Britannia's Good Day biscuits target grannies and kiddies alike

Good Day, the over-three-decades-old cookie brand from Britannia has just unveiled its campaign featuring actor Deepika Padukone. While the film is a sweet story in itself, it reminds us of the really wide TG that Good Day caters to. The brand has literally put all the available target age groups in its ads.

Crafted by McCann World Group, Bengaluru, the latest ad film features school kids (lots of them) who buy Good Day packs while paying with paper toys. Over the years, all age groups - children, adolescents, young adults, adults, middle-aged and senior citizens have found their space in the brand's communications.

While the 'butter-cookie' offering was at the core, the cookie brand has diversified its offerings with newer variants like Pista Badaam, Choco Chip, Berries and Nuts, etc.

Britannia's biscuit brands have their own target age-groups. For example, Treat is targeted at children, Marie (tea-biscuit) for adults, Little Hearts for young adults and Nutri Choice for health conscious adults.

Brands like Parle's Mango Frooti or Nestle's Maggi tweaked their communications and packaging to widen their TG, from only-kids to adults also. However, Good Day has been made to fit the bill for all.

Among the earliest of the brand's ads is the one with Jaaved Jaaferi (from the early '90s). The ad featured a senior gentleman who visits Jaaferi's saloon for a shave.

The film from 2014 features college goers.

This Good Day ad features a middle-aged a woman.

The ad for Good Day – Wonderfulls (berries and nuts) features an elderly woman who has just got herself a new set of dentures.

The ad from 2018 features a young adult.

However, all of it comes together in the Good Day ad from May 2018.

What allows the brand to cater to 'all' and why has Britannia sustained this strategy for the last three decades?

"Positioned as a brand that believes that the purpose of our lives is first and foremost to be happy, Good Day appeals to all segments of society inspiring excitement and joy. Good Day in many ways brings warmth & cheer in their life, whether it’s through the rich ingredients which are desirable to serve guests, rich taste which is loved by one and all or infectious communication which brings a smile on everyone’s face," says Vinay Subramanyam, head of marketing, Britannia.

Britannia Good Day - Brand milestones

• 1986 - Britannia launched the first domestic cookie brand, Good Day.

• 1992 - The brand launched one of its longest-running campaigns (1992-2002) around the ‘have a good day’ positioning. The smile played a big role in the brand’s world in early days also.

• 2008 - The brand tagline moved to ‘Iska toh ho gaya re Good Day’. The dancing ticket collector becomes famous.

• 2012 - Britannia celebrated 25 years of celebrating happiness with a brand film featuring kids and joy of being showered with biscuits.

• 2015 - Good Day undergoes a brand-restage with a new positioning and ‘the smile’ is incorporated in everything from packaging to logo. Even the cookie design got a Smiley makeover with the characteristic straight lines made to curve. Actor Deepika Padukone becomes ‘the smile ambassador’ for the brand.

• 2016 – Smile More for a Good Day campaign encourages Indians to smile more often, as it is one of the simplest gestures known to mankind.

Expert Speak:

Lloyd Mathias (former marketer HP, Motorola and PepsiCo), angel investor and business strategist says, "Given the nature of the product - a butter-filled cookie – Good Day appeals to every demographic and age segment. The versatility of the product enables its appeal to all age groups, whether school-going kids or senior citizens. So Britannia should really not bother about diluting their offering by targeting multiple age groups. Products like Good Day cut through, making for an ideal serving at home during tea time or for tiffin for young school goers."

"It is a brilliant campaign nicely targeting school-going kids – who are a huge target audience for this category. Using a celebrity like Deepika Padukone as a character – the daughter of a middle aged grouchy store owner, and the cute school kids, makes it so utterly watchable," Mathias adds.

Amar Wadhwa (former Cheil, Publicis, Fcb Ulka), founder and executive director, CrystalEyes (a marketing consultancy) says, "Some of the biggest food brands cut across TGs. Coca Cola is one such brand. You will see communication across children ('ummeedo waali dhoop'), youngsters as well as people across all ages in the family. Fundamentally, it owns a larger space of optimism and happiness. Similarly, Maggi too extended the brand franchise from zeroing in on the eight year old to leveraging nostalgia with a much older audience which grew up eating Maggi.

"In the biscuits category, if there is one brand that has the potential to cut across TGs, it is Britannia’s Good Day. Its taste appeals across age groups and hence the contribution to volumes will come from across age groups too. More importantly, the brand has a much larger canvas than just its taste or format appeal. As a brand, it transcends the boundaries of rationality and stands for the proverbial ‘acche din’ we all seek. It stands for the ability to transform an average moment into something wonderful. This idea is very powerful, however I don’t think the TVC has done full justice to it," Wadhwa adds.

Brand strategist and former adman MG Parameswaran (Ambi), who is also the founder of Brand-Building.com, says,"Good Day’s latest commercial has an excellent cast: a famous film star as a lovable daughter, some lovely kids and a grouchy dad. The story is about how kids love Good Day and how the girl is such a kind-hearted person who is happy to distribute Good Day in exchange for paper boats (not the drink). But what made Deepika become so generous? Is it that everyone becomes ‘good’ when they come in touch with Good Day? But what about the father who stays grouchy as ever till the end?"

"While I like the casting and the music, I feel the core brand messaging 'Spread Happiness Everyday' has been converted into altruism. Shopkeepers around the country may start paying Britannia with paper boats (what they collected from kids when they gave away Good Day), and that should be fun," he adds.

Campaign Credits:

Agency: McCann World Group, Bengalurure

Ex-Chairman and Regional ED AP, Chief Creative Officer: Prasoon Joshi

Creative team: Puneet Kapoor, Ajith Emmanuel, Unnikrishnan, Pulkit Khandelwal

Account Management: Dileep Ashoka (Ex-VP, South), Sharon Varghese, Mayurakshi Chatterjee, Rakaah Chatterjii, Zenia Rodrigues

Planning: Jitendra Dabas (Chief Strategy Officer), Rasika Fernandes

Films: Crystal Carvalho

Britannia Industries Limited Credits:

Vinay Subramanyam – Head of Marketing

Priyadarshini Kapoor- Category Manager

Vivek Kataria- Product Manager