Truly transforming the industry – Too Yumm!

Too Yumm has been the most talked about snack brand in 2019. A brand that is transforming the snacking category with its innovation, packaging and superlative positioning. Too Yumm is a brand of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group.

Category chosen: Baked healthy snacks

Company Vision: Inclusive Growth fired by free-spirited Entrepreneurship

Company Mission: Venture into the foods business with one intent – offer healthier and guilt-free snacking options which consumers can have anytime, anywhere, as much. This resulted in the incorporation of the FMCG division – Guiltfree Industries Limited

Total Number of Employees in the Company: 300

Countries the brand is present: India, Qatar, UAE – Dubai, Singapore, Oman, Nepal

What would you define as the unique value proposition of the product: the functional, emotional and differentiating product benefits that have contributed to providing an enduring brand experience to customers?

The snacking category is growing at a rapid rate and there are quite a few competitors in the market. With such intense amount of clutter in the market, Too Yumm! is one of the most prominent brands which offers the consumers with products that give them the liberty to binge guiltlessly. Our products are completely baked with 40% less fat as compared to the Potato Chips available in the Market. Even though we are healthier than most brands in this category, we never compromise on taste. Our wide ranging flavours are a perfect combination of health and taste. Taking into consideration that consumers are driven by experimentation and different tastes, Too Yumm! has 5 products with a total of 25 flavours to choose from.

To add to that, a fitness enthusiast brand ambassador such as Virat Kohli adds credibility to our proposition. Our brand wears the guilt free proposition on its sleeve as the brand is called Too Yumm! – Anytime, Anywhere’ and reinforced by its tag line ‘Fried Not, Fikar Not’.

What are the physical, character and personality attributes of the brand that have evoked and inspired consumers’ self-expression and personal identity?

We offer aspirational products at affordable pricing with eye-catching packaging. The packaging architecture is distinctive, and a key asset is the brand endorser Virat Kohli is now on pack graphics. The Too Yumm! packs stand out from the cluttered snacks shelves. As a food product that is driven by impulse, it is imperative that products and packaging work well. Our products are well attributed in shape, form, texture and taste. The ‘baked and not fried’ proposition, coupled with some exotic tastes & flavours ensure that our consumers never compromise on taste for the sake of health and this fuels a sense of integrity within them.

Please provide an insight into the brand marketing strategies that have effectively penetrated consumers’ psyche, established a meaningful relationship with the target audiences and ensured positive brand perception.

The key consumer insight to leverage is the thought that ‘what is fried is tasty, and healthy (or baked) can’t be tasty. Hence, we needed to disrupt this notion and present an alternate option. Our marketing strategy was a perfect blend of psychological connectors – an aspirational product, a fitness champion for a brand ambassador, affordable pricing, attractive packaging and a mass-premium media communication. The communication and a strong brand endorser drove credibility and engagement further aiding trials. The great taste ensured repeats, and loyalty, helping us build a meaningful relationship with consumers. The brand’s perceptions have been built strongly on ‘baked not fried’, “40% less fat”, “Healthy” and “Virat Kohli”. These are the key assets, which we honed in on to create a strong and positive brand perception.

How has the brand extended its presence to the frontiers of internet advertising and social networking? What is the level of significance the brand accords to utilizing social media as a competitive edge?

As a brand for the younger audience, we are extremely active on Social Media, across all major platforms. The idea is to reach out to them by building affinity for the things they consume the most – cricket, entertainment (movies & TV), gaming etc.

Our approach towards content has and always will be digital and mobile first. Assets are specifically created keeping in mind the usage patterns of our target audience. We have associated as a partner for one of the films in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the biggest cricketing tournament in the country. We use real-time content to scale up our message of getting India to snack better and #SayNoToFriedSnacks.

For the duration of the IPL, we have set up a war room – Too Yumm! Dugout – to carry out various activities to deliver the KPIs for our campaign. This includes a variety of activities such as:

• • Tailing the brand message by creating real-time reactive content
• • Delivering surprise goodies to fans via contests, social listening, trend-jacking
• • Building a network of brand advocates to further amplify our message, aid brand recall and maximize our potential reach
• • A second-screen online / offline game, Karare Stikers, to enhance the cricket experience

Each content piece uses platform-specific formats and engagement modules that create interactions that define an identity on digital media. Precise media targeting ensures that our message reaches the right audience at the right time, across all platforms, including YouTube.

Key marketing endeavors in the past decade that you feel have been landmark initiatives in reinforcing the legacy of the brands’ promise to influence consumer intent and enhanced the brands’ propensity to drive affirmative consumer action

Our endeavor has and will always be to disrupt a large category with innovative products, differentiated proposition, impactful communication which further helps us gain a meaningful stronghold in this segment. To initiate the process we strategically selected Virat Kohli as our brand ambassador which helped the consumers relate to the key brand proposition of being the healthier version of a snack. We further invested on our association with him during the #WhyChipsVirat campaign which was seamlessly integrated with the launch of Too Yumm! multigrain chips. The launch campaign was perfectly timed with IPL last year and was widely appreciated by our TG. The campaign was phenomenally executed right from creating buzz around Virat munching on to chips till the massive launch of the product through the brand TVC at IPL. It was a huge integrated marketing success which stood on one of our core brand pillars which is sports.

To continue the existing excitement and staying true to our commitment to baked snacks, we initiated the #SayNoToFriedSnacks movement at the Kumbh Mela in February where we achieved a Guinness World Record feat for the largest oil lamp in the world. This movement is now being fueled further at IPL through multiple activations digitally, through PR and on television. Also, in terms of our product the objective has always been to offer our consumers wholesome snacks which had to be an effortless blend of taste and health. We utilized our strongest proposition of – being healthy without compromising on the taste.

A right mix of price, taste, health and effective communication can do wonders for a brand with a strong proposition like Too Yumm!

How has the brand derived strength from innovation as a sustainable differentiating strategy adding to long-term brand equity? Please provide few instances of measures implemented towards this goal.

Innovation for Too Yumm! is a journey that begins right from the product till the communication strategy. Our core philosophy has always been to offer products that fulfill the consumer’s needs and demands by offering them a combination of health and taste. Even though there have been a few players in the market which have experimented with such innovations, our brand has grown at a noticeable scale and speed. Moreover, to augment our product propositions, we have roped in one of the country’s finest fitness icons, which amplifies our disruptive communication. A healthy combination of product and promotion has helped Too Yumm! become one of the top 3 brands* and has helped us in establishing ourselves as a differentiated player in the Indian packaged snacks industry. Our Guinness World Record™ feat for lighting the World’s Largest Oil lamp as a part of our campaign to encourage consumers to switch from fried snacks to baked snacks is a never- been- seen- before initiative.

(* Based on a research conducted by Hansa Research Pvt. Limited in 5 metro cities)

What is the key leadership value that drives the brand?

Too Yumm! as a brand falls under Guiltfree Industries which belongs to the RPSG group. The vision of the group has always been to focus on inclusive growth fired by free spirited entrepreneurship. The core values, however, of the leadership team are deeply motivated by customer happiness, credibility, humaneness, execution excellence, speed and risk taking.