Due to a sluggish start to the fiscal year with steep corrections in the market, the pressure on this year’s festive season is huge. In this brand-exclusive series, we speak to brand custodians to understand their FestiveBrandBrief22 for the upcoming season, which, despite the slow start to the year, is likely to provide a much more high-spirited and profitable fiscal.
In this exclusive FestiveBrandBrief22 interaction, Milind Pingle, CEO at Allana Consumer Products Private Limited, speaks about the growth of ecommerce and outlines Allana’s brand brief for the festive seasons. Pingle outlines the perfect media mix for the brand and speaks about Allana’s recent brand campaign with Sonali Bendre.
Milind Pingle is the CEO of Allana Consumer Products Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai, and has been with Allana Group for three years. While having shouldered several significant leadership roles, Pingle has more than 25 years of industry experience largely in the FMCG and Media space in India across respected organizations including Cargill, the Times Group, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, Perfetti VanMelle, and Wipro Consumer Care.
He brings diverse experience in leading large and complex operations as also conceiving, incubating, and building startup organizations. His core expertise are in Sales, Marketing, and General Management.
Excerpts from the conversation.
What is your 100-word Brief for this festive season?
At Allana Consumer Products, we have B2C brands like London Dairy Premium Ice cream, Sunny and Priya Refined Oils, and Pristine range of Bakery Ingredients in B2B business. We ensure that these brands are activated ahead of the festivities and become integral to the celebrations and part of the consumer ethos.
Since the festivities also usher in indulgence, Pristine looks to be part of every ‘sweet moment’ with our extensive range of cake premixes, decors, and fillings.
London Dairy witnesses a spike in the season. This festive season, the brief is to drive the take-home packs. It will be accompanied by exciting consumer offers and an active Digital Media presence.
Festivities are incomplete without traditional dishes and delicacies which taste best when cooked in Sunny & Priya Refined Oils. In the refined edible oil category in Maharashtra, Sunny has always championed the need for immunity.
We are taking that story ahead with a multi-creative campaign of Andar Se Tough showcased through a Sonali Bendre TVC and ably supported with digital campaigns on social media and OTT.
What are the need gaps in the product/service category you compete in? How are you filling those gaps?
Allana Consumer Products believes that even in a well-entrenched category like refined edible Oils, its brands must continuously evolve to cater to the modern-day discerning consumers who are on the lookout for the finest brands. We work on product extensions and adding value to the existing offerings.
While we have focused on major categories like Sunflower & Soybean Oil, we have seen a rise in demand for specialized healthy Oils. To cater to such demand, we have ventured into the Ricebran category with Priya Ricebran Oil.
During the festive season, consumers aspire to cook their delicacies with the finest Groundnut oil which experiences growth in demand. Our latest introduction of Sunny Groundnut oils will be activated to cater to this spike in demand.
With Sunny & Priya Refined Oils, we cater to consumers in Maharashtra who are continuously on the lookout to evolve also at the packaging level during festivals. Our 5L Jar and 15L Jar in Sunflower and Soyabean Oil category become our most customized and relevant offering.
The 15L Jar is differentiated with an attached tap which can be used to transfer the Oil to smaller containers without lifting the Jar or tilting it. This is an award-winning package innovation that is perfectly suited for households in months where there will be considerable consumption.
In a highly indulgent category like Ice cream, because of rising health consciousness, there is a demand for low-calorie variants. We are tapping into this demand with London Dairy’s Lite variant.
We are experiencing the popularity of Mediterranean cuisine, and Olive Oil as a category is gaining traction. We cater to this through Allegro Extra Virgin Olive Oil. For the last two years, Extra Virgin is also the fastest-growing Olive oil variant.
At Allegro, we have a significant focus on this variant and as a product differentiator; our Extra Virgin products have a tinted glass bottle (ideal for Extra Virgin conditions) and have a smart nozzle that helps in drizzling Olive Oil over Pizzas, Pastas, and Salads. These innovations are going a long way in endearing the Allegro brand to consumers.
Allana Consumer Products has also made a foray into the ever-evolving vegan market in India with the launch of Beyond Meat. With Beyond Meat, the idea is to reach out to vegans across the country who want the best vegan offering at their doorsteps.
How have your brand- and your brand marketing strategies evolved in these past two years of the pandemic?
We viewed the pandemic as an opportunity to strengthen our business.
Since the onset of the pandemic, Sunny Refined Oil’s brand promise of ‘Andar se tough’ resonated even more with the consumers. In the refined edible oil category, the brand had championed the need for immunity, way before it became mainstream.
The brand has continued this school of thought and has further strengthened its stature by meeting Maharashtra’s rising demand for Edible Oils during the pandemic.
With the focus on health being more than ever, there is an increase in demand for specialized healthy oil for culinary purposes, and for Allegro Olive Oil, the communication is weaved around Extra Virgin variant premium Olive Oil.
Home baking came off age during the pandemic and to cater to this high demand, we promoted Pristine cake mixes to thousands of home bakers who took to baking with the help of 1 kg packs.
We worked extensively on strengthening our E-Commerce channel which has grown over 3.5X in the last two years. E-Commerce is now the fastest growing vertical in the company.
What is the perfect media mix for your brand?
Allana Consumer Products has a play in both B2B and B2C sectors and caters to a wide range of customer segments including Industry, Artisan bakers, consumers at large, etc.
Sunny, Priya, London Dairy, Allegro, and Beyond Meat are B2C brands. Sunny and Priya range of edible oils are prominent Oil brands in Maharashtra. Sunny Refined Oil has Sonali Bendre as its brand ambassador. It has been an association that has lasted over 5 years. Sunny Refined Oil is promoted through multi-creative campaigns with extensive Media support encompassing TV, Digital, Consumer Offers, and On-ground activations.
With London Dairy & Allegro, the brand reaches out to gourmet customers primarily in the Metro cities. Digital is a key medium for both brands.
In the B2B segment, we are an esteemed supplier to several MNCs and domestic companies in the Industry & Food Services sector where we supply our range of specialized Oils & Fats and Bakery Ingredients such as cake mixes, decors & glazes.
We also meet the requirements of several thousand artisan bakers through our Alfa and Pristine range of Bakery Fats, bakery Ingredients, etc. Extensive product-application demos and customer sampling drives are activities that we have embarked upon to drive outreach in the B2B segment.
On-ground events help in building the stature of brands like Beyond Meat, London Dairy, Allegro, and Pristine and help us in delivering a quality brand experience that helps consumers in making informed choices.
Which are the most important categories that will see a big uptake in the upcoming Festive season?
While the entire range of Refined Oil category (Sunflower, Soyabean, etc.) witnesses an increase in consumption, there is a significant surge for bigger sized SKUs like 5L and 15L during the festive month.
In the patisserie segment, there will be an increased demand for Pristine Bakery premixes. We have also seen innovative Indian mithai-inspired cakes like Rasmalai, Pistachio, Gulab Jamun Cakes giving a bigger push to Pristine Glazes, Fruit fillings, and Ganache.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil is now used as a major ingredient in healthy cakes that are being dished out by home chefs on social media.
Festivities work well for the Ice Cream category, and we are expecting a surge in demand for the 500ml and 1 Liter Tub packs of London Dairy premium ice cream due to increased in-house consumption because of house parties and family gatherings. With the resurgence in travel and hospitality, out-of-home consumption of Ice cream will also witness a significant surge.
Would you recommend more and more brands should also have, in time for the upcoming Festive Season, their own Ecommerce platform on the web or app, online, for direct selling to consumers? Why?
E-Commerce as a business contributing channel has grown exponentially since the inception of the pandemic. The lockdowns saw E-commerce sales spiking up. Even though the restrictions are lifted, the base Volume of E-Commerce has certainly grown on a Y-O-Y level.
We have worked on strengthening our E-Commerce presence across 20+ portals as a part of our multi-channel strategy to be at arm’s length with the consumers. We have also invested in Performance Marketing, and this has helped in our brands outperforming competition on these portals.
Premium categories have a comparatively higher share of salience through E-Commerce. For brands like Beyond Meat & Allegro, the contribution of E-Commerce to overall sales is significant.
E-Commerce platforms activate SALE in festive seasons which they Market extensively. It always helps in bringing a lot of new consumers, a trend that we have seen across categories.
Many brands have also embarked on the D2C Journey to service the consumer in a better way. We do feel that with a robust supply chain, a D2C portal will help in giving customized offers depending on the previous purchase of consumers and will also help in unearthing insights so that brands can unlock newer opportunities to delight the consumer.
