Britannia bets on format innovation to premiumise 50-50

Britannia 50 50 was a staple snack in many Indian homes in post liberalisation India. It helps that the brand debuted in the early years following Dr Manmohan Singh’s landmark 1991 reforms.The biscuit was delightfully simple, a plain cracker built on the idea of duality. First and most iconic was Maska Chaska, butter forward with herbs, followed by variants that extended the same formula.

Three decades later, things have not changed and yet they have. The food company has upgraded the brand’s duality from taste to texture with 50-50 Cheese Dipped, a crunchy cheese layered sandwich positioned as a premium indulgent snack.

According to Siddharth Gupta, Britannia’s vice president of marketing, the move comes amid a broader shift in how consumers approach snacking.

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“Consumers don’t just want taste anymore. Taste is hygiene. They want different bites, textures, flavours and variety. Their snacking habits are evolving,” he says.

Available in a ₹50 indulgent pack and a ₹10 SKU designed to drive trials, Britannia 50-50 Cheese Dipped balances premiumisation with accessibility.

“It is a premium offering, so the first set of business markets will be urban,” says Gupta. “Having said that, the ₹10 pack enables us to democratise and go deeper as well.”

Notice how the new offering is not positioned as a biscuit but as a sandwich. It is a deliberate evolution meant to signal a premium experience and justify the pricing.

“This product is actually a sandwich experience, and therefore we are calling it a cheese sandwich. It takes the product to the consumer the way they would be seeing it,” he explains, adding that the company hopes both existing 50-50 buyers and new premium snackers will enter the franchise through this format.

The cricket connect continues

Britannia 50-50’s association with cricket spans decades, and the ad launching Cheese Dipped is no different. Unlike the still fresh Ravi Shastri campaign for Maska Chaska, the new film features younger cricketers Rishabh Pant and Jemima Rodrigues.

Created by MullenLowe Lintas, Pant’s edgy persona represents the crunch side of the sandwich while Rodrigues embodies the softer, cheesy half.

“For us, 50-50 and cricket go hand in hand. These are new age cricketers who cater to a generation that views cricket very differently,” Gupta says. “We need to continue to contemporise our connect with cricket.”

The campaign also revives the brand’s iconic Nare Nana mnemonic with a modern twist, attempting to bridge nostalgia with contemporary relevance.

When asked whether younger endorsers risk alienating older audiences, Gupta replies that the focus remains on communicating the product format. “The core of what we are trying to communicate is the product. 50 crunchy, 50 melty. The personalities only add icing to that.”

The cheesy expansion

With Cheese Dipped, Britannia 50-50 makes its foray into cheese led snacking, a space gaining traction particularly in urban markets. The move places the brand alongside other cheese forward snack formats such as Malkist and Sunfeast Cheese Wowzers.

“Premium products today are available at affordable pack sizes, which gives access to people. Consumers are getting exposed to many different kinds of snacks, and the demand for variety has fundamentally increased,” Gupta remarks.

Asked about cannibalisation, given Britannia’s existing cream biscuit portfolio including Bourbon and Jim Jam, Gupta dismisses the concern. “It’s a very different consumption experience,” he says.

Question him about whether there are more ads or faces for this particular offering, and all he offers is a big sly grin before signing off.