A cooling drink from Dabur Foods

agencyfaqs! readers may well recall that a month ago we had done a story on FCB Ulka winning a new business account from Dabur Foods. But what kind of business had the agency won was something the company simply shied away from sharing. It was the advertising duties for Coolers -- the new fruit based product from Dabur Foods - for the summer drink market.

Launched in pack sizes of one litre, Coolers, the first brand from Dabur Foods in seven years, will be currently available in three variants - aam panna (a spicy mango drink), watermelon and pomegranate. Coolers will ultimately have four variants — the last one being jamun.

For now, an one litre bottle of a Cooler (for variants aam panna and watermelon) will be priced at Rs 50, while the one with pomegranate juice has been priced at Rs 60.

The Coolers represents the fourth brand from the Dabur Foods stable; the other three being the flagship brand Real, Hommade, and Lemoneez. With the launch of the fourth brand, the company is aiming at expanding its consumer base with a product that presents traditional 'cooling' recipes in a ready-to-drink format.

Amit Burman, CEO, Dabur Foods, says, "Coolers is a demonstration of our understanding of the three consumer needs of quenching her thirst, the drink being hygienic and healthy, and a resultant 'cooling from inside'. Since we have used fruit juices known for their inherent cooling properties and also hygenically sealed these in tetrapacks, all the three objectives have been met".

The current expansion has been planned after the company posted its maiden net profit of Rs 1.5 crore in 2003-04. It has accumulated losses of over Rs 21 crore. Dabur Foods had a turnover of Rs 86 crore during the last fiscal with Rs 75 crore coming in from the Real brand.

Dabur has set ambitious targets for itself. The Dabur Foods CEO says, "By 2006-07, we aim to post a turnover of Rs 200 crore of which Real is expected to contribute Rs 130 crore, and Rs 40-45 crore is expected to come in from Coolers, our newly launched drink."

While the entire investment for this project has been pegged at Rs 12 crore, the ad-spend is to the tune of Rs 5 crore.

In the first phase of the launch, the company hopes to reach the top 30 metros and mini-metros over a total of 50,000 outlets. The next phase will see the company marketing its produce to another 50 towns, which will untimately translate into 1 lakh outlets.

Along with ensuring quick and wide distribution of the new product, Dabur Foods is leveraging mass media to create awareness for Coolers. To that end, Dabur Foods' incumbent agency FCB Ulka has made an advertising campaign that is slated to be telecast over the next two weeks.

Targeting young mothers, the television commercial through a game of I-Spy played between a brattish Sun and a kid underscores the benefit of the product - Coolers kare andar se thanda (that cools from within). The print campaign would showcase the product variants and would be more product-centric. © 2004 agencyfaqs!