CADBURY CADBURY INDIAN SWEETS

Favorable positioning helps them dominate

Unmesh Gujarati

Spr

outs Exclusive

Cadbury India, which has almost taken over the chocolate industry in India and has decimated the Indian sweets industry, has continued to administer high doses of calories and cocoa through its variety of brands, although excessive consumption of cocoa is hazardous to health.

Cadbury India has an assortment of products including: Cadbury Dream, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Cadbury Whispers, which have been made indispensable for every occasion right from birthday to wedding celebrations with high biz advertisements like “Kuch Mitha Ho Jai”. Furthermore the Cadbury products are made to appear as an alternative to native sweets.

The way multinational companies in India for consumer products have been expanding their consumer base in the country is a worrying aspect. This takes place at the cost of low-end local manufacturers and sellers.

It has grown into a cause for concern as it adversely affects the market share of our local homegrown consumer products. Let’s take for instance Cadbury India.

If one observes the manner in which this company has succeeded in expanding its consumer base in the country, the problems it creates becomes clearer. Way back in the eighties, nearly 80% of consumption of Cadbury chocolates comprised young children.

At that point of time, the above-fifteen age group used to feel ashamed of consuming this product as it was regarded as a mismatch for their age group.

The Cadbury creative team went into a huddle mode and came out with a new television advertisement. It showed a girl in her late teens dancing in a cricket stadium with Cadbury in her mouth.

She was dancing in response to a huge six hit by the batsman at the crease. This advertisement succeeded in positioning Cadbury as an aspiration for young people, both girls and boys in their youth. This happened in early 2000. The advertisement succeeded in expanding the market segments that Cadbury intended to target.

The next step Cadbury invented to expand its market base was to advertise it as a family product into middle class homes. The “Shubh Aarambh” (auspicious beginning) branding worked wonders for the brand to further expand its consumer base in India.

This again was subsequently complemented with commercials airing Cadbury as the proper choice for all traditional Indian festivals. As a result, the product has succeeded in gaining much popularity at the cost of low-end local sweet makers in our country.

This can serve as a good case study of how multinational companies especially in the consumer product industry make good use of commercials that are aired on television. However, it’s also an eye-opener for those who seek to protect and preserve the financial interests of local homegrown sweet makers.

A keen business observer cited an instance to drive home the message. “Chinese companies kept investing increasingly in the Pakistan textile industry. Initially, no one took notice. Later on, it was realized that the Chinese investments have almost killed all local entrepreneurship in their country.”

“Likewise multinationals in India are expanding their base by using soft marketing strategies. On the face of it, these strategies look innocuous and appeal to local sentiments. However, they act in a phased manner to snatch a major share of the market pie from local and small manufacturers,” he opined.

He then concluded by saying, “Just look at big retail chains eating into the businesses of the small baniya and kirana shops in our country. It’s a similar process. Maybe, we can seek policy intervention to favor our small manufacturers.”

Traditional sweets or mithai consumption is huge in India. To promote the consumption of chocolates, Cadbury has over the years run the Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye (let's have something sweet) campaign, which borrowed from the Indian tendency to have something sweet during a happy and momentous occasion.

Madhavi Lawre

Social Activist