Cadbury''s revitalises

Cadbury's India has revamped its health drink and chocolate marketing strategy. The company recently relaunched Bournvita -- a chocolate drink. The relaunch involved a complete overhaul of the Bournvita's packaging with the addition of some ingredients to the beverage, accompanied by an audio-visual media campaign.
     Bournvita sales had been adversely affected following the entry of Nestle's Milo and the growing popularity of SmithKline Beecham's Horlicks and Boost. Horlicks, Boost and Milo have upset the Cadbury's drinks-cart.
     Bournvita's volume grew by just one per cent in 1998, while sales value grew five per cent. While that was good news for the company in terms of profitability, the slow growth in volumes is not. Bournvita contributes 22 per cent to the total sales of Cadbury, and its volume growth is important. It seemed imperative for the company to revitalize this brand.
     The company has realised the need to increase market penetration, and is expanding its distribution network from the current 4 lakh outlets to 5 lakh over the next two years. The company has successfully revamped its chocolates division by following a strategy of regular product launches and marketing its existing chocolates in smaller packs. Among its launches in the past couple of years:

• Perk, a chocolate-coated wafer
• Picnic, a filled chocolate
• Cadbury's Gold, a truffle-type chocolate
• smaller (18-gm) packs of Perk and 5 Star, another bar chocolate, priced at Rs six each

   This approach has helped bring in the
  volumes.The product segment of
  chocolates, malted foods and drinking chocolates contributed 55 per cent of the turnover in 1998-1999. This is the most important product segment for the company. The company hopes to follow the success of its chocolates story with the relaunch of Bournvita.