CCL Products (India) Ltd is a FMCG with a presence in coffee B2C and B2B segments. It exports to 100+ countries with R&D and global manufacturing capabilities. It is the 3rd largest coffee brand in India with the widest portfolio consisting of instant coffee, R&G coffee, and coffee premixes, as part of its larger F&B portfolio.
CCL is home to F&B brands like Continental Xtra, Continental Speciale, Continental Malgudi, Continental THIS, Percol, Malgudi traditional South Indian snacks, and Greenbird. The organisation has also forayed into retailing through its brand Contico Cafe. 1200+ cups of continental coffee are consumed every second across the world.
Medianews4u.com caught up with Raja Chakraborty, CMO, Continental Coffee
Q. From a marketing perspective what were the goals of CCL Products in 2024? To what extent were they achieved?
Our goals were to expand our market share in Instant Coffee, build stronger cultural connect with consumers in states like Tamil Nadu, create strong impact from marketing campaigns that will enhance the imagery of our brands and seed strong growth vectors for the next year to come.
We are happy to share that we have achieved all of these objectives quite successfully. Our market share has expanded by 2X in large coffee markets like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and overall, our market share has expanded substantially.
We have undertaken many unique, innovative and impactful campaigns during the year be in Innovative Influencer Campaigns, Anamorphic Campaigns, Industry first ever take over of food court at Nexus Malls, Hyderabad or a 360-degree collaboration with our retail partners to drive category growth. Overall, it was a very satisfying year for us.
Q. Is the TG of Continental Coffee families?
We are a branded house. Our TG differs from brand to brand. In South families are our TG for Continental Xtra and Malgudi. However, Continental THIS targets youngsters for Individual use.
Q. The company has different brands like Continental Xtra, Continental Malgudi. Are there plans to add more brands to target certain groups like Gen Z?
We have Continental THIS for Gen Z. It’s a premix brand and our portfolio of premix, iced and cold coffee are attracting the Gen Z towards Continental Coffee.
Q. How did the idea of tapping into Tamil Nadu’s heritage for Continental Coffee’s new ad campaign come about? What are the different facets of the campaign?
Building cultural connect is critical for brands to stay relevant. The new ad campaign strives to build stronger cultural connect with consumers of TN through usage of cultural nuances in our new ad.
It’s an ad that is strongly embedded in cultural nuances of TN be it the usage of musical score, usage of colloquial terms, traditional architecture or the camaraderie among family members.
Q. How important are the Southern markets?
The South is 65% of the Indian Instant Coffee market, thus a very important market for us.
Q. Will Continental Coffee run similar local campaigns in other States by focussing on their heritage? India some would say is many countries rolled into one.
Yes. We believe in building stronger cultural connect.
Q. This year Continental Coffee used the services of Platinum Outdoor to execute an OOH campaign. Has digital made OOH more attractive?
Yes, with Platinum as our partner, we have executed not just impactful but highly Innovative approach in OOH and Experiential marketing.
Q. On-ground what experiential marketing activities does Continental coffee do in places like specialty coffee shops?
We created a complete coffee zone in the food court in Nexus Mall, Hyderabad Food Court. This is an industry first initiative where a food brand has taken over the food court.
Q. What role do TV radio, print play? Are these used sporadically?
TV plays the role of a mass reach medium. Print the role of strong reminder and an impact creator. Radio works as a reminder medium.
Q. The company spends one fourth of its marketing budget on influencer marketing. Could you shed light on the strategy of using regional influencers during the festive season? how much effort goes into choosing the right influencer?
We focus a lot of selecting the right influencer in line with the brand’s personality and positioning. We also ensure that the brand storytelling is done in the most unique way by the influencer to make it memorable so that apart from awareness it also creates consideration.
Q. How is the rise of e-commerce and direct-to-consumer (D2C) channels benefitting Continental Coffee and spreading coffee culture?
It provides upcoming brands like us a level playing field and opportunity to Innovate with newer offerings.
Q. Does AI help in avoiding wastage of ad monies?
Yes, to certain extent. It is used across many mediums be in TVCs, Research stimulus, Digital Posts etc. It does help build efficiencies.
Q. What strategies has Expedify crafted so far that have helped Continental Coffee engage with consumers online in meaningful ways?
They have helped in developing beautiful and engaging digital campaigns for us across brands.
