Marketing is not done with fear: Rasika Prashant, Tata Soulfull

At the exchange4media Pitch CMO Summit, held in Mumbai on March 21, Rasika Prashant, Co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer, Tata Soulfull, talked about ‘From Fields to Feast: Tata Soulfull's Snack Revolution’, where she took the audience on a journey from millet fields across Bharat to the dining tables of India and spoke about how that journey had transformed lives, livelihoods, nutrition and social mores.

“When they asked me to speak about ‘from field to feast’, I said the only field that I know is the millet fields. And feast is something that we have had when we got the consumers adapted to millets, and last year when we celebrated the International Year of Millets, recognized by the UN. And today, it is going to the grassroots with four lakh stores across the country, where we sell close to 36 packs every month in every store,” said Prashant at the Pitch CMO Summit.

She went on to recount how when she first started out 10 years ago and travelled the length and breadth of the country trying to raise interest in millets, she had to employ different words like ragi, manda, and others in different parts of India to try and explain what she was trying to sell. Today, the term millet has become ubiquitous, including in a tiny village store in Bihar she recently visited.

Prashant also spoke about the problem of water shortage across India, currently being best exemplified by the situation in Bengaluru where residents of high-rise apartments are having to use the facilities in offices, malls and gyms in order to bathe. She mentioned how when she first started Soulfull, one of the problems she wanted to address was the forthcoming acute water shortage in the country.

“These data points are not to scare you. I am a firm believer that marketing is not done with fear. Marketing is done where you are solving a problem. We are solution creators and how do we come up with one? By 2030, India's water demand is projected to be twice its available supply. That's not going to change,” she averred.

Prashant went on to demonstrate how crops like rice depend on groundwater, reserves of which are being depleted across the country, while millets rely on rain water, and are much hardier and robust crops. And at a time when superfoods are all in vogue, millets fit the bill of fare perfectly.

“And that's where Tata Soulfull came into place where we took a humble grain, which was so strong in 2000 BC and consumed the way it was, and transformed it into a format that today's urban consumer likes to eat it in,” said Prashant.

Prashant said the two most important TGs for the brand were the mother-child and the young adult, the former being the largest growing TG in the country today. While mothers are increasingly proactive when it comes to ensuring the best in nutrition and opportunities for their child, the young adult, aged 25-35, is aspirational, concerned about their health, but is also looking for convenience, quality, and of course, cost.

Prashant spoke about how Soulfull built its brand positioning, appealing to consumers of today while harking back to old traditional habits and values, understanding the consumers and crafting the right brand proposition for them. Finally, she spoke about the acquisition of Soulfull by Tata’s consumer products segment and the value the two brought to each other.

“Tata did not really cater to millennials specifically, but they are a brand that is credible, purposeful and few other brands in the country command as much trust across multiple generations like Tata. And together we also launched a brand called JoyFull, which has gone mainstream in markets like the UK where it’s at Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s, and the US where we’ve just launched at Five Guys and have signed up at Safeways. So, when you’re walking through these mainstream aisles, you’re going to see an Indian breakfast cereal brand on the shelves,” said Prashant, adding, “Tata Salt is desh ka namak, Tata Tea is Desh ki Chai, and now Tata Soulfull is desh ka millets.”