Merketing

Merketing

Merketing

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Merketing

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Cadbury-Kraft not as sweet as a chocolate

Merketing

Kala Vijayraghavan, ET Bureau Nov 23, 2011, 02.09am IST

MUMBAI: When Irene Rosenfeld strode into the central Mumbai headquarters of Cadbury Kraft India on Monday morning, the top priority of the chairman & CEO of the Chicago-headquartered Kraft Foods was to interact with employees and gauge how successful the integration of the two foods giants that came together last March has been.What Rosenfeld will perhaps not hear are the rumblings as two disparate cultures attempt to come together in one of the few markets in which the British chocolates colossus towers above the macaroni and cheese major.

A few months after Kraft acquired Cadbury in a $18.9-billion hostile takeover, Sanjay Khosla, the head of Kraft's operations in developing markets, called the merger a marriage made in heaven. Not everyone at the Indian company will agree — certainly not the 20-odd senior executives across functions such as supply chain, sales, legal and finance who have resigned since the integration began.Officious and Overbearing

A person close to the development says almost all of the employees left citing a clash of cultures and an inability to deal with Kraft's heavy hand on the operations. Senior officials involved in the integration process say they are concerned that rising complexity in the integrated operation will impact "on-the-ground readiness".

They add that before Kraft took over the reins Cadbury was nimble-footed, taking pricing and promotional decisions on the ground without having to wait for official approvals from the top brass. Also, approvals for marketing and advertising budgets at Cadbury would be cleared swiftly within a few days; now they come after a month. "Earlier, it would be quick decisions, but today the number of layers people have to go through for approvals is frustrating," says a person familiar with the development.

A company spokesperson, in an email response to questions, denies there are integration issues. "The integration, given its size and complexity, has been smooth," she says. "Our attrition levels are in single digits, well below the average in the FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) sector."

Still, Cadbury managers are finding it difficult to reconcile with an organisation that's suddenly become officious and overbearing. Evidence of bureaucracy exists right at the top.

Earlier, Anand Kripalu, as head of Asian operations, reported directly to the global CEO; Kripalu now reports into Pradeep Pant, Asia Pacific president for Kraft; Pant reports to Khosla, who is designated executive vice-president & president, developing markets and global categories (Kraft Foods & Cadbury); Khosla reports to the chairman. The spokesperson for Kraft counters that "our decentralised structure gives full P&L accountability to business units such as the one in India. This provides greater flexibility to the business heads and allows for even more entrepreneurial initiatives — that is why we could launch a new category such as biscuits in just 12 months".

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Indeed, the Indian business has done well to make inroads in biscuits with the Oreo brand, which is a new category; in the process it has succeeded in stealing share from leader Britannia in the cream segment. Cadbury managers agree that Oreo is a success but that's only because Kraft has invested disproportionately in its own brands.Numbers are not easily available but one executive familiar with budgets says investments in Oreo and another Kraft brand, Tang, are 50% more than revenues generated by these brands. What's more, he adds, "the push factor for Tang, which is struggling to find takers, has led to stress in the system". Parallely Bubbaloo, a brand Cadbury had launched in the gum category, has been sidelined and may even fall off the radar, say officials. "Kraft does not understand chocolates and confectionery. It is a culture issue," says one Cadbury marketer.

The company spokesperson poohpoohs such views, pointing instead to the headway both brands have made in the Indian market. "We have made significant investments into our legacy brands, thereby accelerating growth. An example is the chocolate category where we have successfully maintained our 70% market share. Our philosophy is to strengthen our legacy business while building new categories," she explains. She adds that Tang has gained market share since launch and that "we are very pleased with its performance".

The nub of the problem, though, is that the Cadbury side of the operation feels it is not getting the attention it deserves for its dominant position in the Indian market. Revenues grew by 27% in 2010, making India one of the fastest-growing operations for Kraft globally.

And Cadbury brands account for over 90% of revenues of roughly Rs 2,500 crore. Growth in the current year is expected to be even higher. Kraft, on the other hand, hasn't focused on India in the past, and is now trying to make up for lost time by riding on its more successful ally.

Cadbury managers are also a bit nervous about an impending break-up of the company — into snack foods (with brands such as Oreo, Cadbury chocolates, Trident gum) and the grocery business (Kraft and Velveeta cheese, and Maxwell House coffee amongst others). The fear is that Cadbury brands could suffer in a bid to drive snack foods.

Rapid trials, strategy to drive awareness works well for Kraft’s biscuit brand 'Oreo'Sagar Malviya & Sarah Jacob, ET Bureau Nov 7, 2011, 03.21am IST

MUMBAI/BANGALORE: It's a tough cookie. In six months, Kraft Foods' Oreo has cornered more space in India's Rs 5,500 crore cream-biscuits segment than Britannia's Treat-O could in nine, and also weaned some fans off its Bourbon brand.Oreo, the world's largest cookie brand, had about 6% market share in the quarter ended September as compared with Treat-O's 1%, industry sources said quoting market research firm Nielsen. The agency, however, did not confirm it.

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"Right at the onset, we adopted a strategy to drive awareness and rapid trials," said Chandramouli Venkatesan, director, snacking & strategy at Cadbury India (now owned by Kraft). "Along with its pricing strategy, the company's 1.2 million-store network in urban and rural India came handy too."But Wadia group firm Britannia is not anxious. "The fact is that we have not lost market share, we have introduced multiple innovations, and we are delighted by that," said Britannia Industries COO and vicepresident Neeraj Chandra.

Britannia, which launched Treat-O in December in preparation for Oreo's imminent entry, is still the market leader in the cream-biscuits segment. It held 26.6% market share in the September quarter, despite an almost 260 basis points decline in the last three quarters.

In the Rs 675-crore chocolate cream biscuit sub-category, the market share of Britannia's Bourbon brand has fallen from 70% in the March quarter to 45% in the September quarter. Oreo's share in this category stands at over 31%.

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"All of our power brands have grown and the Britannia portfolio of brands has retained its market share at 31.4 %, year to date," a Britannia spokesperson said.

The tussle between the two companies started with Kraft complaining that Treat-O resembled Oreo and then the global foods giant went on to seek damages for infringement of trademark and copyright. The matter is still in court.

For Oreo, this is its second stint in India. It first entered the country through the import route, but its cream-filled sandwich cookies made little sales traction due to its premium sticker price.

When the locally manufactured Oreo launched in April, almost a century after it was introduced in the US market, Kraft slashed its price to Rs 5 for a pack of three biscuits, Rs 10 for a pack of seven, and Rs 20 for 14.

According to Venkatesan, the company's 'Oreo Togetherness' campaign reached out to 14 cities across India. "On the trade front, our point-of-buying strategy has been crucial in driving awareness and enabling conversions," he said.

Experts say this gave Cadbury, which is synonyms with chocolates in India, a strong foothold in a relatively new segment. "Cadbury cracked its distribution well for Oreo, given the correlation between chocolates and biscuits. The company was innovative with lower-priced packs and bet on the recognition for the foreign brand," said Anand Ramanathan, associate director at management consultancy KPMG.

Challenger brands upset global stars' launch plansRatna Bhushan, ET Bureau Jun 13, 2011, 03.24am IST

Two months before Cadbury Kraft India launched its global best-selling Oreo biscuits in March, rival Britannia Industries stole its thunder by launching an exact me-too product called Treat-O. Although Kraft immediately sued Britannia for 'trademark and copyright infringement of intellectual property rights,' Treat-O has managed to take away category exclusivity and is selling as much as, if not more than, Oreo. Both are chocolate-flavoured sandwich cookies at similar price points and the advertising for both products is similar. Globally Oreo may be generating revenues of over $1 billion annually but, in India consumers are confusing it with Treat-O. The world's No 1 biscuits brand had just been ambushed.

Oreo, Sunfeast bite into Britannia market shareNamrata Singh, TNN Dec 19, 2011, 12.24pm IST

MUMBAI: The Rs 3,600-crore premium cream biscuit market has turned hyper competitive with Cadbury's Oreo and ITC's Sunfeast brands biting into the share of Britannia Industries, and Parle Products planning to enter super-premium creams.

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The numbers reveal how Oreo and Sunfeast (Dark Fantacy , Dream Cream and Premium Cream) creamed Britannia to garner shares of 6% and 10.6%, respectively during January to September 2011. The Sunfeast portfolio gained the most with 7% jump in value share. Britannia's combined value share of the premium cream biscuit portfolio (Bourbon and Treat) declined from 18% in January to 14.7% in September , as per Nielsen data available with TOI. This has narrowed the share gap in premium creams between Britannia and ITC.

"The cream category contributes less than 20% to the overall Britannia business. However, in the recent past key brands like Bourbon and Treat have found much stronger traction and appeal with consumers and have grown faster than the overall biscuit market. Bourbon , in fact, has almost doubled and held on to its share of 9% year-to-date (9.2% last year)," said a Britannia spokesperson.

"Competitive activity has also been there in different categories including a high decibel launch of Oreo which has a share of 1 % in the biscuit market year to date," the Britannia spokesperson said, adding, "with innovative and superior consumer delivery, Britannia creams will sustain pricing."

Oreo, which was launched early this year, is said to have clocked in sales on the back of high consumer spends, which went up by 51% in the second quarter ended September 30 this year as compared to the first quarter. ITC investments behind Sunfeast premium cream biscuits were even higher at 114% in the last two sequential quarters. In contrast, Britannia's spends on the premium cream biscuits increased just 6%.

Oreo hit the market with an aggressive introductory offer of Rs 10 per pack, a level most Indian households can afford to splurge on.

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 Cadbury India, which is now owned by Kraft, adopted a strategy to drive awareness and rapid trials. "We reached out to consumers across 14 cities through our 'Oreo Togetherness' campaign . We also leveraged the digital medium in a big way," said Chandramouli Venkatesan, director , snacking and strategy, Cadbury India. Oreo's price was gradually upped to Rs 12 based on the consumer response.ITC too upped the ante with its premium range of cream offerings receiving "positive response from consumers with sales volumes recording impressive growth" , according to Chitranjan Dar, divisional chief executive, ITC Foods division. Now, Parle Products, the largest domestic biscuit maker, plans to enter the super-premium cream segment.