ITC Limited is a food manufacturer in India and they’ve named their new snack food line Bingo! They said it took them nine months to come up with a plan and a suitable name but in India the game of bingo is relatively unknown so the term wouldn’t have any implications to the majority of people. Their reasoning for choosing Bingo! as the brand is because it is short and catchy, yet wide open in terms of the categories of snacks it could cover.
Apparently, they are positioning Bingo! to breakthrough the market domination of Frito-Lay on the snack market in India. Since launching just over two years ago, the brand is doing okay for itself, already taking an 13% market share away from giant Frito-Lay. They offer a variety of salty type snacks such as potato chips and also some finger food snacks that are popular in India.
There television commercials have been quite interesting, focusing on brand recognition by using similar sounding words and also stressing the taste and characteristics of their products. Of the commercials that are up on YouTube this one is my favorite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29ueMX-pxaY.
The company’s newest strategy is a bold one – they’re actually increasing the amount of the content by 50% but not increasing the price. Boy, is that a strategy I’d like to see in the western world! Considering that the price of almost all the base ingredients have gone up in cost, this move is surprising to many within the snack industry. The company says that they have cut other costs and made deals with suppliers that are good for the country. They have a unique business model that includes partnering with more than 100,000 small local farmers in order to obtain spices and wheat.
I wonder if this will ever become a global snack company? Can you imagine going to the bingo hall to play a game of bingo and eating Bingo! chips while playing? Of course, that’s not likely as the brand name would obviously have other connotations for people in the western world but it is rather a fun thing to imagine.
