Parle Agro is relaunching LMN, its lemon drink launched in 2009, this month in a new packaging. In the course of a conversation with Business Line on the company hiking its ad spend during the IPL tournament which starts next month, Ms Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director and Chief Marketing Officer, Parle Agro, said the focus for LMN would not be advertising but on “creating massive distribution” for the brand.

She was replying to a question on why the company chose to advertise only Frooti and Appy and not LMN or Saint, its other brands of beverages. Parle Agro is spending Rs 20 crore on advertising during the IPL season.

On February 18, Business Line had reported that LMN having failed to make an impact, the company would push Appy, which last year was extended to several SKUs. It was available only as a 200 ml pack earlier.

Test-marketing

Ms Chauhan said LMN had been in a test-marketing phase ever since its launch. However, further queries on the re-launch elicited this response: “We kept LMN very limited and focused on metros and mini metros during the test marketing phase. Now we intend to re-launch with a far wider distribution strategy as compared to before.”

A retailer in Chennai remarked that the lack of advertising for the brand had limited its offtake.

She added that the stocks of LMN came in rather close to their ‘best by' date, and hence she had stopped ordering them as customers refused to buy them.

The Rs 1,500-crore Parle Agro's LMN has rivals in Coca-Cola's Minute Maid and Pepsi's Nimbooz.

Ms Chauhan said Appy would be advertised for the first time since its launch in 1986 and the spend on Frooti would be hiked during the IPL tournament which coincides with the peak season for beverages. Viewership of other channels in cricket season gets hit, so raising spends to advertise on the right channels would result in great exposure for them, Ms Chauhan said, adding that it would be a great launch platform for Appy's first advertisements ever.

Appy's success

She attributed the brand's success despite the lack of advertising so far to its black packaging and strategic positioning in retail outlets. In 2010, Parle Agro launched 160 ml, 100 ml, 250 ml and 400 ml packs for Appy, in a bid to capture a larger market, and hence the need for advertising now, she said.

Saint, Ms Chauhan said, is a very premium, very niche brand, and advertising it would mean a massive spillover, she said.

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