The foods and beverage giant is in negotiations with Pepsico managements in other countries, especially those in West Asia, to introduce the product there. The vast expat community is the prime target since they have similar tastes. It’s not Kurkure alone, Pepsico is planning to do the same with Aliva, another snacks brand which has done exceedingly well in India.

Vidur Vyas, executive vice president (marketing), Frito Lay India, wouldn’t comment on the overseas foray, but says Kurkure would look for a gradual progression as it has become one of India’s most loved snack food brands and created a new category of ‘tea time’ ‘snacks. ‘It’s become a lovable family brand, examining Indian traditions with a perspective that is new and different,” he says.

Kurkure, according to Vyas, has been a brand of many firsts – from packaging to flavours keeping Indian tastes and preferences in mind. In 2009, for instance, Kurkure went regional with a vengeance with flavours like ‘Mumbai Chatpata’, ‘ Parar Tok Jhal’ and ‘South Special’, which are targeted at the western, eastern and southern parts of the country. On the anvil are Kurkure Funjabi, Kadai Masala, made with rajma (kidney bean) for the north Indian consumer.

The positioning, analysts say, has been unique. For example, last month, Pepsico came out with a print campaign which told readers how Kurkure is made from what can be found in any Indian kitchen, underlining that the ingredients are as wholesome as what goes into home-made food. Kurkure now on will be less about flavours and more about ingredients.

What it means in terms of branding is that Kurkure will have another differentiation from FritoLay’s other brands (Lays, Aliva et al), apart from staving off competition from a growing tribe of roasted snacks, including Aliva, Parle Product’s Monaco Smart Chips and Parle Agro’s Hippo.

Kurkure has also managed to snack its way even into the highly-lucrative festive season in India, with new tamper-proof packaging along with an online gifting option, where consumers can now send a gift pack of the product via the internet.

Features such as these, say analysts, have helped the brand carve a special place for itself in the Indian snack food market, which would be hard to replicate not just by competitors but also by the company itself. “Kurkure is a classic example of exemplary product innovation and a good marketing strategy. The purely Indian outlook and taste has helped it make a mark on the minds of the consumer”, notes Purnendu Kumar, senior analyst. Technopak India.

Pitching the product on the health platform has also helped Kurkure. While the claims are not direct, the company’s statement that Kurkure has zero per cent trans fats and no cholesterol and that it’s made from corn, rice and gram flour, have helped the product give consumers a ‘guilt free eating’ experience, according to analysts. Its Snack Smart initiative has cut out trans-fat from its products and changed the oil used for Kurkure to rice bran which cuts saturated fat by 40 per cent. An attempt to control portions consumed by users has seen it launch Rs-3 packs. This has pushed sales in the lower-tier towns.

These and the first-mover advantage are reasons why Kurkure enjoys a virtual monopoly in its category. While ITC tried to compete with ‘Tedhe Medhe’, the impact has not been encouarging so far. While ITC did not respond to queries, Anand Ramanathan, sector analyst from KPMG, says “ITC has a great distribution network. But ‘Tedhe Medhe’ is not doing well because ITC couldn’t add anything different than what Frito-Lay’s Kurkure alreday had.

However, new products like Hippo and a few local brands are trying to gradually make their presence felt in the market and ramping up market share.

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What started off as an attempt to understand the infrequent Kurkure consumer, or those who are not aficionados, has become a tool that the company intends to use over the long term. FritoLay Marketing Director Deepika Warrier says: “We wanted to demystify Kurkure for the consumers. That meant building trust and connection by informing them of the authentic ingredients that go into the product. We will have more surprising and untried ingredients in our product this year.” She says the print ad has already generated a positive response, and expects sales to go up 20 per cent.

What it means in terms of branding is that Kurkure will have another differentiation from FritoLay’s other brands (Lays, Aliva et al), apart from its Indian flavours. “In our portfolio, we already have Lays which is a flavour-based product. So, Kurkure would stand apart with its ingredients rather than just flavours,” adds Warrier.

Marketing on the basis of ingredients will also help Kurkure stave off competition from a growing tribe of roasted snacks, including FritoLay’s own Aliva, Parle Product’s Monaco Smart Chips and Parle Agro’s Hippo. Experimentation with ingredients has also been done by other branded ready-to-eat products such as Nestle’s Maggi which came up with a wheat-based variant, healthier than the regular maida Maggi. In snacking, roasted snacks appeal to the consumer worrying about the health fallout of finger-food, mostly in the urban markets. “In India, the biggest driver for snack purchases is the need for a change of taste. We anyway have healthy food habits, so a break from the usual fare is what people look for when snacking,” says Warrier on why Kurkure would hold its own against health snacks. Stressing on ingredients that echo wholesomeness would consolidate its stand.

FritoLay, the snack food division of PepsiCo, has been active in addressing the need for healthier snacking habits not just through its roasted snack brand. Its Snack Smart initiative has cut out trans-fat from its products and changed the oil used for Kurkure to rice bran which cuts saturated fat by 40 per cent. An attempt to control portions consumed by users has seen it launch Rs-3 packs of brands such as Kurkure.

The smaller packs have also pushed sales in the lower-tier towns. Kurkure can lay claim to being the largest packaged salted snack brand in the country, having completed a billion sales (to distributors and retailers) in 2009. It created the category between western snacks such as wafers and cheese balls, and traditional Indian snacks, both hot and cold. However, ITC, the Kolkata-based FMCG major, threw down the gauntlet in 2007 when it used its extensive distribution network and attractive display shelves to launch and popularise its snack brand called Bingo at places where packaged snacks had not gone before and in flavours that took Kurkure’s strategy a notch higher. Kurkure reacted by launching new flavours and a variant that looked similar to Bingo called Desi Beats. It also upped its distribution by going to cyber cafes and telephone booths.

Kurkure’s move to highlight its ingredients could be a departure from what other brands are doing and would refresh its brand recall in a category driven by impulse purchases.

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