SUPERBRANDS 2012

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kohinoorindia.com

KOHINOOR
Promotion
In a market where rice has been traditionally bought loose from undistinguished gunny bags, building a brand is an enormous task. Indeed, despite strenuous effort and the advent of several brands in this space, more than 90% of all rice sold in India is still unbranded. This, of course, is suggestive not just of the huge opportunities that lie ahead but also of the sobering thought that a mammoth task still remains to be accomplished. Very early in its life, Kohinoor decided that the way forward in this category would be celebrity endorsement. Its television commercial featuring Sharmila Tagore and the Nawab of Pataudi was designed to break through the resistance and show people, moving up in life, what those who had succeeded were consuming. It was amongst the first repositioning exercises in this category. Since then, Kohinoor has assiduously worked towards building its brand. It has invested very considerably in different media opportunities. And the latest example of such initiative is the Basmati Meter campaign which shows the six attributes a true Basmati must have: a length of at least 16 mm, fluffy so every grain stands out, pure white in colour, an aroma that wafts through the house, a slightly sweetish taste and a texture that is so soft that it seems to dissolve in the mouth. To communicate this initiative a complete 360-degree campaign was launched, starring the celebrity mother-daughter duo of Sharmila Tagore and Soha Ali Khan in the North and Trisha and her Mother in the South. The idea was to show the value of passing down the experiences of the older generation to the next and, in this way, to take forward a legacy that would, otherwise, be lost. The Basmati Meter tool, coupled with celebrity power, helped create the differentiating factor and reinforced the leadership status that Kohinoor has enjoyed for all these years.

What is extraordinary about Kohinoor is not the fact that it is a huge, nationally recognised brand. What is remarkable is the fact that it reached these heights under the most modest circumstances. Today, Kohinoor stands tall as a food brand which offers an extensive range of products, starting from Basmati rice to readyto-eat curries and rice, frozen snacks and breads and cook-in sauces. And now as part of a US$ 3.30 billion food company, McCormick Inc., of the US, a global leader in manufacturing, marketing and distributing spices, herbs and seasonings, specialty foods and flavours, Kohinoor expects to further its momentum by continuing to innovate, develop and deliver culinary delights.
comprises less than 1% almost all of it localised to the foothills of the Himalayas. Clearly with much interest in Basmati rice, agricultural scientists have trained their sights on creating hybrid varieties, which have the same characteristics but provide a much higher yield. This effort notwithstanding, production of Basmati is still low. The cost differential too, between Basmati and the ordinary varieties has drawn traders who have, en masse, begun to adulterate it. In this complex market one brand stands out: Kohinoor. This was the first real, extra long grain Basmati to be handpicked, matured, polished, packaged and sold to discerning consumers through out India.

to the shelves of urban kitchens. Brand familiarity led to brand repurchase and brand repurchase led to brand goodwill. Having gained a head start, the brand has been loath to give up its position of strength. It has, therefore, constantly endeavoured to stay ahead of competitors. This is evidenced in a number of industry firsts it has notched up: the first to brand in a commoditised market, the first to widely advertise its product, the first to use a celebrity for brand endorsement, the first to use television to reach its audiences, the first to introduce automatic packaging and sorting machines and the first to gain the ISO and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) certifications. It's no surprise then, that the brand is amongst the most revered in the country.

Product
Put in its least poetic form, Kohinoor is natures best, packaged. Every grain that bears this famous name is grown and nurtured in the foothills of the Himalayas and fed with the purest waters from rivers rushing from mountain slopes. As these sweep into the plains they deposit a rich layer of alluvial soil and their waters flood the banks and seep into the earth. It is here that nature gives birth to the rice called Kohinoor. Kohinoor rice is carefully selected from handpicked farms and then aged in a very special way, under strictly controlled conditions, for between one and two years. When it has thus matured, the rice is ready for packing. What reaches tables across every nook and corner of the country is a Basmati that has a wafting aroma and an exquisite taste.

Achievements
Brand Kohinoor has a long and distinguished history of achievements. It has, along the way, won many prestigious awards: the National Award for Export Excellence, the Brand Equity Award, an award from the World Economic Forum, the Reader's Digest Most Trusted Brands award and, for fourteen years in a row, the APEDA Award. At Kohinoor it's not all hard labour. Every once in a while the brand goes off the beaten track. The last time it did that, it gained an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records for cooking the World's Largest Biryani dish weighing 14.06 tonnes.

Recent Developments
Kohinoor is happily placed at the confluence of history at a point in time when Indian foods have achieved an international following. Recognised as it was as a producer of fine Basmati rice, Kohinoor has now diversified into a complete food company. That appeared to be a sensible way forward. With success quickly coming its way, the company launched a series of new products in the food category. Today, its range includes over 200 stock keeping units (SKUs) encompassing everything from its vanilla offering of Basmati rice to ready-to-eat curries and rice, frozen snacks and breads and cook-in sauces. However, all the hard work has culminated in a fine achievement: today, this proud, Indian brand has become part of a US$ 3.30 billion (C18,150 crore) food company, McCormick Inc., of the US, a global leader in manufacturing, marketing and distributing spices, seasonings, specialty foods and flavours and conglomerates, with a market presence in many countries around the world. This integration of Kohinoor with McCormick aims to further build on Kohinoors proven track record and expects to continue to innovate, develop and deliver culinary delights.

Brand Values
Kohinoor reaches different people at different times and at different places. But it recognises that no matter how difficult the task, in the food business reaching out to people who are weary of experimenting, cautious in purchase, fussy in taste and often rigid of view, must be accomplished. This explains why it places a premium on what it delivers. Kohinoor is constantly shepherding its core values of trust and working very hard to ensure that these are never betrayed.

Market
Food, quite simply, is the world's single largest occupation. Wars have been fought over it, governments overthrown and people beheaded for breaching the code of trust by allowing secret culinary recipes to pass into enemy hands. Over centuries, master chefs have emerged to create dishes to satiate royal palates and secret ingredients have been introduced to convert an ordinary dish into an extraordinary gastronomic fare. Foreign travellers to India discovered many of these condiments. It is these, among other riches, that drove entire armies to this mystical land. Perhaps, it is for this reason that few countries in the world compare with the vast smorgasbord of foods India offers. In the fitness of things, it was in India, that the most unique taste and aroma of rice the world's favourite staple grain was discovered. Basmati, in many ways, is India's gift to the world's most exquisite tables. The world produces nearly 650 million metric tonnes of rice annually. The bulk of this production is contributed by China, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh. Of this, Basmati rice
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History
It would not be far from the truth to suggest that the graph for Kohinoor parallels the growth of the organised Basmati industry. Kohinoor has come a long way in being recognised as a successful brand associated with purity, authenticity, aroma and long-grained quality. The first step in this regard was giving the grain a befitting brand name. The name Kohinoor drew immediate comparison with the world's biggest and finest diamond. The next step was to ensure consistent quality and the only way this was accomplished, was by setting up its own plant, which later became a trend in the industry. Kohinoor's differentiating factor was that it made a transition from selling in bulk the way Basmati used to be sold in India to selling in smaller family-sized consumer packs. This simple exercise brought the brand to the fore and on

Things you didnt know about

Kohinoor
868,500 grains of pearly white Basmati rice flow out of Kohinoor factories every second Kohinoor Basmati rice is the first branded food from India to be served on board Malaysian Airlines Kohinoor has been awarded the Guinness World Record certificate for making the World's Largest Biryani dish, weighing 14.06 tonnes

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