GSK Consumer Healthcare is extending its chocolate malt-based health drink brand Boost to biscuits. In the past, it had launched similar brand extensions for Horlicks in categories such as biscuits and oats.

To begin with, the company is launching the Boost NRG Biscuits in south India, which will be available across retail stores and modern trade outlets in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

“Boost has always enjoyed a strong market share in the south. That is why we decided to leverage on this brand equity and launch our first line brand extension Boost NRG biscuits in the region. These chocolate-flavoured biscuits are made of real Boost,” said Jayant Singh, Executive Vice-President - Marketing, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. South India is said to be the biggest region for health drink brands in the country.

Innovations

Singh said the brand extension was in line with the company’s philosophy to continuously look at innovations that help it meet the consumer’s ever changing needs.

He said that the chocolate biscuits segment in the south was pegged at Rs 240 crore and was growing at 58 per cent year-on-year, which, the company believes, is significant. It said it had positioned the biscuits in the premium segment, pricing a 75-gram packet at Rs 18 and 150-gm packet at Rs 35.

Incidentally, Boost was one of the first brand endorsements for Sachin Tendulkar, which he signed at the age of 17. He still endorses the brand.

“Boost always has had a strong cricket connect. And we have had our association with Sachin for the past 24 years,” said Singh. The company in a statement last week had said Tendulkar embodied the brand’s attributes and continued to be an ideal brand representative.

meenakshi.v@thehindu.co.in

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