Sensory Branding-Oreo in the Indian Context – (Group A)

With liberalization, came the dawn of new multinational companies entering the Indian
market with products such as cream biscuits where sensory branding is used to an extent
which is associated with indulgence. Brands such as Britannia, Parle and Sunfeast
differentiating themselves on consumption experience, taste and visual imagery aspects. Oreo
from the house of Mondelez Came out with its sandwich cream biscuits. In 2015, Oreo
marked its fourth year in India and its third largest market in the world. It registered a
constant annual growth of 6% over the last two years. To Chella Pandyan, country head for
Cadbury in biscuits segment thought it was because the other brands has good distribution
channels and better knowledge of market.

The biscuit industry in India is INR 240 billion with an annual average growth of 11% except
in last year where the growth was only 8%. It was due to customer’s preference of better
varieties of biscuits which led to growth of new sub segment of cookies and cream biscuits.
The profit margins were high in this premium segment.

Britannia leads the cookie market with 30% market share. The share of ITC is 26% in the
cream biscuit market. Parle is in number two position in both cookies (27%) and cream
biscuits(25%) segment. Oreo’s market share is only 7%. IN the sam segment, Oreo has stiff
competitions and must differentiate itself from Britannia Pure Magic and Sunfeast Dark
Fantasy.

Cadbury launched its famous Oreo biscuits in 2011. It satisfies hunger needs and other
cravings at odd hours when consumers desired to crunch cookies. The kids enjoyed and had
fun with cream biscuits and milk. It reinforced its product with an emotional appeal and
emotional attachments with parents, siblings bonding over the ‘Twist, Lick and Dunk’
positioning statements associated with the brand.

Sunfeast Dark fantasy were known for its quality and it is associated with pleasure, happiness
and satisfaction. The target segment was teenagers and college going students and young
professionals. It positioned itself as ‘Pure Indulgence’ and gave its consumers an indulging
experience. The packaging was of premium quality and it gave a matte finish in its packets.
The brand was priced higher than its competitors. Britannia Pure magic was launched in 2012
with variants in its offerings. It satisfied hunger cravings.
Chella Pandyan conducted a survey of the above three brands to understand the emotional,
functional and symbolic dimensions. It included surveys, focussed group discussions. The
participants are mostly well educated, young and energetic people who have a crave to try
new things. It brought in interesting insights of the premium segment of biscuit industry.