Questions 2- BRU instant coffee was entering into rural market to create a new segment in

the beverage industry. they were somewhat successful.as a student of marketing identify
what communication challenges did BRU faced. they have used innovative media vehicle
for making the target group. why they have choosen those vehicles and what else could be
used for making or improving the campaign.

Answer-Firstly I would like to introduce about the overall industry overview and HULs product
BRU instant coffee.
Overview of industry
The span of the Indian sustenance transforming industry is around $ 65.6 billion, including $20.6
billion of worth included items. The wellbeing refreshment industry is esteemed at $230 million.
the Indian drink industry confronts over supply in fragments like coffee and tea. Indian hot drink
business is a tea overwhelming business. The aggregate soda (carbonated refreshments and
juices) business sector is assessed at 284 million containers a year or $1 billion. The business is
very regular in nature with utilization fluctuating from 25 million cases for every month amid
crest season to 15 million amid offseason. The business is prevalently urban with 25 for every
penny commitment from country regions. Mineral water advertise in India is a 65 million
containers ($50 million) industry.

Bru coffee: Happiness begins with Bru

Bru is a power brand from the HUL's stable. A brand which pioneered the instant coffee category
in Indian market in 1969 is also an example of many successful marketing practices. According
to HUL, Bru is the market leader in coffee segment with a value share of 46.9 %.
Prior to 2004, HUL had many brands in the coffee category. It had Deluxe Green Label and Bru
instant as the main brands and small brands like Dilkush, Cafe and Cafe Gold. In 2004, as a part
of the power brand strategy, HLL decided to phase out Dilkush and Cafe brands . It then
consolidated the coffee brands under the masterbrand Bru.

Bru before becoming the family brand was positioned as a coffee that tasted just like filter
coffee. But after the elevation to master brand, Bru took the positioning around happiness. Bru
was synonymous for instant coffee and had an astounding 21% market share in the first year of
launch itself. All these years, the brand has been fighting for the numero uno position with Nestle
whose iconic Nescafe brand was the market leader. But in 2008, the brand pushed Nescafe to the
second position.
Much of the success of Bru can be attributed to following factors:

Innovation in new products

Innovation in packaging

Aggressive campaigns

(source-http://2.bp.blogspot.com)
Nestle lost out because of lethargy. The company failed to consistently invest in its Nescafe
brand. I do not seeing any memorable campaigns from Nescafe in recent past. This has cost the
brand dearly. HUL's marketing acumen is vivid in the rise of Bru as the market leader. It has
never stopped innovating for this new brand.
Bru was able to give new offerings to customers on a regular basis. One of the recent successful
new products was the cappuccino packs. The new flavor gave the brand a new thrust in the
market. The new flavors even prompted hardcore tea lovers like me to try out these flavors. The
best part was that this cappuccino was available in single serve sachets which prompted
consumers to test the flavors.
Another innovation was the cold coffee. Bru launched the cold coffee variants which again
captured the attention of the consumers. These thrusts in new product development and roll out
are visible when one visits a super market. The coffee section is full of various flavors and packs

of Bru which itself creates a positive vibration for the brand. Another factor which made Bru
successful was the campaigns. The brand is famous for two campaigns. One featuring Amritha
Rao was a big hit. The theme revolves around the shy girl wanting to introduce her boyfriend
Sagar to her father.
Another campaign which was highly popular was the 'little cup' ad. The ad shows the wife
announcing the good news through a symbolic ' little cup'.
Bru is positioned on the theme of happiness. The brand has the tagline Happiness begins with
Bru ". The positioning and communication has been consistent with the brand's promise of kick
starting one's day with a Bru. These slice of life ads put Bru in a growth orbit. Consumers started
loving the brand for its innovation and campaigns. For the Bru Cappuccino, it had roped in the
Bollywood Director Karan Johar to endorse the brand.
Another critical factor that aided Bru's success was the innovation in packaging. The brand made
the entry barrier low by launching small affordable SKUs. There are single serve and large packs
at different price points making the brand affordable .The brand although is positioned as an
aspirational brand is priced affordable thus making it a perfect example of a Masstige brand.
Recently the brand has yet again come out with a customer centric innovation in the form of a
flavor lock. Most of the customers worry about losing the flavor of coffee powder once the pack
is cut open. The flavor lock is a plastic clip which will lock the flavor from escaping. More than
actually locking the flavor, the lock gives a psychological belief that the flavors will not the lost.
This little plastic lock also gives more convenience to the home maker. Typically when buying
powders in packs, home makers have to transfer the powder to a container to preserve it for long.
This lock effectively eliminates the need for such a container. Bru is a brand which has reached
the commanding position following methodologically all the critical elements for marketing
success : customer centric innovation, aggression and new product development.

Challenges that would be faced by BRU for rural market

Bru was well known brand in urban India regardless, to tap natural India HUL was bit stresses
whether people will recognize this brand and thing as an issue relating into their consistently
exists.

Underdeveloped people and underdevevloped markets

Lack of proper physical communication facilities

Media for rural communication

Many languages and dialects

Dispersed market

Low per capita income

Low levels of literacy

Unique selling proposition of BRU

People are careful about use of eating up tea anyway they were not careful about inclination and
benefits of exhausting coffee as their beverages. Minute coffee has changed the entire
circumstance about eating up coffee. Making an Instant coffee is as basic as hard to make a
faultless taste glass of tea and distinctive beverages. It's arranged to open prepared coffee powder
is made up with fine coffee beans and included sugar, which tea isn't available in this structure.
Little unit pack and minimal effort has made Bru more adaptable in nation showcase and
furthermore in urban business. Bru unique prepared offerings and quality pack thing is the USP
of Bru Instant coffee.

How BRU entered in Rural and did its marketing:

HUL has been trying to build the instant coffee market in rural India through body-mounted
DVD players engaging 15 million households.
The task was to build the category by reaching out to non-drinkers and encouraging them to try
Bru. The team working on Bru is using body-mounted DVD players to build the market across
rural areas and small towns in the South.
According to the company, the Bru team of promoters goes from door to door and shows one of
three short films depending on whether the householder currently drinks tea, filter coffee or
another instant brand and they used mobile vans to reach that villages and villagers. They then
offer the consumer a Bru sample. So far the team has reached over 15 million households with
the brand gaining a 70 per cent share of new category entrants and increasing sales by around a
third. They than taken the feedbacks from the people about the sample which was distributed
to them free.
Penetration of instant coffee in the South is quite low, particularly in small towns and rural areas,
so the task was to build the category by reaching out to the non-drinkers of instant coffee and
encouraging them to try Bru. Instant coffee offers convenience, economy, ease of use and the
ability for every home to be a coffee-making home, never mind that you do not have a filter or a
percolator. It is coffee dumbed down to its lowest degree of ease. If one is to penetrate rural
markets instant coffee is the best way to go.
With HUL pushing its coffee portfolio in both the urban and rural markets, hopefully the high
price of the commodity will not affect its brand building efforts. According to Kaustubh
Pawaskar, analyst at brokerage firm, Sharekhan, HUL's beverages portfolio has been growing
between 13 and 15 per cent and is a small segment within the foods portfolio.
Considering the segment is still underpenetrated unlike its HPC (home and personal care)
portfolio, there is scope for the FMCG player to drive coffee consumption in the country.
Hopefully its brand building efforts in the category will not get impacted by the high raw
material costs hitting its margins.

But HUL is ready to splurge on its coffee brand considering Bru has recorded a 26 per cent
growth, according to Nielsen. Commodity prices are at their peak for coffee but we will not stop
investing in and building our brand, says Srinivas.

Alternatives options with BRU

Rural market sector is unfocused business sector. Rural market in India has incredible potential
which is simply holding up to be tapped. At last the ball lies in the court of potential advertiser.
In the event that any organization needs to enter in rustic business sector it is important to focus
on every last part of focused on town. Country market needs more center and fascination. In
battle they went way to entryway for notice and they requested that them taste the BRU moment
espresso so they can feel and understand the taste and significance of the espresso. For any buyer
right away moving to an alternate item is not all that simple until and unless they utilize the item
and feels the criticalness and need of it. They can likewise promote in Haats and Melas of BRU
on the grounds that in that season the villagers pick up the cash by offering the item become in
their towns. They can likewise promote by the good example of that town like the on-screen
characters and performing artist celebrated in the target zone. Country business sector
individuals specifically can just draw in by their good examples just. More ad and more
concentrate on individual town will help the BRU Company to become more. Toward the end its
all in the hand of advertisers, about how they going to methodologies the business, responds to
the call of offering items and ideas through inventive media plan and all the more significantly
intuitiveness.

Achievements done by BRU

The brand won two gold awards for its instant coffee connect campaign. One, in the category of
Best Innovative Rural Marketing Initiative and another for Innovative Communication. The
winning campaign was conducted across Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh with the main aim of
increasing penetration of Bru instant coffee.
The campaign was activated through a promoter going home-to-home with a body mounted
DVD player and showing AV of beverages to homemakers. After showing the AV, simple
questions based on the AV were asked and a Bru Instant coffee sachet sample was given, thus
completing the process of awareness, interest & trial. Through this activity, 2.4 million
households have been contacted in 2010.
Rural Marketing Association of India was formed in March 2005 and aims to promote, improve,
develop and further the cause of rural marketing in India.
Bru is India's largest coffee brand that offers a range of products in Instant coffee, Conventional
coffee and premixes. Bru also has a stronghold in the southern market. Unilever wanted to
explore communication strategies and activation methods to help Bru penetrate the Non- south
market and increase the home consumption. Part of the project was also dispelling the perception
of Bru as a cold coffee brand and at the same time, promoting unconventional uses of Bru coffee.
A four member young minds team was engaged for duration of six month to explore the space
and develop solutions. The research primarily targeted housewives as they represent the key
decision maker at Indian homes when it comes to purchasing food products. Research in three
different cities led to insights about the users' consumption patterns and perceptions about coffee
as well as the process of making coffee. Early concepts were developed and clustered based on
the insights from the research. The key concepts revolved around sharing knowledge,
collaborative problem solving and celebration.
Prioritized themes with multiple concepts were validated with users through one-on-one
interviews using probe tools and early prototypes. The learning from validation was incorporated
in to the finals designs and recommendation. The solution included themes with experiences

which are connected though collaterals, packaging, giveaways, installations, point of sales
interaction, and television shows.

Results
In overabundance of 1.3 million family units were touched base at through this battle in Andhra
Pradesh and Karnataka. The use of development helped the workplace to pass on systematized
yet adjusted message at each doorstep. The creative medium ensured high interest regard, vitality
and survey.

References
1.http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/brandline/bruing-a-premiummarket/article2473379.ece
2.http://marketingpractice.blogspot.in/2008/11/bru-happiness-begins-with-bru.html