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July, 2004 |
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Young Achievers |
The success of Asian Thai Foods (P) Ltd. to become one of the largest players in the country’s instant noodles industry within a short span of its commencement is attributed to its aggressive marketing. And Mahesh Jaju (41), the MD of the company, is regarded the architect of the marketing campaign of the company that led it to the prestigious position giving strong challenge to the other market leaders that belong to the big business houses of the country. For a young individual with a simple Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, it is a remarkable feat when the competitors, long established in the field, are employing a horde of MBAs from prestigious universities of the world. Jaju started in business earlier than completing his B. Com. from the college in his hometown Biratnagar, and the initial involvement was to help his father in his cloth and foodgrains businesses. It was according to the tradition in the Marwari family which required the eldest son to help the father in business. But young Jaju was not interested much in the traditional business. “I was looking for some opportunity to lead the business on my own, whereas in the cloth and foodgrains you had to drift along the wave,” he recounts. So the family closed down the foodgrains business and started Kwality Biscuit Industry in partnership with a friend when Jaju was about 23 years old in 2044 BS. After a couple of years of struggle, the unit was established in the market and then followed the setting up of Kwality Soap and Chemical with another partner in 2050 BS. When also the second manufacturing unit of the family started running on its own, Jaju entered instant noodles industry by setting up Asian Thai Foods in 2056 BS, again in partnership, but with another partner. “With the experience of the two types of products – biscuits and soap – we gained enough knowledge about the country’s FMCG market and decided to enter the noodles sector which was then a growing one,” recalls Jaju. The biscuit business was started with some 5 million rupees raised between the partners without involving any bank loan. As the biscuit market saw an ensued high competition with an almost simultaneous entry of a number of new biscuit factories, Kwality Biscuit’s business suffered some problems initially though it managed to stay on the track after couple of years. Jaju blames the initial troubles on the faulty marketing style. “We were then less concerned with the consumer’s choice. Also the consumers had no brand awareness.” To address this problem, Jaju’s company started some advertisements. The beginning was made by wall paintings, and that was an innovation in those days. Around the same time, Britannia in India started selling a brand called Fifty Fifty which contained two packets of biscuits inside one wrapper. “We picked up that concept and improvised on that,” Jaju recalls. The difference was that while the Fifty Fifty biscuits were square in shape, Kwality’s were rectangular. “That brand gave Kwality Biscuit a new identity.” When Jaju started in noodles, the challenge then was to compete with the Wai Wai brand which was so entrenched in the mind of the consumers that it was like the generic name. The producers of Wai Wai had a very strong technical base as they had a tie-up with a Thai party. To face that competition, Jaju put a toffee in each packet of his brand Rum Pum and advertised about it extensively over all media. The result was that the consumers, who were children, started asking for noodle packets that contained toffee. That made the product click. Then the company started mass campaigns, the first being the Bingo Hangama. That was followed by a scheme during the World Cup Football under which consumers who collected photos of the footballers completing the team of a particular nation were provided lucky prizes. One innovative step by Jaju in noodles industry was to introduce 2PM brand. It was not only a name with three syllables while all other brands were with two syllables, the product itself was targeted to a different segment – working professionals instead of children that were being targeted by all the other players. The product was presented in 100 grams packets (instead of 75 grams that was the market norm) and promoted as a complete meal with the slogan “Hunger No Longer”. Also the ad featured a reversal of role in the family. Its TV commercial showed the husband preparing food for his pregnant wife. And the food prepared was 2PM noodles, thus establishing the brand as a food that can be prepared very fast and was helpful for the husbands. Also the promotional schemes launched for this brand were adult focused. On the occasion of the Valentine's Day, the company offered CD’s with love songs with the packets of 2PM, an offer not thought of by the competitors. Then came the mobile phone set scheme. Though some people did not like the ‘husband and wife’ ad, their comments indirectly helped in further promotion of the brand. “Even negative publicity is good publicity,” muses Jaju. The TV Commercial of 2PM was adjudged the best in this category for the Crity Award presented by Advertising Agency Association Nepal (AAAN).
Despite such accomplishments, Jaju surprised the market observers by reducing 2PM price and decreasing the packet size. His explanation is: “The product was well positioned and had gained an aspirational value due to its premium positioning. But we were not getting the volume that we desired. So we decided to make it a product for the masses capitalizing on the premium brand image that was already created.” The most recent foray by Jaju is in snack foods with Krazy brand of cheese balls and he says his future ventures will be in other snack foods. Partnerships Jaju believes in partnership for success in business. “I’m a marketing guy and I select partners who are good in other fields of management, such as finance and production.” However, he has not been stuck to a single partner. While the partner is the same in biscuit and soap businesses, he has taken a different partner for the noodles. Selection of Noodles Business Jaju was interested to enter noodles business right since 2051 BS, i.e. the year after he started in soap. “It was a product that was enjoying a growing market then. Also the export opportunities were good.” But has not the noodles business been eating into the biscuits business? Jaju does not agree. “Biscuit is a different product in the sense that it is consumed with tea while noodles are consumed as meal.” However, he also agrees that the lower priced biscuit varieties that are used as snacks are affected by noodles. Also the massive advertisement campaign by the noodles is responsible for the growth in the noodles business, he views and adds, the biscuit industry has not been able to match such campaigns. |
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