Case Challenge

July 19th, 2015

THE THIRD PILLAR

Instructions:

Teams will submit a case analysis/solution document comprising no more than 6 pages
of single spaced, 12-point font (including illustrations and excluding TOC, Cover page). The
first page of the document must comprise of an executive summary of the solution
suggested by the team. The executive summary should be limited to one page only.

There is no pre-determined structure to analyse the case. Participants are free to use any
format which best illustrates and provides convincing arguments supporting their solutions.

Wherever necessary, the participants must make references to the sources of information
and data.

Case presentations will be judged based on the following criteria the originality, creativity
and uniqueness of the idea will receive the highest weightage; the implementability,
sustainability and scalability of the idea; its fit with ITCs vision and the manner in which it
can leverage ITCs strengths; the thoroughness of research, analytics and economic logic
used to defend viability and execution of the idea.

Last date for submission of case solutions is 5th August 2015. Teams must send their entries
to the email ID provided for the campus. Please refer to the information brochure for more
details.

For full details please refer to the Interrobang Season 5 Case Challenge Brochure available
with your Campus Point of Contact, www.facebook.com/itchubnscope or contact
interrobang@itc.in.

ITC Interrobang Season 5 Marketing Case Challenge: The Third Pillar

THE THIRD PILLAR

Interrobang Season 5 Case Challenge
Saturday, early morning, Adityas home
Aditya cradled his throbbing head in his hands. Saturday morning meetings were the worst
especially if you had spent most of the previous night trying to analyse Britannias Choco Lush
launch strategy (Me-too against Sunfeast Dark Fantasy Choco Fills that plays a key role in
Sunfeast dominance in cream segment)
Thursday & Friday had whizzed past in a happy haze. For Adityas Sunfeast Brand team, it was
the culmination of congratulatory messages. Sunfeast team had successfully launched Moms
Magic cookies in the mid premium segment and broken new barriers in terms of market-share,
brand awareness, recall in the Cookies segment. It was the year when it had grown from being a
leader in the creams segment to most aggressive cookies player with the leadership position in
creams segment, nipping at the heels of the market leader.
It seemed like a cosy start to the weekend until Adityas phone buzzed, reminding him of the
meeting with Karan Pathak on Saturday morning.
Karan Pathak was the Marketing Director at ITC Foods Business. He had spent hours with
Aditya and his team strategising and planning campaigns, budgets, costs & on-ground execution
during the course of the previous year. Saturday meetings with Karan were dangerous as he had
more time to probe and to prod, working you over, like an expert lawyer interrogating a
witness.
It cant be bad, Karan himself had given a round of applause to my team, Aditya told himself.
Saturday, 9: 30 AM, Karan Pathaks office, Foods Business Division, Bengaluru
Karan strode into the office. He looked strangely incomplete without his laptop.
Morning, Aditya Shall we get started?
Sure sir I have put together a small presentation on Britannias new launch
Mail it to me. I will respond on Monday, said Karan, as he settled into his chair. What I have in
mind for todays meeting will only take a few minutes. I think its time for a little introspection
Oh my God, feared Aditya, as he smiled weakly at Karan.
1This Case is developed by and is the sole property of ITC Limited.

This is for academic purposes only and

is not intended to be copied or displayed or reproduced at any place outside the Campus.

ITC Interrobang Season 5 Marketing Case Challenge: The Third Pillar

Aditya, I went shopping with my wife & cousin last week. We go shopping together every time
she comes over for a visit. After shopping, we stopped at a store to buy some chocolates,
biscuits, snacks and cola.
He stared back at his mentor, wondering if he had really been dragged to work on a Saturday
morning to discuss Karans cousins shopping list. He sipped on his second coffee!
When she wanted to buy biscuits, she bypassed all biscuits and moved directly to the health
biscuit shelves, explained Karan. Aditya stared back at his boss, wondering where he was going
with this.
Dont you see it, Aditya? Consumers, especially the ones in their 30s, are moving rapidly
towards healthier options in everything they purchase. Look at the spread of international &
locally made health biscuits placed on shelves. Oats, Digestives, Sugar Free kind of biscuits have
never-seen-before shelf- space! We have seen a positive trend in the Marie segment over the
last two years and how the woman of the house (in her role as the mother, as the provider for
her husband and elders at home and for herself) is increasingly on the lookout for healthier
alternatives, not just within biscuits but across all branded food products she purchases. She is
becoming more and more inclined towards food that is Sugar Free, Maida Free, Cholesterol Free,
Fat Free etc. in her daily purchase. Success of Aashirvaad Multigrain Atta, Oats, Olive oils, Rice
bran oil is another pointer , Karan explained.
Sir, we are already working on strengthening our market standing in Marie segment which is
the first ladder to the health segment for the consumers & we have launched Sunfeast Farmlite
Oats range to begin our journey in the mainstream health segment , began Aditya.
We need to strengthen & build THE THIRD PILLAR. It is impossible to take on competition
effectively, without being strong across all three pillars namely Creams, Cookies, and Health.
Work on it with your team and lets meet next Saturday to discuss your thoughts on this crucial
third pillar. We should know how this pillar will look like 3 years down the line, how do we
design and roll out a brand architecture built on relevant consumer needs, how to efficiently
spend and how to effectively reach these consumers, he signed off.
Sure sir, Aditya moves out the room with lot of unspoken questions in his mind.
Aditya shoots off a mail marking Research Head Arjun (whose grasp on numbers could put
Aryabhatta to shame), Creative Agency Planning Head Ajay (a man who had worked on
numerous successful brands across his 22 year advertising career) to join in with their extended

1This Case is developed by and is the sole property of ITC Limited.

This is for academic purposes only and

is not intended to be copied or displayed or reproduced at any place outside the Campus.

ITC Interrobang Season 5 Marketing Case Challenge: The Third Pillar

teams for a meeting at 4 PM, Monday in the main conference room. Agenda was summarised in
the mail as per his discussion with Karan.
4:00 PM, Monday - Main Conference Room
Smell of coffee permeated the room. Empty coffee cups were strewn on the table, this was the
4th round of coffee and all the participants knew that it was going to be a long day ahead!
Arjuns team had just finished summarising their read of the biscuit industry.
Biscuits context
Last year was not a great year for the biscuits category. With inflationary pressures and slowing
down of the economy, the most penetrated food category in the country had suffered, managing
a weak 7% growth. Biscuits being an industry of mammoth size of Rs 24000 Crs annually
necessitated it being sub-divided into smaller categories for ease of management and
understanding. The three dominant category formats of Cream, Cookies and Marie, contributed
close to 70% of the industry. Consumers of course looked at these categories from the lens of
their needs. Glucose, though bigger than Marie, is increasingly losing its relevance among the
consumers. Over the last decade or so, cookies had become the largest segment garnering
almost a 1/3rd of the biscuits consumer spend.
While 2012-13 was the year of creams, over the previous two years Marie+Health category had
grown at a pace which was more than double the industrys growth rate and had attracted
consumers from almost all other categories. Now it was Adityas turn to lay down his thoughts
on the table. He started with setting the Competitive and Category context.
Health Category & Competitive Context
Marie segment is Rs 2800 Cr market, growing at 14% YOY. East (50%), South (25%), West
(19%), North (6%) is the region-wise split of the category. Consumed primarily along with
morning tea or coffee, it is considered as a non-negative health biscuit which does not disturb
the taste of the beverage. All brands are known as Marie XXXX as it is how the segment is
known across states. WB (25%), TN (12%), Maha (12%), Orissa (10%) are the leading segment
states. Sunfeast Marie Light commands 20% Market Share in South, 10% in West and is a recent
entrant in the East.
Health segment is currently a Rs 300 Cr market, growing at 30% YOY. It currently consists of
Digestive biscuits (65%), Oats/Ragi biscuits (15%) and the balance across various others.
Sunfeast Farmlite was launched in 2014 with two variants Oats & Almonds, Oats & Raisins. This

1This Case is developed by and is the sole property of ITC Limited.

This is for academic purposes only and

is not intended to be copied or displayed or reproduced at any place outside the Campus.

ITC Interrobang Season 5 Marketing Case Challenge: The Third Pillar

product range was based on the consumer insight, that they believe that healthy biscuits or for
that matter all healthy products fail to deliver on taste. The products under Sunfeast Farmlite
were conceptualised to deliver both health & taste together. Britannia too launched its offering
later, on the same premise, as Nutrichoice Heavens but both the Farmlite variants as well as
Heavens have failed to make significant in-roads into the segment.
However, there is one brand which seemingly defines this complex category, just like Amul
defines the Butter Industry, Xerox defines the Copier Industry and iPod defines the Portable
Music Player Industry; that brand is Britannia Marie Gold for Marie segment & Britannia
Nutrichoice Digestive for the Health segment.
Britannia Marie Gold commands 52% Market Share in overall Marie industry and is growing
much faster than industry at 20% YOY. Historically it has driven family packs (Rs 25+) in East
and smaller packs (Rs 10-15) in other parts of the country. Recently it has started improving the
distribution for their Rs 5 SKU in selected states.
Britannia Nutrichoice Digestive commands more than 65% of the total health industry and is
growing at 30% YOY. Historically it has driven Rs 20 (100gm) SKU for this brand across India.
Recently it has started improving the distribution of the family packs at Rs 50-55. Digestive
biscuits are currently skewed towards 30+ year old SEC A+ Female/Male in Metros due to a
much higher awareness of health benefits and health issues like Diabetes, Obesity, etc. This
makes it a relatively niche, spread across target consumer group and hence difficult to reach
these consumers with desired TV reach-frequency levels.
Inspite of Marie segment being considered as a non-negative health biscuits, Britannia
continues to have two different brands viz. Britannia Marie Gold & Britannia Nutrichoice and
continues to invest in these brands separately.
Now with the context set, it was time to state the problem. Aditya continues and lays down the
problem at hand in a very precise manner.
-

What should the approach of ITC Sunfeast be in order to make significant in-roads into the
Health segment?

What should be the brand architecture for the Health portfolio from Sunfeast with a focus
on the future?
o

What are various consumer need spaces in the health segment that we should
address?

1This Case is developed by and is the sole property of ITC Limited.

This is for academic purposes only and

is not intended to be copied or displayed or reproduced at any place outside the Campus.

ITC Interrobang Season 5 Marketing Case Challenge: The Third Pillar

What is the scope of the proposed Health portfolio? Product horizons, format
innovations, consumer target groups (demography as well as lifestyle/life-stage)
and brand positioning platform?

What should be the key USPs of our brand/ offers that make us stand out against
the competition? What are the areas that we need to build on to develop a
sustainable competitive advantage?

How should the brand evolve to enable efficient marketing expenditure?

o

Should we include Marie Light under the Farmlite brand umbrella?

How do we engage the larger masses to try our product? And engage with the TG
in a cost efficient manner?

What should be our Pricing Strategy so as to deliver on profitability objectives?

This time Aditya didnt jump the gun and waited for Ajays sharp observations Our approach in
the super premium segment through Choco Fills in Dark Fantasy has given us great results. An
innovative product route delays competitor response and hence gives us extra time to establish
the brand and at the same time deliver on profitability, said Ajay.
Aditya thought I wont have to find an answer to this one at least.
However Arjun had other ideas, Innovative sounds good, but does the consumer want
innovation in this category. It looks like he is happy with current health products and is ready to
switch provided we give him better value. Say go hit them where it hurts the most; Go after the
existing formats of Nutrichoice & Marie Gold head on. Go for volumes, profits would follow.
Sameer pointed out the fact that Going after the existing formats of Nutrichoice & Marie Gold is
all good on paper but then we should be ready for a strong reaction, Britannia will be merciless
in its counter. After all Nutrichoice & Marie Gold contribute to 40% of Britannias profit.
The magnanimity of the task was gradually sinking in; Aditya had a complex problem on hand.
Solving this will mean a lot of black coffee, hours in front of the computer screen. Aditya sank
deeper in his seat.
At this moment, both the stalwarts looked at Aditya and smiled. It was as if they were confident
that he will come back with the right answers. Aditya needs your help to find out the right
answers!

1This Case is developed by and is the sole property of ITC Limited.

This is for academic purposes only and

is not intended to be copied or displayed or reproduced at any place outside the Campus.