Pladis India Widens Consumer Base Under McVitie's Brand

With the launch of cream sandwich biscuits under its iconic brand McVitie's, Pladis India plans to focus on India market for the next 12 months.

Speaking at the launch of McVitie's Creams, Abhishek Sharma, president of Pladis India (McVitie's), said, "We see tremendous opportunity for growth in the Indian biscuit category and India is top priority for us. Since McVitie's was launched in India in 2010, it has gained strong consumer equity in the country, making it the choice of the health conscious. With consumer preferences, McVitie's Creams seek to leverage this equity, and offer consumers an option of cream biscuits with more flavours."

Pladis India is part of the Yildiz Holding in Istanbul with global brands like Godiva Chocolatier, McVitie's Biscuits, Ülker and DeMet's Candy Company.

In the next three years, McVitie's plans to widen its cream and cookies range for all kinds of biscuits.

"Healthy eating has a big share of the mind. But it doesn't have a big share of the stomach. Pladis would launch all kinds of biscuits keeping the health benefits in mind," he said.

Talking about the new range, Sharma added that the packaging comes with a QR code and allows kids to watch webisodes of "The Jungle Book" and win daily surprises which includes one tablet every week under the promotion "Eat 2 win". The campaign will run for nine months.

"Character licensing has been engaging for a consumer and not many companies are into it. So we have tried to engage kids at multiple levels through iconic characters of 'The Jungle Book'. We have partnered with Viacom and plan to extensively promote the product through kids tv programmes and various launches in schools in India," adds Sharma.

Commenting on the biscuit industry which is about Rs 25,000 crore and is growing at a rate of 5 percent every year, Sharma feels, "From Digestive, which is growing at a rate of 15 percent, and cream cookies growing at a rate of 6-7 percent, the future of the biscuit industry looks bright and caters to more than 7 million retailers in India. Above all, biscuit eating habit is well-entrenched in India and there is a healthy connotation attached to it across all age groups. So it is easy to penetrate in this market. Furthermore, we have roped in actor Kajol Devgn as the brand ambassador who has a great mass appeal in all demographics and across all age groups and at the same time she typifies a super mom."

McVitie's Creams will be available in four flavours – Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry and Orange in a pack size of 70 grams, priced at Rs 10 price and 100 grams for Rs 20. Extending the brand’s offering in the creams segment, the company plans to scale up the distribution in top towns.