‘From a qualitative point of view, IPL is a virtual roadblock on TV: no one can miss it.’

With the summer here, Indian beverage brands will slug it out on the advertising pitch to grab audience attention. For Nadia Chauhan, JMD & CMO, Parle Agro, who has successfully managed to maintain the position of the legacy brand Frooti among the top-three contenders in the mango-based drinks space for years, the Indian Premier League is a crucial element of her media strategy given its reach and timing.

Introduced in India in 1985, Frooti has maintained its place among the A-listers in the space for nearly four decades. However, with strong competition emerging at the top and crowding happening at the bottom, the brand was faced with the challenge of maintaining and growing its market share at the same time. In order to realise its aggressive growth plan while penetrating across the vast urban and rural landscape, Parle Agro decided to partner with IPL in the summer of 2014, and the exceptional results thereof encouraged the company to take Appy Fizz to the pitch subsequently in 2019.  

Explaining the rationale behind the association, Chauhan states, “It is widely accepted that there’s no bigger spectacle than Cricket in India, and yet IPL is not just about Cricket but also entertainment for the family, the latter being evident in the ratings decline for other channels and properties during that time. Moreover, it falls into the prime time category with an audience that spans across genders, age groups and SEC profiles. India is still a predominantly single TV household market, which further enhances the effectiveness of IPL for mass brands like ours. Also, the fact that it happens bang in the middle of the summer season – the peak consumption period for the beverage industry - is another big positive. Associating with it further drives reach and visibility for our brands during our most crucial season.”

Parle Agro began advertising on IPL through ad spots and contextual placements of branding elements during live streams such as aston bands and L Bands. Over time, print, radio, outdoor, and on-ground elements were also added to the media plan. “The three-pronged approach was adopted to establish communication better while increasing optics. We incorporated these reminder mediums for achieving higher brand recall,” she shares.

Comparing the quantitative and qualitative TV reach of IPL to that of other media properties, Chauhan says, “IPL had a reach of over 450 million in 2020 (BARC) which is higher than the combined reach of the next top 7-8 large scale TV properties. The statement stands for itself. From a qualitative point of view, it is the virtual roadblock on TV; no one can miss it. Millions of people watch it continuously for a period of over 40 days which helps in maintaining strong visibility for brands. One of the critical aspects of our media strategy is to drive maximum reach and impact to achieve high ‘Top of Mind Awareness’. The 40-day telecast during a high consumption period makes IPL the perfect platform to deliver on these requirements. We focus on the placement of spots to relay the brand message at high frequency on a daily basis during this period,” she notes. 

However, Chauhan believes that in order for a campaign to have an overall impact, it is important that the media and communication strategies be in sync. In 2015 Parle Agro worked with UK-based design studio Pentagram and US-based agency Sagmeister & Walsh to give Frooti a completely revamped identity, covering all aspects such as design, packaging and communication; only the brand name remained unchanged. The much-talked-about ‘Aam Suck it-a Lick it-a’ TVC was created to reach out to audiences across all age groups and reinforce the message about Frooti being a fun-filled brand. In 2019 when Appy Fizz was introduced in a 160ml PET bottle across India, again, both TV communication and IPL were used together to deliver the message at scale, and with maximum impact.

Even though IPL offers an array of options for visibility, a TV ad remains sacrosanct in the overall media plan for Parle Agro, and also for other large brands in general. “TV is one of the strongest media choices for building awareness as the audiences are still highly engaged in television programming. IPL gives strong reach and impact and if the objective is to build brand communication, the TVC enables it. Also, IPL’s cost-to-reach is very low as compared to any other programme or channel,” she shares.

Chauhan tells us that with its many advantages and unique propositions, IPL has served as a “game-changer for the Frooti and Fizz range”. “Our growth strategy for Frooti and Fizz range has always been to maintain Top-of Mind-Awareness through impact, and the spirit of IPL drives that impact for us. During the peak business season of summer, we try to ensure over 50% SOV. IPL has contributed significantly to reaching this number. As the biggest event of the summer months, it has propelled visibility for Frooti during this period ever since we started advertising on the platform,” she remarks.

The market share for Frooti in the mango drinks category grew from 18% in 2015 to a whopping 30% in 2020 with IPL being one of the key contributors to this growth along with Parle Agro’s other marketing efforts which include brand campaigns, rebranding initiatives, and product development. Distribution for Frooti has also grown by a massive 64% from 2015 to 2020 as a result of the company’s marketing strategies including the IPL association.

Chauhan’s plans for 2021 are also big. Commenting on the approach she will be taking to maximize the impact of her summer campaigns in this year’s tournament, she says, “2021 is a big year for Parle Agro. To drive high SOV for our brands during this peak consumption period, Frooti will be associated with IPL as the on-air sponsor on TV, and B-Fizz will be the associate sponsor on Disney HotStar. If we go by the numbers, just these two platforms will drive a reach of over 500 million.”

Signing off with a word of advice for brands across categories that would like to explore an association with IPL, she says, “If the product has mass appeal and is targeting a larger audience, then IPL is the perfect platform for launching new brands and creating impactful awareness around them. Existing brands can use it to drive higher reach and impact.”