Tic Tac's strategic roadmap to bolster market leadership in India

When it comes to consumers’ brand preference in the confectionery category, it is not based on rationality, but on emotional judgment. Hence, the communication in the category is planned and rolled out in an extremely loud, fun and hyper-exaggerated manner, according to Zoher Kapuswala, Head of Marketing (Pills and Gums), Ferrero India.

Recently, Tic Tac, the confectionery brand of Ferrero India, the manufacturer of sweet-packaged products, launched its latest digital campaign, #FindYourMatch, to build awareness of its newly launched Minty & Fruity range of flavours.

Campaign videos:

Mint Flavour:

Orange Flavour:

Spearmint Flavour:

Strawberry Flavour:

Commenting on what led to the launch of the two newly launched Indianised flavours of Tic Tac- jeera black salt and strawberry pills, he mentioned that Indian flavours have been an integral part of the strategy of growing the brand in the country. This isn’t a completely new thing for the brand as it already had a sub-brand called Tic Tac Seeds which has flavours like Fennel, Ginger Cardamom, etc. which have been there in the Indian market for the past two-and-a-half years now.

“These Indian ethnic flavours have already been there for a while, but maybe it was that we were not propagating it well that consumers were not aware of it and therefore, we are investing in these particular propositions right now. Having said that, coming up with selected flavours for us includes an entire innovation process wherein we speak to the flavour houses to get some trends and then do a strong consumer research- whether it's a UNA, flavour or TURF study primary research and secondary desk research to shortlist flavours. Normally we go with a very exhaustive list of flavours and are currently also working on a long repertoire of strong flavours which have Indian connect,” he added.

Tic Tac has collaborated with Spotify to further build on music. The newly launched microsite, Tic Tac Find Your Match offers users to participate in a wide range of music vibes to choose from. Once the vibe is selected, the microsite reveals the corresponding Tic Tac flavour, using an AI algorithm, that aligns with the consumer’s unique personality and crafts a personalised Spotify playlist for each participant. There are four distinct music vibes and flavours to choose from and the combinations include Romantic Vibes – Tic Tac Strawberry, Fun Party Vibes – Tic Tac Orange, Adventure Vibes – Tic Tac Spearmint, and Cool Vibes – Tic Tac Mint.

Kapuswala further stated that given the fact that India is a very young country and 50% of its population is aged below 33 years, Tic Tac is a youth brand that targets college-goers and early jobbers and tries to win the consumers with strong relevance of the product, top of mind awareness and availability of the products.

“Tic Tac falls in the affordable premium or what we like to call an everyday premium segment in the soft mint space which is why it is very strong in urban India while it is still a work in progress in rural India,” he added.

Given the fact that the brand targets young audiences, the marketing budgets of Tic Tac, as per Kapuswala are also more skewed towards digital, social, OTT platforms, Spotify or even e-commerce, but at the same time, the brand hasn’t stopped advertising on Television.

Commenting on the challenges pertinent to confectionary brands in the modern world, he mentioned that since online commerce, be it e-commerce or quick commerce has grown to become an important factor for all brands, for confectionary brands, the major challenge that arises is that of average sales price. This essentially means that a typical e-commerce partner is ready to deliver Rocher and Nutella quite enthusiastically whereas when it comes to products in the price range of Rs 10-20, it becomes a bit of a challenge.

Hence, as per Kapuswala, the brand is now working on creating dedicated packs to address and solve the problem and at the same time be able to leverage both quick commerce and e-commerce well.

“Unlike the international market, there has been an ingraining of the magical price points, which are mostly rounded off to the nearest 5 or 0, and therefore, there isn’t any room for brands to sell the products at a cost like Rs 7 or Rs 12. Secondly, every marketer in India has to make the effort of selling their product to not just consumers but also the mom-and-pop stores again and again because introducing the product is just not enough and requires one to ensure that once the product is sold, the shelf is refilled too,” he said.

Tic Tac is priced comparatively higher than 90% of the market, where pricing still varies from sub-one Rupee to one Rupee.

As per Kapuswala, the iconicity of Tic Tac lies in the fact that when the entire small-sized confectionary market in India was and is still being capped around one Rupee, it was one of the first confectionary brands that launched its products in the country in a pocketable multipack display box priced at Rs 5, 10, 15 and 20. 

“Generally people talk about GRPs on TV, but at Ferrero, we generate store-level GRPs which includes sending free-of-cost point-of-sale materials like a tree or a hansel from the factory to the trade channels. This ensures the visibility of the impulse brand, like Tic Tac, stays intact on the shelves, influencing consumers and creating a significant offtake. Having said that, we're now trying to make the brand all the bigger as we grow by driving on material availability and physical availability, both,” he said.

He also added that in the past couple of years, Tic Tac has amassed for itself not just a strong industrial footprint in India which is geared for growth but has also become one of the brands that is 100% produced in India.

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