And now, Britannia to go the ‘taste and health’ way

Britannia has revamped its biscuit offering, NutriChoice, and the brand is out with a commercial that positions it on the all too familiar taste-meets-health platform

After the launch of Sunfeast Sachin’s Fit Kit biscuit earlier in the year, competitor Britannia seems to have pulled up its socks. The FMCG major is out with a revamped version of its digestive biscuit, Britannia NutriChoice, with a strategy to match Sunfeast: that of a healthy yet tasty biscuit.

In fact, the taste-meets-health platform isn’t something new: several cooking oil brands and instant/processed foods have already caught on to this premise. Admits Richa Arora, head, marketing, Britannia Industries, “Yes, I won’t deny there are other brands in the same space as NutriChoice, but one also can’t ignore the health consciousness wave that has swept India today.” So faced with a generic premise, Britannia has tried to delve deeper into the pool, with some basic human insights to tap onto.

For one, research by Britannia indicated that in the past, consumers had low expectations with reference to taste, when it came to health foods. But today’s consumer demands health and taste in the same item. “Secondly, we realised that now, even though people are becoming health conscious, they lapse on healthy habits and tend to indulge from time to time,” adds Arora. So, Britannia hopes to eliminate a consumer’s excuses for not choosing a healthy lifestyle, with the revamped NutriChoice.

The communication, prepared by Lowe, was designed to work on the simple insight of how people keep having a continuous battle with themselves on what they desire and what is good for them Often, one wins over the other, but rarely does a consumer find both qualities in a single product. Britannia’s brand ambassador Rahul Dravid has been utilised in the ad as the carrier of the message.

The execution goes on to portray a day in the life of a common man and how he keeps fighting with his conscience. The ad has a man who is rudely woken up by his alarm clock in the morning. Reminded about jogging, the man struggles to sleep some more. Later, when he reaches his office building, he almost converses with himself on whether to take the elevator or the stairs (to keep fit). Next, he is seen passing a bakery shop, where tasty but unhealthy meals tempt him, and he struggles to keep away. He even places an order for a pastry with the shop owner, only to rudely dismiss it himself, thereby bewildering the poor man.

Rahul Dravid standing nearby, decides to put him out of his misery and tosses a Britannia NutriChoice biscuit pack towards him, just as the voiceover talks of ‘sehat’ (health) meeting ‘chaahat’ (the craving for something tasty) in this hi-fibre biscuit. As the man munches on, Dravid quips that this is one match where both teams end up winning (implying that both health and taste requirements are fulfilled here). (Submit your opinion on this ad.)

The TG for NutriChoice is not fitness freaks, but essentially ‘passive seekers’, or those people who want to stay healthy but are tempted to stray.

According to Deepa Geetha Krishnan, group creative director, Lowe, Bangalore, it was important to portray this constant inner battle between what one ought to do, and greed to indulge. “Today, there’s a higher sense of guilt in people if they indulge, and we had to bring the fact out that people tend to think twice before indulging,” she says.

Incidentally, not too long ago, health cooking oil brand Saffola Gold had adopted this whole ‘guilt’ trip (no pun intended) in ads that featured a man’s inner battle between his overeating habits and indulgent lifestyle, and his need to stay fit. Call it coincidence, but the same actor that featured in the Saffola Gold adverts (Mahesh Thakur) has been cast in the NutriChoice TVC as well.