Taste the difference

Phillippines-based Del Monte has rolled out its first television commercial (TVC) for its juice range in India. The racy musical shows juice drinkers wondering about the taste of the brand — what is it like or rather what’s it not like.
Two news hosts in the newsroom, a duo with their car in a jungle, and a young girl sitting next to a piano, sip Del Monte juice from a can, only to wonder about the taste. They conclude: “It’s like nothing they’ve ever had before.” Quickly, the frames cut to a group of friends, a chef, boxers, construction workers, and office employees, one after the other. And they randomly refer to what the juice doesn’t taste like — “Maradona’s goal, Cindy Crawford’s mole, chicken soup for the soul, Bruce Lee, kung fu, catching kangroos….” The TVC ends with everyone concluding that it “tastes like never before”. The campaign, instead of saying how good Del Monte juice tastes — and giving consumers the expected — aims to convey the opposite: what it doesn’t taste like.

Yogesh Bellani, business head, Del Monte Foods Business, FieldFresh Foods, says, “Del Monte has been a late entrant in the market and our strategy is to keep the consumer at the centre of whatever we do. We, therefore, keep taste as one of the highest pillars of the brand experience. The TVC leverages the unique taste and uses the communication code of ‘hip and cool’ — earlier thought to be the preserve of carbonated soft drinks — to communicate a simple brand truth: Taste. Like Never Before.”

In India, Del Monte is marketed by FieldFresh Foods, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Del Monte Pacific. It is present across four product categories: ketchups and sauces, fruit drinks, Italian food (pastas, olive oil and pasta sauces) and packaged fruits.

The company wants to be among the top 10 food and beverage companies in India by 2014. Canned juices were a part of the company’s first products rolled out in 2009; and in December last year, it introduced juices in PET bottles. So why a TVC now? “Before a TV campaign, a product needs to be available and visible in stores and its distribution should be in place. Then a TV campaign can help create brand pull in the target group,” says Bellani.

Building curiosity
To woo consumers this summer in the Rs 3,500-crore non-carbonated beverages market (where fruit-based drinks’ segment is estimated at Rs 3,000 crore), the TVC has picked moments, situations and experiences that would give consumers pleasure and excitement, and compared them to the Del Monte experience.

The advertisement is conceptualised by Contract Advertising, the creative agency for Del Monte’s entire product portfolio. The creative brief given to Contract was to use brand truths to create a clutter-breaking commercial.

Pranesh Misra, chairman and managing director of Brandscapes Worldwide, a marketing consulting firm, says, “It’s a good strategy to build curiosity and get people to try the product. Consumers want to know what the juice tastes like. The campaign gains credibility because unlike others it’s not saying how healthy, nutritious, tasty and pulpy it is. It’s not what everyone is doing. It reminds me of the Maggi tomato ketchup ad many years ago with Javed Jaffrey. The catchphrase there was: ‘It’s Different’. People don’t mind spending a few extra bucks to try something new.”

About the comparative “slice of life” situations, Contract’s spokesperson says, “Each character is real and relatable. In fact, we had even created storylines and character sketches for each of these characters prior to the execution of the shoot.”

The ad film is produced by The Big Picture Company and directed by Nima Namchu, executive creative director, Contract Advertising. It was shot in Mumbai over three days. Over 17,500 spots of the ad will be aired for almost two months on all major English and Hindi TV channels as well as on popular regional channels to tap audiences in tier-II and tier-III cities.

The company has also ramped up its production facility at Hosur in Tamil Nadu along with its distribution network. In 2011, the non-carbonated beverage category is expected to outpace growth in the carbonated drinks category (14 per cent to 5.6 per cent), according to a Euromonitor study. Besides Pepscio’s Tropicana and Slice, there are rival Coca-Cola’s Mazaa and Minute Maid. Dabur’s Real has been around for a long time now and enjoys a strong equity in the market, while Parle Agro’s Frooti has long been the market leader. Then, there is Sugar Free D’lite, the soft drink mix from Sugar Free, which claims to have 10 calories per serving as compared to 60-80 calories in a serving of packaged fruit juice.

What’s the differentiator?
In such a scenario, how would the Del Monte TVC help the company in taking on established players?

Anand Dikshit, executive director, PwC India, says, “I believe the TVC will help Del Monte in create an image but will it help in taking over leading players? It’s too early to say, given most of the juice players in India have innovative ad campaigns.”

Consider, for instance, the “Juicy Mango Surprise” Frooti commercial last year which showed giant mangoes rolling down the streets or dropping from trees, taking pedestrians and passers-by by surprise. Equally noticeable is the Pepsico Tropicana TVC which shows a young couple rushing through breakfast, only to find food on the plate shrinking. The wife then adds a glass of Tropicana 100 per cent juice to the breakfast and things get back to normal. The Coca-Cola Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh ad too grabs your attention as it takes you down memory lanes and talks about childhood love and fresh homemade lemon water.

With such stiff competition and every player vying for a bigger share of the beverage market, has Del Monte been able to differentiate its offering and communication?

Anand Dikshit, executive director, PwC India says, “I think it was a conscious decision from Del Monte to distinguish itself by packaging its product differently (aluminium cans) from other juices (Tetra Pak). This has created a different brand recall for them. They are also making quick inroads in the juice vending segment.”

Misra of Brandscapes says, “It’s a good move at the launch stage but I’m sure they will move out of it once they get the desired number of trials and will go on to define the taste and other qualities themselves”.

There is a growing demand for cans and PET bottles in the beverage market. Keeping this in mind, the company will also be introducing cans in 180 ml version at Rs 20. Currently, the cans cost Rs 25.

Del Monte has integrated an online campaign to create further consumer engagement. The campaign drives consumers to add to the Del Monte TVC song and give their opinion on what Del Monte fruit drinks taste like. The online campaign has been launched through the Del Monte fruit drinks page on Facebook and through an internet voice recording contest.

“The unique part of this campaign is that you can sing your entry and it gets posted through Facebook, where you can share it with your community. This is a unique engagement proposition. The contest has seen a keen response with 30,000 fans in 10 days,” says Bellani.