MAKEOVER OF BRITANNIA

Casecode-MKTG-006
Published-2001

"Our markets are poised for exciting times. As a successful organisation, we must not
only keep pace with consumer expectation, but also anticipate them. Our new identity is
to lay the base to project our future as a successful 'food' company, a company that
provides high quality and tasty, yet healthy foods and beverages"

-Nusli Wadia, Chairman, Britannia Industries Limited.

"I conform to the view that there are three kinds of companies - those that watch things
happen; those that make things happen; and those that wonder what happened. We
certainly wish to make things happen…..My personal commandment is Do unto others
what you don't wish Done unto you. It's not the big who swallow the small, it is the fast
who swallow the slow"

-Sunil Alagh, CEO, Britannia Industries Limited.

A PATH LESS TRAVELLED

An old maxim goes, 'Why do something when it ain't broke?' This may be the credo of
most firms, but not of the food major, Britannia Industries Limited (BIL). In 1997, BIL,
whose business seemed to be doing well, instead of concentrating on it, virtually charted
a new course by seeking to reinvent itself. It built a new corporate identity and adopted a
colourful and identifiable logo with a new base line - 'Eat Healthy, Think better.' From
being a manufacturer of baked products, BIL kicked off a diversification exercise to
become a comprehensive foods and beverages company making cheese and other dairy
products, in addition to its bakery products.

BIL seemed to be doing something radical by venturing into totally new areas, while this
puzzled many, some analysts felt that it was BIL was doing this out of compulsion. They
reasoned that the 16% growth rate of BIL sales, which was just 8% in real terms when
corrected for inflation, though good by the standards of a mature market, was not good
enough for a growing market like India, specially in the foods segment. Others felt that
BIL's makeover decision may have been influenced by the threat of potential
competition. They also felt that with the organised biscuit market in India being
commoditised, and the major chunk being controlled by the unbranded segment, reliance
on biscuits alone could be detrimental to its long-term interests. However, some analysts
were of the opinion that the diversification of BIL into relatively new areas was risky,
and that it should have concentrated on its core competence, the biscuit business.

By the end of 2000 the exploits of BIL seemed to have fructified, at least in the short-run.
In a survey conducted by A&M[1] , BIL emerged as the number one food company well
ahead of competitive brands like Nestle and Cadbury. BIL's dairy business seemed to be
doing reasonably well. In the cheese segment it stood second with about 35% market
share. In the bakery segment also it was doing well, with its biscuits business making
significant inroads. Its positioning plank, 'Eat Healthy, Think Better' also seemed to have
struck the right chord with its customers. Said Sunil Alagh (Alagh) "Our brand today
represents family trust, quality with a contemporary, youthful image.

FLASHBACK

Inception as a small house manufacturing biscuits in central Calcutta with an

1892
investment of Rs 295.
The Gupta Brothers acquired the business, and moved the operations to Dum
1897
Dum, a suburb of Calcutta, under the name of V.S.Brothers.
1918 An English businessman C.H.Holmes joined as a partner.
1918 The BIL Biscuit Company (BBCo) was registered.
1924 BBCo established its second factory at Mumbai.
BBCo acquired the Delhi Biscuit Co and began the manufacture of sliced and
1954
wrapped bread in Delhi.
1961 The production of bread was started in Mumbai.
 The company set up a fourth factory for the manufacture of biscuits and bread in
1967
Chennai.
1971 BBCo diversified into seafood.
An integrated processing and freezing plant for seafood was commissioned at
1973
Thane.
Bread was introduced in Calcutta with the commissioning of two modern
1976
indigenously fabricated automatic baking plants.
BBCo came out with a public issue as a result of which the Indian public's
shareholding crossed 60% and the foreign shareholding (which was 53.37% held
1978
jointly by Control Nominees Ltd. and Associated Biscuits International Ltd, both
of the UK), decreased to less than 40%.
In October the company's name was changed from Britannia Biscuits Company
1979
to Britannia Industries Limited (BIL).
1981 Rajan Pillai, a non-resident Indian bought a 5% shareholding in BIL.
Pillai bought Associated Biscuits International Ltd. (ABIL), for $44 million
1988
(mn), which at that time had a 38% stake in BIL.
Groupe Danone wrested the management control of BIL from Rajan Pillai in a
1993
hostile take-over leading to a complex holding structure at BIL.
Nusli Wadia bought 50% of ABIL and became BIL's joint owner. Groupe
1995
Danone, which till then held 44% in BIL, divested 22% in favour of Wadia.

'FOOD FOR THOUGHT'

BIL, since its inception had been mainly involved in the manufacture of biscuits, which
contributed around 85% of its revenues (1997). The biggest problem then, for the 80-
year-old BIL was that its name was strongly associated by customers with biscuits (or
more broadly bakery products). With the de-reservation of biscuits from the small sector
and commoditisation of the Rs 3500 crore biscuit market, coupled with cutthroat
competition after the entry of multinationals and stagnating net profits, BIL looked for a
fresher approach to survive and prosper. BIL realised that it would have to scale up its
marketing strategy in its main line of business and in addition tap new food categories to
grow. One reason why BIL seemed to have woken late was that the company didn't have
a proper parent until the French food and beverages major, Danone, acquired RJR
Nabisco's holding in the company[2]. BIL seemed to have realised that the time had come
to change the rules of the game. It crafted a makeover plan to diversify into new but
related areas, and at the same time consolidate and improve its core business, biscuits. By
doing so BIL hoped to remain the market leader in biscuits and become a major player in
related businesses also.

DONNING A NEW LOOK

As a first step in its makeover plan, BIL hired a Paris based design studio- Shining
Strategic design, to craft a new logo and corporate slogan. Its work involved
understanding the perceived and potential value of the brand where everything from
colours and symbols to the typeface, was evaluated.

The work also involved looking at the potential of the market and seeing where BIL
could venture in future. Research[1] showed that the brand 'Britannia' was synonymous
with trust and quality, and the wide portfolio of products was seen as a source of strength.
But, BIL was aiming at faster growth, by expanding its business within the bakery
segment and in select synergistic areas. Consumer research conducted with these specific
objectives in mind, brought to the fore two key issues: 1. Although the brand had
tremendous strength associated with it, it needed to communicate modernity strongly. 2.

It needed to assure the customers that apart from being a trusted and a familiar brand, it
was also a contemporary one, and changed with the times. The fact that the existing
brand was too closely associated with the bakery business, could have been a hindrance
to BIL's diversification efforts. Therefore, Britannia needed a more dynamic expression.
So there was a need to restage the logo, with the twin objectives of communicating
modernity and dynamism. While developing the new logo and brand statement, the
existing red and white shield like unit was retained with a modern rendition.
The new corporate identity had three colours red (symbolising energy and vitality), green
(nutrition and freshness) and white (purity) which collectively represented what
consumers looked for in foods and beverage. Research had shown that the brand
statement, Eat Healthy, Think Better, captured the essence of the Indian concept of the
unity of body and mind. During the developmental process, care had to be taken to ensure
that there was adequate representation of all social economic strata in urban and rural
India, for 'Britannia' as a brand, cut across a cross-section of consumers. The red wave
communicated the dynamic and energetic movement of BIL. Analysts felt that the
redesigned shield made BIL powerful and was the identifying stroke that communicated
the innovation and futuristic power of BIL and that the redesigned typography made BIL
very contemporary and less industrial. The roundness communicated the value of nature
Eat Healthy, Think Better. The concept communicated perfectly BIL's potential value
from physical to mental benefits. Said Alagh, " The new corporate identity will testify to
the implicit (good) quality of all our products and all our products and colours stand for
things we look for in all foods and beverages…"

THE BALANCING ACT

For BIL, the new identity, laid the base to project its future as a successful food
company- a company that provided high quality and tasty, yet healthy foods and
beverages. Analysts felt that BIL seemed to have realised that its customers weren't really
buying biscuits; they were buying health, nutrition, and food. If it was nutrition, not
biscuits, that the customer was buying when he bought Britannia, BIL could easily extend
the brand to other markets where the customer looked for nutrition in every purchase. It
was a repositioning that did not have any intrinsic boundaries and BIL, by taking a heath
platform could enter other markets. Said Alagh, " A key reason for re-engineering the
brand was not only to make it more robust and contemporary but also stretchable."[2]

With the new identity in place, the next step in BIL's makeover plan was embodied in a
two-pronged agenda: to bolster BIL's strength in biscuits and to reduce its dependence on
biscuits (Refer Table I).
TABLE I
BIL'S TWO-PRONGED AGENDA

Bolster BIL's strength in Biscuits Reduce dependence on Biscuits

Differentiate products Enter new but related businesses

? ?
Reposition every brand Increase profits share of other businesses
? ?
Enlarge market Make BIL a complete food company
?
Wider & deeper distribution

As a part of its makeover plan, BIL reinforced its strength in biscuits (and more broadly
Bakery business) by seeking to consolidate and improve its leadership position using
aggressive marketing strategies. Said Alagh, " The bakery business is our pillar and we
want to strengthen that first." To ensure that the core business was not sidelined, BIL
brought about changes in the management structure until that there were two clear
divisions: Bakery and Dairy-each operating as independent profit centres.

To meet the objective of bolstering its bakery business, BIL re-positioned each one of its
biscuit brands on a new platform and ensured that each brand had a base statement
making clear the 'higher order benefits' of the brand. BIL used combinations of price and
appeal to straddle every segment of the market, challenging all levels of competition. BIL
had structured a wide range of price-points: from Re 1 for a sachet of Tidbits to Rs 12 for
a pack of 10 Good Day Pista Badam cookies, to Rs 15 for a 100 gm pack of Cheezlets.
Likewise, BIL had straddled the spectrum of segments with different product-benefits, all
of which only reinforced the mother brand's new platform. In regard to brand building,
BIL followed the strategy of 'brand clustering'. The strategy was to let 'Britannia' remain
the mother brand under which a cluster of sub-brands would be present for specific
product categories. While the umbrella brand would act a guarantee for the consumers,
the sub-brand was used to give focus and distinct images for its new product categories
and businesses to get economies from brand building. (Refer TABLE II)

Analysts felt that a company like BIL, whcih wished to cater to a varied customer-base,
needed to possess a large portfolio of brands, with different USPs, positioned at different
price-points, yet unified under a uniquely differentiated mother brand. With this in view,
BIL revamped its biscuit business. At the low-end price-point, was the 'Tiger' brand, a
"calcium-enriched" glucose biscuit launched in 1997, which acted as the umbrella brand
for the mass market. Until then, BIL had focussed on the middle and premium segments
of the biscuit market, leaving Parle's Parle G to rule the mass market. With the mass
segment accounting for half of the unorganised market, it seemed strategically important
for BIL to make inroads into the same. Therefore, as a part of its new plan to attack the
mass market, BIL launched the 'Tiger' brand and positioned it as a 'healthforce biscuit' as
consumer research showed that good health was the overwhelming consideration when
mothers chose snacks for their children. Analysts felt that since Glucose had become a
generic brand, BIL by establishing a new brand was clearly differentiating its Glucose
biscuits from others. The 'Tiger' brand eventually seemed to have been a huge success
with its products, Tiger Glucose (Rs 5 for a 100-gm pack) and Tiger Cashew Badam (Rs
6 for 75 gm) together, achieving within a year of their launch a turnover of Rs 100 crore
and a marketshare of, 30% in the glucose biscuits segment.

BIL then focused on its core biscuit brands- Marie, Thin Arrowroot, and Milk Bikis-
which faced competition from similarly branded alternatives like Bakeman's English
Marie, Milka Biscuits, and Priya Marie. In order to overcome the competition, BIL
differentiated its brands by bringing them under the 'Eat Healthy, Think Better' banner
and giving them clearly-defined positioning. For Milk Bikis, targeted at children, BIL
launched variants like Milk Bikis Funland, which were animal-shaped biscuits.

Marie was renamed Marie Gold, and positioned as a tea-time biscuit. Thin Arrowroot
was renamed Jacob's Thin, with its position as the low-calorie health biscuit reinstated. In
1999, BIL relaunched its low-calorie, high- nutrition brands- Thinlite, Cream Cracker, and
Digestive under the Nutrichoice umbrella, targeting the fast-growing health-conscious
segment. BIL seemed to be quick in gauging the rising demand for products in the
impulse category of snacks (e.g. chips and chocolates). Accordingly, BIL came up with
trendier products like Little Hearts, Pure Magic, and Chekkers, targeting the under-24
urban consumer, positioning them with statements they identified with.

For example 'Direct Dil Se' for Little Hearts, 'Full Of Taste And Fun' for Pure Magic, and
'For The Ups And Downs In Life' for Chekkers. In 1999, BIL had launched Snax, a line
of ethnic snackfoods using low-fat oils and hygienic processes, in 3 variants: Calcutta Ka
Chana Choor, Bikaner Ka Bhujiya, and Rajasthan Ka Aloo Bhujiya, with an eye on the
almost Rs 1800 crore snack market in India. In the segment of 'breads' which contributed
about 6% of the company's total revenues, BIL's presence was restricted to a few cities.

In the face of increasing competition, it decided to strengthen its bread business in the
southern states and was seriously looking for acquisitions and manufacturing tie-ups in
that region. It also planned to leverage the key strength of the daily distribution system of
its bread business in its new ventures like milk.
With a view to boosting volumes, BIL also changed its packaging strategy by launching
biscuits in small sachets. It launched the low-priced sachets, 'Tiger Tikis- nibblets' priced
at Re 1-targetting the mass market. BIL simultaneously revamped its distribution
channels, increasing its retail distribution network to more than 1.20 million outlets. To
increase penetration, more than half of the new outlets serviced, were in the rural and
semi- urban markets-a break from the past, when BIL's distribution was distinctly skewed
towards urban India.

As part of its strategy to reduce its dependence on biscuits, BIL sought to diversify its
product portfolio to include categories that fitted within its overall objective of
transforming itself into a food company. BIL targeted segments where it had the potential
of capturing either the number one or number two position. Said Alagh, " I am not into
pioneering new eating habits. On the contrary, we want to capture the essence of the
Indian consumer. So we will be entering only those areas which will form part of the
daily eating habits of an Indian home and offer either high volume or high value."
Analysts felt that what BIL had done was to build on the company's already successful
brand. With the basic motto of 'eat the BIL product you like, but eat,' the company
provided the consumer with an option at all times of consumption (other than the main
meals of lunch and dinner). The underlying philosophy was to provide 'tasty yet healthy'
snacks that one could eat and drink throughout the day, in short, a product for each
occasion and for every consumer.
BIL saw an opportunity in the dairy segment as it had only one large player, Amul. Its
strategy was to build on the strong affinity that Indian consumers had for milk and milk
products in its diary venture. BIL wanted to do in dairy products what it has done in
biscuits: cover all segments. Said Alagh ''As with other large markets, we will seek to
segment the market for dairy products too. This could mean that our portfolio will
include premium brands, with a high degree of value-addition, as well as popular-priced
brands that could add critical mass.''

BIL entered the dairy segment in 1997 with cheese and milk powder or dairy whiteners.
By 2000, BIL captured about 35% of market share of the cheese market and 20% in the
dairy whitener segment. It launched butter in 1998, flavoured milk, sub-branded 'zipsip'
in tetra packs in 1999 and ghee in February 2000. The company relaunched its entire
dairy business in late April 2000 by bringing it under the 'Milkman' name. The pricing,
communication, package, design had all been revamped. The word 'flavoured' was
dropped from the milk range, as research had shown that in India, the word 'flavoured,'
connoted 'artificial' to consumers.

BIL's diversification reflected its parent, Danone's portfolio. Ever since it got control of
BIL, Danone had been providing it technology in biscuits and pastries. Danone's biggest
business, dairy products, was the driving force for BIL's diversification. However, dairy
products accounted for a meagre 9% of BIL's turnover. But BIL hoped that was going to
change. Said Alagh, ''In the next 3 years, we expect new businesses to contribute about a
quarter of our turnover.''
THE ROAD AHEAD

BIL's makeover plan seemed to have worked well. The sales increased from Rs 752.3
crore in 1996-97 to Rs. 1169 crore in 1999-00 and net profits increased almost 4 times
since 1996-97. Although BIL's biscuit business seemed to have done well, its
diversification into dairy segments did not seem to be an unqualified success. Analysts
observed that the value-added dairy market which BIL had targeted was a minuscule 0.10
per cent of the market.

While the size of the cheese market was a mere Rs 140 crore, it was growing at 20 per
cent per annum. The Rs 400-crore butter market was growing at 10 per cent a year, and
Amul-the only national butter brand-had an 85% share. The Rs 350-crore dairy-whitener
market was growing at 10% a year, but large brands like GCMMF's Amulya
(marketshare: 45%), Nestle's Everyday (32%), and HLL's Milkana (14 %) dominated it.
Analysts felt that for BIL, using brand equity alone to break into competitors' domain,
may not be that easy. BIL had to make sure that the products it made were acceptable to
Indian tastes. The mere fact that a product in its parent, Danone's portfolio was successful
abroad was no guarantee that it would succeed in India.

The best example, analysts pointed out, was that of 'Mini roule,' a Swiss roll from
Danone, which failed to take off, in India. BIL, however seemed to believe that its core
competence was foods, and that by going into dairy products, it was not moving from its
original focus. BIL also believed that its makeover plan had worked well, and that this
was reflected in the remarkable improvement in profits.

Accordingly it set ambitious targets for the future. Said Alagh, "Our vision is to make
every third Indian a Britannia consumer within the next three years …We want to be part
of our consumer- at home, out of home, a natural part of his life. Consume the product of
your choice, but consume Britannia."
Analysts felt that the challenge for BIL lay, in continuing to remain aggressive and in
evolving to meet the needs of dynamic markets of the new millennium. If BIL was to
achieve the objective it had set for itself, it had to continuously strive to deliver products
with value that exceeded consumers' expectation. BIL's gamble and its long-run success
would ultimately depend on whether consumers liked the new products it introduced in
the market or not.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Explain why the change in logo and corporate slogan was critical to BIL's
makeover plan.

2. "For a company that wished to cater to a varied customer-base, it (BIL) needed to

posses a large portfolio of brands, with different USP's positioned at different
price-points, yet unified under a uniquely differentiate mother brand." In the light
of the above statement, discuss various strategies followed by BIL.

3. Do you think BIL's diversification is a wise move? Explain.

4. Why did Britannia re-launch its diary products under the 'milkman' umbrella?

5. If you were the brand manager of BIL, what would be your future course of
action?

ADDITIONAL READINGS AND REFERENCES

1. Sriram R, Britannia cooks up slew of launches, Business Standard, July 4, 1997.

2. Prabhakar Mohana and Dutta Sudipt, Britannia at its freshest, Business India,
July 28, 1997.
3. Bringing old and new, Business Standard, August 5, 1997.
4. Meenu, Charting a new course, BusinessWorld, August 7, 1997.
5. Shekar Sharma Rakesh, Rising dough, Business Standard, August 18, 1997.
6. Dey Amal Krishna, Recast brings in the moolah for Britannia, Business Standard,
June 20, 1998.
7. Britannia mulls entry into flavoured milk, Business Standard, August 13, 1998.
8. Chhaya, Which way will the cookies crumble, Business Today, April 22, 1999.
9. Chandrasekaran Anupama, Milk for MTV generation, Business Standard, May
11, 1999.
10. Britannia launches ethnic snacks, Hindu Businessline, May 12, 1999.
11. Shekar Meenu, 2000- A milk odyssey, BusinessWorld, May 31, 1999.
12. Chhaya, Lessons In Repositioning Britannia, Business Today, June 22, 1999.
13. Britannia revamps dairy business for wider spread, The Economic Times, May
23, 2000.
14. Chandrasekaran Anupama, Think dairy, think better, Business Standard, May 23,
2000.
15. Bai Asha, That's the way to dough it, Brand Equity, The Economic Times, May
24, 2000.
16. Paul Mahuya, Britannia kicks off brand building exercise, August 29, 2000.
17. Bhakti Chuganee, Making good on food, Business India, October 30, 2000.