Promotional Strategy

Bingo
The objective was to capture the consumers mind first and the market later. They also had a
long term ambition to overtake Frito Lays sales and be the market leader. For the short term,
they wanted to gain at least 8 per cent market share nationally, create a buzz around the brand
and create a youthful brand personality.
The agency wanted to base the campaign on the three pillars of Product, Placement and
Personality. After a few brainstorming sessions, the team realized that people in India still
prefer traditional snacks, such as banana chips and biscuits. To counter that, they decided to
use the familiar tastes and come up with an irresistible combination of flavours.
Strategic placement of the product was also an important factor, as the aim was to widen
Bingos reach and impact. Bingo was available in more than 250,000 stores in the first six
months of its launch. Brand awareness was also built by placing the Bingo racks in local
grocery stores as well as supermarkets. In most cases, a TVC is the main source of awareness
for a brand, while in Bingos case, it was the Bingo rack.
Another thing that had to be taken into consideration was the fact that snacking is a mindless
activity .They wanted to promote a brand that would be deliberately mad, spontaneous and
mindless.
The product launch was preceded by an online viral campaign, Wait or Suffer. The product
was introduced with a television, print and outdoor campaign. The madness was also taken
offline with mall activities in nine cities across India.
Customer interest was retained with interactive games and product tasting sessions. This
activity saw participation from 2,500 people and experienced close to 250,000 footfalls in the
first four months.
Various radio activities were done in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore to increase brand
awareness. Bingo also ran a contest when Aerosmith was on their official tour to India.
Contestants were supposed to record their favourite Aerosmith song in a local Indian
language and submit their entries.
Since it was a youth brand, digital media was used heavily for promotions. The Bingo
National Gaming Championship was one such example. The event was held in four cities and

saw participation from 25,000 contenders. Bingo Remix Nights were held in clubs across the
country. A fun website, bingeonbingo.com was created to increase awareness about the brand.
O&M claimed that the 360 degree campaign helped Bingo gain 12 per cent market share
nationally, as opposed to their initial target of 8 percent. Bingo had 16 per cent market share
in metros and a market share as high as 66 per cent in certain cities.

Lay
To pump up volumes, Frito Lay is in the process of rolling out an aggressive marketing
campaign led by its star endorsers, Saif Ali Khan, MS Dhoni and Juhi Chawla.
In order to add further zing to its product portfolio, in January 2008, the company launched
Kurkure Xtreme, a limited edition variant in two flavoursRisky Chilli and Electric Nimbu
(lime). This was perhaps a move to outdo competition from ITCs snack brand Bingo, which
was launched in March 2007, in Indianized flavors like Tandoori Paneer Tikka (spiced
cottage cheese) and Chatkila Nimbu Achaar (tangy lime pickle).
Bingos success in the market is backed by ITCs strong distribution network, which allows it
to stock its products in shops that previously did not sell snack food. Additionally, ITC Foods
provides shopkeepers with plastic moulded shelves that allow local vendors a convenient way
to stock their product, and the company benefits by increased visibility for its brand. Taking a
cue from its competition, Frito Lay India is focusing on unconventional retail points like
cyber cafes and telephone booths, in order to increase brand visibility and product reach.
To maintain top of the mind recall among its customers the brand has undertaken several
unique communication initiatives. The most recent, for example, is called "Chala Change ka
Chakkar," which is an umbrella campaign for Frito Lay Indias entire product portfolio
(Lays, Kurkure, Cheetos, Uncle Chips, and Lehar). This promotion will allow chosen
consumers to live a day in the life of an Indian Bollywood celebrity (who are the brand
endorsers) like Juhi Chawla or Saif Ali Khan. The idea is to generate excitement around the
brand and have it stand out in the clutter of existing brands.
The brand has undertaken similar promotions in the past. For instance, in 2004 it launched
the "Kahani mein Kurkure" ("Crispiness in the Story") campaign, which was a take on Indian
popular culture. The advertising campaign spoofed popular Indian TV shows like Jassi Jaissi

Koi Nahin (Indian adaptation of American sitcom "Ugly Betty") to appeal to Indian
housewives, the largest target audience to watch these programs. In addition to targeting
housewives, who play a significant role in making purchase decisions, the brand appeals to
the Indian family as a whole. The "Kurkure Chai Time Achievers Award" was a contest
launched by the brand where families were invited to submit interesting recipes made with
Kurkure. The winning family would have the opportunity to be famous and have their
photograph featured on one million Kurkure packs.
This direct marketing campaign was supported through television advertising, where Indian
celebrity Juhi Chawla, Kurkures brand ambassador, announced the winners of the
competition. The contest was also publicized through the website http://kurkure.co.in,
specifically designed to promote the contest. Using the website as a strategic tool for
promotion helped the brand appeal to a young audience that spends a considerable amount of
time surfing the web.
Another novel branding initiative was a tie-up with South Western Railways in India to have
trains called the "Kurkure Express." These were special trains that operated only during the
holiday season. The brand was featured on reservation charts, coach indication slips, and
during any announcements about the train. This outdoor media was a unique way to target
families who travel by train during the holidays.

Recommendation for lays:

Currently they are targeting youth and housewives. They can even target the old one
and the children.
Frito-Lays also target to the discs and pubs and even in various college canteens.
Should be focused on 3 marketing parameters:o Undifferentiated marketing.
o Differentiated marketing.
o Concentrated marketing.
Lays have to change their positioning. (Comes as sweet flavour).

Recommendation for Bingo:

Tie-up with coke brand and Haldiram for promotional offers (coke +

bingo).
Improve Loop holes in distribution channel.
It can launch new flavor as in non veg.(roasted chicken chips)