Frito Lay's new Kurkure campaign encourages spending time with family

Snack brand, Kurkure from Frito Lay India has unveiled its latest consumer campaign titled 'Kurkure Spend Time with Family'. This consumer connect initiative has two simultaneous aims - the business-related goal of increasing sales, and the more abstract intent to generate an emotional affinity for the brand. The campaign is slated to last for four months.

Kurkure, one of Frito Lay's biggest innovations, was launched in 1999. It has had a strong trade presence since. The brand is distributed in over a million outlets across the country. The product prides itself on being home-grown, and claims to cater to Indian needs at the concept, product and consumer levels.

When asked what this latest campaign would do for the brand positioning of Kurkure, Vidur Vyas, head, marketing, Pepsi Foods, tells afaqs!, "This consumer campaign will help the brand retain and further strengthen its stand as a snack that brings the family together."

He goes on to say that the campaign is centred on the modern-day fact that people do not spend adequate time with their families, owing to hectic professional schedules and time-consuming gadgets.

The first phase of this campaign includes conveying to consumers, in a humorous way, the importance of setting aside time for their families. Instructions regarding sending in one's entries for the contest are printed on the Kurkure packets.

As part of this effort, a TVC featuring brand ambassador, Juhi Chawla has already been released on TV and will be aired for the next two weeks. The salience of spending quality time with one's family is the central idea in the film too. This TVC will be followed by 'follow-up TVCs', one stressing on the prizes for the winners of the contest and others explaining how to participate. The programme closes on November 30, 2010.

The second phase, which will be rolled out in September, will encourage consumers to send in their 'tedha' ideas of how one can spend more time with their families. These entries will be judged by Chawla, along with celebrities, Ragini Khanna and Jaspal Bhatti. Khanna plays the lead in the popular TV soap, Sasural Genda Phool, currently aired on STAR Plus. That the soap is a family-based one may be a mere coincidence.

Phase three will be about rewarding the winners of this contest. Over 100 families will receive all-paid trips to Disneyland and the mega prize is a house worth Rs 1 crore.

In addition, a Ganesh Chaturti special flavour, the 'usal' mix, is already available in the market. This is a Maharashtra-specific effort to build emotional bonding with the consumers. Nine months of R&D were invested into this product and it will run in the market for only one month. "We have consciously upped investments in the state of Maharashtra," adds Vyas.

While the ad spends for this campaign could not be determined, Vyas insists that this is the most expensive campaign for the brand so far. The media mix for the campaign comprises an aggressive 360-degree communication plan that will exploit TV, radio, print and outdoor.

For the record, the creative duties for brand Kurkure are handled by JWT and the media mandate lies with Mindshare, Delhi.