Case Study on Bru Coffee

ABOUT BRU COFFEE

Bru coffee is a leading coffee brand in the country and is the only brand to be present in all segments
of the coffee category—instant, conventional filter, and premixes. It is the volume leader in the
conventional filter coffee market. In instant coffee, Bru coffee positions itself as the tastiest coffee in
the country which can be made instantly.

CONSUMER PROFILE & PREFERENCES

There are three different consumer segments based on their drink preferences in south India:

• Tea drinkers

• Conventional filter coffee drinkers

• Instant coffee drinkers

South India is a big market for coffee and is dominated by filter coffee, as consumers prefer it for its
taste and aroma. Filter coffee is most prevalent in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka,
where consumers also prefer tea. This segment when combined with the tea-drinking segment
represents a huge, untapped market for instant coffee. While filter coffee gives great taste, it takes a
lot of time and effort to make. Tea too, on the other hand requires a lot of effort to make. Studies
have suggested that consuming a cup of coffee is better over tea for women as coffee gives more
energy vs tea, which is a benefit a housewife seeks as she gets busy with her day to day household
chores

THE CHALLENGE

Penetration of instant coffee is one third as compared to urban, and hence is a significant
opportunity for Bru to grow. While people in rural are aware of instant coffee, it is still a drink to be
had on special occasions for many households. The marketing challenge, thus, was to convert these
special occasions to Bru Instant Coffee occasions. As these households were a mix of tea drinkers,
filter coffee and competition instant coffee drinkers, conveying the right message across the
segments was the biggest concern for Bru Instant Coffee. Beverage preferences are difficult to
change; it was not easy to get people to deviate from a beverage of their choice and sample instant
coffee.

The brand, therefore, needed a breakthrough to overcome these hurdles and to communicate the
benefits of Bru instant to three different beverage drinkers.

THE SOLUTION

The company decided to recruit new instant coffee drinking households through a door-to-door
program in rural. In this programme an army of saleswomen having a mobile tab were to go door-to-
door across all rural households in the priority districts decided by Bru. The saleswomen were
expected to educate the household about the benefits of instant coffee with the help of the video
through the tab. After showing the video, simple questions based on the video were asked and a Bru
Instant coffee sachet sample was given, thus completing the process of
awareness, interest & trial. Through this activity, 2.4 million households have been contacted every
year since the last 5 years. resulting in the brand gaining a 70 per cent share of new category
entrants.

QUESTIONS

1) How did Bru segment its consumers?

2) What were the communication challenges for Bru Instant coffee? How were they able to solve it?
(Use the and trigger, barrier, consumer task map and JTBD approach)

3) Basis the different consumer profile, can you make concept card on how Bru would have
communicated the benefits of its instant coffee?