The latest campaign for the crunchy wafer chocolate bar urges consumers to celebrate their individuality by embracing their flaws and making the most of the opportunities.
Nestlé has taken a rather unusual approach to advertise its wafer chocolate brand Munch, with Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The campaign, called #MUNCHification, has Rajput's character as a young, irreverent man with an affinity towards impressing women by using the Queen's language - something he is far from perfect at.
From giving directions to foreign female tourists to appearing at an auditioning for a Shakespeare play, he confidently attempts everything with his charming broken English. Even as the world rejects him, a bite of Nestlé Munch gives him the confidence to take on the challenges with elan. Executed by JWT, the campaign's #MUNCHification anthem - written by Amitabh Bhattacharya and sung by Mika Singh - catches the consumer's attention with a quirky mix of Hindi and English.
"The new campaign depicts MUNCH as a catalyst that empowers the consumer. It marks the departure of a generation seeking empowerment, to one that feels a sense of entitlement," says Mayur Bhargava, general manager (Chocolates & Confectionery), Nestlé India.
While a typical chocolate communication talks about losing oneself to the chocolate experience, Nestlé MUNCH talks about the loud crunchy noise that inspires action. This builds on the inherent architecture of the product, which has wafers covered by a layer of chocolate.
According to Nielsen, the chocolate market in India is valued at Rs 6,600 crore, of which wafer-based chocolates and confectionery are estimated to be about 25 per cent. With two big brands, Kit Kat and Munch, Nestlé India currently holds over 75 per cent of the share. "The wafer chocolates category has been growing as consumers continue to improve their understanding of health and wellness and move to lighter eats," informs Bhargava adding that the company sells two million SKUs of Munch (priced at Rs 5) in a day.
Nestlé has also launched specific packs like the Family Pack and Share Bag for the brand. The biggest marketing challenge, Bhargava notes, is the lack of proper infrastructure like cool chains in the wafer chocolate category. Another challenge is the availability of low-priced products from a large number of regional players. Senthil Kumar, national creative director, JWT believes that this campaign is about the self-image of today's youth.
"It portrays a hero with some flaws, perhaps, but a grand sense of self, who announces his arrival to the world at large - one who is not inhibited and is willing to flaunt his shortcomings to create a unique identity and express it with pride and confidence. 'MUNCHification' is a clarion call to announce their unique other-ness to the world," he adds.
According to Saurabh Saxena, executive business director, JWT, Rajput's character reflects a young generation conscious of cultural benchmarks and constantly looking for ways to be interesting and desirable to the larger social world.
The campaign is being promoted through TV (Hindi and regional language channels with special focus on the south as a key market), supplemented with a strong focus on digital with a longer music track, especially created for YouTube and Facebook. The music track in the film will also be promoted on various sites as a ring tone option for mobile downloads and as a song on radio channels.
Not biting?
Kavita Kailas, head - strategic planning, Rediffusion Y&R feels that while the idea 'Apne manch pe aao' had immense possibilities the campaign has been reduced to 'Naach Gaana' (song and dance). "Why wouldn't this ad work for a cola brand?" she asks, adding that the only connection to the brand in the ad is the word #MUNCHification. According to her, an unconventional celebrity coupled with a fun brand like Munch could have gone beyond cliched and seen-so-often storyline.
Shagun Seda, creative director, DDB Mudra West finds the campaign 'entertaining ' but only as a YouTube pre-roll kind of one-time watch. "It's probably not an ad I would share with my friends in a WhatsApp group. The music is catchy, Mika's voice is infectious and Rajput is, well, likeable," she says adding that that we've been laughing at ourselves since Govinda introduced us to desi-cool in the '90s and later when Lola Kutty murdered the English accent. "With this commercial, we continue to laugh at ourselves," adds Seda.
Instead of Rajput breaking into a dance, she would have preferred ending the spot with a Bollywoody 'Munchification Anthem' in broken English rather than just a Nakka Mukka-esque montage of Rajput's rise to stardom.