Task: Revamp Brand Frooti. Make it contemporary and youthful
The exercise in a nutshell: The revamp has been a 9-month exercise. We started with an extensive study of the market, the society and a keen understanding of the brand; its history and its strengths.
Background: Frooti is India's legendary and iconic mango drink. It has been around for over two and a half decades now. Pretty much what Nike or McDonalds or Guinness or Ikea is to the world, Frooti is to India. There's not one person in India who hasn't had a Frooti. By sheer numbers and its depth of distribution in India and availability in more than 20 countries, Frooti is perhaps one of the largest selling mango drinks in the world.
During the brand study, here are a few things we realized. When Frooti came into existence over 2 decades ago, it came in as a really contemporary and youthful drink. Frooti brought Tetra Pak into India. It was cool to have a Frooti. Even the imagery in Frooti communication was way ahead of anything else the Indian society was exposed to. Who can forget classic Frooti commercials in early 80s with pretty girls in mini skirts, hula-hoop, use of CG, people diving into a pool of Frooti, etc., All these, India hadn't seen before. We realized being cool wasn't alien to Frooti, it was just about reinstating the cool factor. Relevantly.
However, there was a little something we had to tackle going further. Over the years Frooti was blessed with a lot of child and adolescent loyalists. There have seldom been birthday parties without a Frooti. Can we without alienating them create a similar cult following with youth? With about 60% of India being a part of that segment.
We were aware that frooti had made attempts in the past. Digen Verma by Everest and Bindass campaign by Grey, were both tried. While they did create an initial buzz, they lacked a long term strategy or longevity perhaps. We concluded.
So, the exercise was essentially to arrive at a strategic idea that's much sharper and a thought or a philosophy Frooti can own and reinvent itself for years.
Arriving at the idea:
There are three parts arriving at the idea:
The young: What's cool and contemporary with the young? Young India is much more confident than it ever was. It's much more aware and unabashed. It's not about how good looking, or rich, or intelligent you are. It's all about how interesting you are. People don't ape anymore, they'd rather adapt something they like and reinterpret it to suit their own. Alternate is the new popular. The young and youthful are constantly hunting for fresh new everything. Present is in. Past is stale. Future is out. Everyone's exploring and experimenting and experiencing. And while they are, and like to be a part of a community, they'd like the space to express their own individuality and eccentricities.
Key words/phrases: Originality, Not stale, Fresh community, eccentricity and unabashed-ness.
The Mango: It was really important for us to study the mango fruit. It's the soul of Frooti. Everyone knows Mango Frooti Fresh n Juicy. You hum one part and someone else will complete the other. Last year, soon after Frooti started working with us, we did a commercial reinforcing Frooti as the the mango to every Indian. This was a tactical exercise and to buy time for the revamp. Pretty much to add to confusion of Maaza and Slice trying hard to be a mango.
Here's what we understand of the mango. While it is the king of all fruits and all that blah, deep inside, the mango is a quaint and quirky fruit. It looks funny, lopsided and asymmetrical. And, quite unlike most other fruits. You can't really eat it with a fork and a knife. It's fruit you'd like to get dirty with, steal and even crave for. I haven't heard of too many people stealing bananas or pineapples as kids. And then of course there's the mango seed, the best part of the mango. You have to suck on it, squeeze and get your hands dirty. (And for god's sake there can't be a sexual innuendo to mango eating. That's mistaking it for a strawberry.)
Beneath all the garb and responsibility mango has to shoulder, it is a sweet child-like fruit and you can't behave like an adult and enjoy a mango. Seriously.
Key words: Child like, quirky, lopsided
The Brand Frooti: (Refer to background)
Key Words: Iconic, Cult, Mango, fresh n juicy, childhood,
The idea:
We had to find a voice for Frooti that was well within its values and yet so cool and contemporary that people in their heads said, wow I didn't look at Frooti like that, and not that isn't frooti.
During our various brainstorming sessions, debates, discussions (at Creativeland we call them Freethinking (TM) sessions) and thinking exercises, we were really impressed with the job 'Fresh n juicy' had done for years. We jointly decided to give it a raise and a promotion. From just a baseline, a slogan or a product descriptor we promoted 'Fresh n Juicy' to the brand philosophy.
It was documented and agreed upon that Frooti will never be stale, it will always stay fresh 'n' juicy as a brand. We got a buy in from everyone in the team. We pledged to keep pushing with everything, the product, its communication, its packaging, its contests, offers… everything.
Then during one of the subsequent sessions we struck gold with the theme – 'why grow up.' It sounded the most promising bet for the brand because one, it embodies the spirit of mango. A fruit that is the soul of Frooti.
Two, today the society is unabashed, eccentricities are adored, take our ex-prez Abdul Kalam, he was adored for his child-like spontaneity. A boss in or a college professor who will be most likely admired by the younger audience is the one who is not a straight-jacket.
And three, of course it turns the associations of Frooti with children and childhood on its head, and to its advantage.
The youth today is really confident and unabashed about the way they are. So, we didn't use 'why grow up' as a question. We didn't have a point to prove, we wanted to make a statement.
The 'why grow up' campaign
The why grow up campaign sets up a long-term strategy and vision for the brand. It is sharp, it is in keeping with the contemporary values of what a mango drink can embody. It is extremely youthful.
Over a period of time it will manifest itself in every aspect of the brand and will be supported through various communication channels and media.
Work so far:
Identity:
Frooti Logo
The Frooti logo has been carefully tweaked to look a little more contemporary while retaining its classic character. The complete metamorphosis will take a little
The packaging: It's brighter, cleaner and has a new visual identity. We have created the Mango Emoticons fondly known as Mangoticons. We have launched with 3 new pack designs with three new mangoticons by the next season, we'll have 25 mangoticons in the market. The Mangoticons will assume more significance as we go on. You will see, it will unfold.
Communication: The why grow up campaign will be culmination of various media conventional and alternate. The web, Social media, ambient installations, in-premise stunts & spectaculars and with a huge thrust on User Generated Content (UGC).
The first big piece of communication with the 'why grow up' theme is a TV commercial. Here we've portrayed mango drink lovers across age groups enjoying the drink the way it is truly enjoyed, without inhibitions and with contentious slurps.
The 'why grow up strategy will constantly reinvent itself over the years and promises to bring in cutting edge communication year after year on the brand.
Apart from the youth and external market, Creativeland is also creating internal communication in the form of workshops to brand partners, media agency, sales etc., as this is a completely new way of thinking on Frooti.
