Mexitos would be a synonym for Nachos, says Parle's B. Krishna Rao

A wacky commercial, conceived by Thoughtshop Advertising, is possibly the first advertising film for Nachos in the Indian market 

Archit Ambekar | Mumbai | April 19, 2016

Click on the image to watch the TVC.

The Indian snacks industry has come a long way since Lays entered the space decades ago. In India it was easy to associate chips with 'Lays.' Lays was a synonym for chips and continues to be so. Nestlé's Maggi did a similar thing to noodles in India. It was a revolution in the category and that is exactly what Parle intends to do with the Nachos brand - 'Mexitos.'

Parle G is almost a synonym for biscuits, Coca Cola has been synonymous with cold drinks and Colgate for toothpaste! Parle has managed to stay relevant for its consumers for 80 long years. It has innovated with time and introducing its Nachos brand in the Indian market is just such a move.

Indians are not quite likely to abbreviate Nachos into 'Nacho' - which is Hindi for dance. Even so, Parle has tried to do something similar to create a product mass. Nachos has just a few players in the Indian market and the products have been on select shelves till Mexitos was launched. Parle tried to create a mass product for the first time, that is price sensitive.

B Krishna Rao

In a tête-à-tête with BestMediaInfo.com, BK Rao, Deputy Marketing Manager, Parle Products, discussed the brand's marketing strategies for its biscuits, confectionery and snacks.

Rao said that Nachos was still at a nascent stage in the Indian market, in which only some players were selling the product at select outlets. “Our intention was to make the product a mass product. We wanted to revolutionize the way people say Nachos or 'Nacho' as Indians pronounces it. We want our brand Mexitos to be a synonym for Nachos.”

Campaign concept:

Mexitos is available in two flavours - salted and salsa. The brief given to the agency was very simple – “make it mass.” Thoughtshop Advertising, the agency that worked on the campaign, used a dramatic, yet simple story line. Vipin Dhyani, Founder and Chief Creative Director, Thoughtshop Advertising, told BestMediaInfo that “The idea of making the campaign was to drive sales and tell people about nachos. We wanted to break the norm and hence such a story line.”

A wacky TVC opens with a professor, who sees a pack of nacho chips in a girl student's bag. He immediately calls out to her, saying, “Nacho”, which means dance in Hindi. The student immediately begins dancing, to his utter embarrassment. The incident costs the professor his reputation and his marriage, as his wife leaves him and he is jailed for misdemeanour. The TVC ends with the Mexitos tag line, 'nacho nahi, bolo Mexitos' (don't say “nacho” - say Mexitos).

The TVC:

https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/

Shedding light on the marketing strategy for Mexitos, Rao said, “This is the first, the brand has invested 30 per cent of the marketing budget to digital, as there are a lot of activities planned around it. Their mascot 'Pedro' is already a popular figure on social media and their website 'www.mexitos.in.' Apart from that we will be using traditional media to promote this product.”

Launched in August 2015, the brand has never focused on creating a television commercial (TVC), focusing instead on creating awareness with on-ground activities, events and other associations. This is the first time that a Nachos brand has created an ad.

Parle has lined up another TVC and has also made two gags in line with the brand and will be doing a lot of on-ground activities as well. It seems that they're all set to engage with the consumers and create an impact of 'Nacho nahi, bolo Mexitos.'

Overall brand strategy

Speaking of the overall biscuits, confectionery and snacking unit of Parle, Rao said Mexitos would have a large digital presence. Traditionally, Parle has spent only five per cent of its marketing budget for biscuits and snacks on the digital medium. The brand's confectionery consists of toffees and candies, which have a low involvement on the digital space.

Rao said Parle had done a lot of activities at colleges. It also had spots on Hotstar during the on-going Indian Premier League cricket tournament. Parle will look at other sports events for its promotional activities at a later stage.

Meanwhile, Parle has done a disruptive launch of its premium Marie biscuit, 'Bakesmith.' The brand has done a 75-city outdoor campaign with Bakesmith, to position itself as a premium international biscuit. In all its communication, the brand created anxiety for the consumer, as 'Parle' was not mentioned anywhere. The campaign worked well for Parle, even though the brand name was not mentioned in the first phase of the outdoor campaign.

While the brand has been simple, yet effective in communication, its sheer effort and dedication towards marketing has made it the category leader for most of its sub-brands, said Rao. Even though, Rao would not discuss figures, it does seem as though, Parle has some big marketing plans for the biscuits and snacks on its larder.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com