Branding and Packaging in the Dairy Category: India vis-à-vis International markets

The role of advertising for fast moving consumer categories ends after creating awareness for a product. In today’s cluttered media space where advertisers are constantly fighting for recall and top of mind awareness for their brands, whether the customer decides to buy a product of a certain brand or not, is more often than not decided on the aisles of the modern retail store or the local kirana store where she actually gets to see, touch and feel the product (packaging). And not at the time that she is exposed to the TV commercial or the press ad. Yet, packaging is still to get its due in the Indian scenario.The dairy category in India however has seen some interesting developments in recent times that are indicative of a new trend.

Branding in the dairy category in India

Over the years with the advent of modern retail, Indian brands have been focusing more than before on the packaging of their products so as to lure the fickle consumer.Dairy is one such category that has been seeing innovations in packaging. Amul and Nestle ruled the roost for a good many years. But with the arrival of other local, national, and international brands like Britannia, Mother Dairy, Go, Danone, Kraft, etc. the competition has stiffened. All brands are fighting for shelf and mind space. Blue and Yellow colours seem to be predominant in the category with most brands belonging to one or the other colour palette.  Internationally, the entire colour palette has been used for the dairy category. Primarily since dairy products there are available in a lot more formats, flavours and varieties than they are in India, the ingredient story is built on the pack very prominently. With the arrival of these newer formats in India, the pack graphic design scene will surely see changes here as well.

‘Go’ as a branding case study is interesting. When it came in with its new packaging, it immediately cut the clutter with its bold logotype and imagery in an otherwise sedate looking category. Interestingly, for its non-traditional dairy products like flavored yogurts and various cheese spreads among others, it went with the name ‘Go’ which is nothing but an extension of the mother brand ‘Gowardhan’. The brand architecture was designed smartly so that the new child brand gained from the equity of the mother brand but at the same time had a distinct identity of its own since it very clearly targeted a different consumer set than brand Gowardhan did.

"Innovate or Die is the Mantra"

7 Nov 2013, Print Week India

On the first day of Print Fair, Alpana Parida of D Y Works stressed the necessity of innovation for the printing businesses to survive.
In her presentation 'Printing Industry - The Next', for more than 60 delegates in the audience, Parida showcased how it is important for any business to define itself. Citing the example of Kodak, Parida said, "When a business is defined in relation to the technology, they tend to fail as the technology matures and advances," said Parida.




She shared an instance where a manufacturer of printed bags, when they found no value addition in the jobs being produced, started making security envelopes for banks. "Today, he is not just a printer but a security solution provider," added Parida.

Parida highlighted the fact that there is very little integration between the three important aspects of a job namely substrates, design and printing. She said that there has to be a synergy between these three to bring about innovative concepts that would make the printed products more relevant in a world where print seems to be on a decline.

Parida observed few industry trends such as decline of personalised printing, move towards sustainability, down-gauging of packaging,  functional packages, making packaging to work harder namely as point of sale etc.

"Change is the only constant; the sooner we learn and plan accordingly, it is better for our business," concluded Parida.

PrintWeek India, in collaboration with Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai, is hosting ‘Print Fair’, a five-day event to showcase the depth and breadth of top print work and print ideas in India. The show runs from 6 to 10 November at the Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai.

By Rushikesh Aravkar

Alpana Parida is President of DY Works , a leading brand strategy and design firm

Somebody Open The Door Please

Note: This is a long post, so please be comfortably seated with Shantaramji’s chai.

Picture this. While most of your college mates have chosen their line of interest for their internship or have been picked up by companies, you are still sitting wide-eyed waiting for that one perfect opportunity to come by.

As I filtered the so-called ‘media contacts’, there popped a mail informing us about an internship opportunity at DY Works. I quickly clicked on the company’s link and just like that the website slowly started filling in all the gaps that had puzzled my choices. It felt like that moment when everything suddenly seems clear and you feel that you could fit right in as an intern here.

Let me also state that I selfishly hoped that I get through, for there were definitely some really strong candidates who too wanted to be here writing this (this, I can vouch for). As I entered the new workplace of two months, I found a few strong characteristics – the people (coming in everyday full of energy, confidence and new ideas), the positive vibe around the place and most importantly, a very deep rooted process that may look all mixed up from the top but as you dig deeper into a project you see it all form a pattern that makes this place unique according to me.

Everyday brought in something different and that’s what excited me so much about DY Works. So much that I probably have a track record of reaching really early almost every day!

 Add to that the magic of giving the simplest products (from big names) meaningful and beautiful packaging; working on projects like the creation of a milk brand which included a trip to Pune for a recce made me realize the passion with which the creative and marketing teams work at DY Works. Coming from a college where we speak about brands and their communication 24 by 7, it was really great to see how all the aspects of a brand’s communication come together!

 The fun aspects were not far either like helping with a chips project, the daily foosball games, the most daunting task of the day - picking the perfect lunch place with Piyush (the smart quiet one) and Smiti (the kiddo- don’t kill me ok. You’re cute!), prying about the evening snacks,the Monday massages (I’m going to miss them so bad), the yoga sessions where you can actually hear every muscle in your body thanking you and the Friday Talks that were extremely diverse and fascinating.

Work can be made enjoyable when you have a great team like the ROI where you get to learn about DY Work’s culture from the bubbly Tulika, receive suggestions and insights that I would have never thought of from Lakshmi, Neeraj and Apeksha and spend hours talking about brands with Shraddha, the whole team made me feel like a part of their small family. 

I’ve cherished every moment here and as for the learning – it’s all safely preserved, armed and confident for whatever the future brings.

By 

Swati Viswanathan

Intern, ROI

DY Works

Branding Cuisine?

When I was asked to write for the office blog (on any topic, mind you),  I immediately thought of food. To which came the immediate response that it should be about ‘brands’ or ‘branding’…. notwithstanding these words of advice, I continued.

Last Sunday, my husband and I were lunch guests at a very dear and a true Malayalee (I refuse to say Keralite. It’s just too propah for my liking) friend’s place.

Fried Prawns (Chemmeen Porichathu)

We began snacking on fried prawns and drinking some good Chilean wine. Yes, you read it right – Chilean wine. And you know what – they paired very well indeed.












Then got on gorging on some delicious fried Karimeen (Pearlspot) and continued to drink .

 Fried Pearl Spot (Karimeen Varutathu)

And a little later, the lunch table was laid out in full splendor with puttus, steamed rice, Kerala style dal, beans poriyal and some fabulous chicken curry. I had never (over) eaten to this extent in a very long time. The entire experience was very nostalgic as it bought back many memories of my childhood.

Chicken Curry (Kozhi Varutarachathu)

Kerala Dal (Parippu)

Beand Poriyal

Puttu

Rosematta Rice

And then came the thought – how can food like this can be branded?

Be it Bengali, Oriya, Assamese or Malyalee or from any state in India, the choice of food in each of the cuisine is so vast that it cannot be clubbed together.

And it is therefore, that we categorize it by region - is this not a step towards branding?

Or does branding always have to involve a specific name or ‘identity’ and therefore a ‘logo’; ‘packaging’ design, the container or ‘structure’ that will hold the product?

For me it’s also about the experience. What is it for you?





Suma Joshi
V.P - Creative Services
DY Works