) Boman Irani, Kunal Kapoor as the film-struck ‘Bollywood banker’ and youth sensation Parineeti Chopra as the ‘remixed’ version of the traditional Indian daughter-in-law.

The insight which drove this process was the finding that for most Indians, food, snacking and family are interlinked. Says Pawar, “Indians love coming together as a family for fun.” Adds Vyas, “the family reflects the core brand value of “ tedha hai par mera hai ” – that while they may have their quirks and their differences, they are all together as one family. “The essence of the brand is ‘Twist on Tradition’ and that’s what resonates and appeals to every Indian – we are traditional in our values with a good blend of modern outlook,” argues Pawar. “So the next step for us was to go from an individual who embodied our ‘Twist on Tradition’ essence to a family that represents it. After all, what is more traditional than family?”

There is also a more ambitious plan behind the ‘five for one’ approach – to upscale Kurkure into an umbrella megabrand, which will then support a range of offerings aimed at different markets, age groups and consumer segments. And not just in India, but in other global markets.

Although Pepsi has been dropping hints about Kurkure since as far back as 2006, it has made relatively slow progress for a company which operates in over 200 markets. Kurkure is now sold in many Asian markets, made by a PepsiCo subsidiary in Pakistan and has been sold in the US market – albeit mostly through Indian stores – for some years now. Now, it appears that PepsiCo might be prepared to take the first India-developed brand in its portfolio truly global.

While product portfolio expansion is natural, very few brands experiment with multiple brand ambassadors at the same time, particularly by using movie stars, who bring their own star quality and brand attributes to whatever product they are endorsing. But Vyas says this is all part of a well thought out plan. “Our overall objective is to create a Kurkure megabrand. In addition to helping us target new platforms and consumer groups, this family will also act as a creative unifier as we strengthen our position.”

Pawar says the decision to use actors instead of models was driven not only by the brand portfolio strategy, but also by what the stars add to the communications merely by being what they are – highly recognisable celebrities. “If you think of our commercials not as commercials but as branded content, you’d realise the best way to create great content is use actors that people know and present them in ways they have never been seen before,” he points out.

He also denies that the move to use adult actors, and not just kids (who dominated earlier Kurkure communications) is just to upshift the target audience a few age bands – or that the move may backfire by alienating the largest single consumer segment of kids. “Kids don’t just love stuff that has kids in it,” he says, adding, “If that were the case why would Salman, Rajni, Shah Rukh, be such a big hit with kids? If the plots are simple and the content has strong mass appeal, it will also work with kids.”

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