Duracell intends to extend product portfolio in Indian market

Duracell is all set to extend its product portfolio in the country. The brand that currently makes AA, AAA and CB batteries will bring specialty and rechargeable batteries to the Indian market.

“What we are seeing is that as devices get smaller, they still need batteries but these won’t take the conventional batteries. They need batteries that are a lot smaller. We call these specialty batteries, they can also be called coin cell or button cell batteries. We will be rolling out specialty batteries in India from 2018. In fact, the process has already started. We will also be bringing rechargeable batteries to India,” said David Abraham, Marketing Director for Middle East and India, Duracell.

Abraham said the brand will be working to improve the performance of its existing copper and black and ultra-power products, which is where the bulk of their business is.

Apart from investing in portfolio expansion, Duracell is also focusing its efforts on marketing. The brand is back with the second edition of Durathon. The ‘Family Run’, which first happened in Mumbai last year, will be happening in Delhi this time around before coming back to Mumbai.

“The thought behind Durathon really was to create a property that can stand the test of time while engaging with consumers in a relevant fashion. The Duracell Durathon is India’s first family run. What makes this run contextually different is the fact that to participate in the run, one participant has to be over the age of 18 years and one needs to be under the age of 16. The whole idea of the run is to bring out the concept of longevity,” said Abraham.

According to Abraham, experiential marketing exercise like Durathon is important for brands to connect with consumers on a more personal level.

“An experiential marketing programme like Durathon is extremely relevant for a brand like Duracell. It gives us the chance to engage with the customer in a more casual setting and also gives consumers the opportunity to engage back with us,” added Abraham.

Abraham agrees that running an experiential marketing campaign is not as easy as running a mass media campaign. To get experiential marketing right, Abraham feels that it needs to be targeted.

“With a mass media campaign you can reach out to multiple consumers quite effectively. But experiential marketing needs to be really targeted and that is why we first targeted Mumbai and now we have come to Delhi. It is not easy but through this focused approach we should be able to drive greater engagement with the brand,” said Abraham.

According to Abraham, the top 10 markets for Duracell in India are Delhi+NCR, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Pune, Surat and Ludhiana.

Speaking about what makes these cities a lucrative market for the battery business, Abraham said, “These cities have the population, the disposable income and the device penetration which all leads to greater usage of batteries in households in these cities.”

Abraham also mentioned that Duracell invests over 20 per cent of their revenue in marketing. As a brand they focus on all mediums and platforms. When it comes to marketing, Abraham said focus on experiential marketing has increased.

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