‘With Bingo nothing was planned’

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Gold the most preferred investment

: not fundamentally so. The process got kicked off two years ago and we spent a few hundred crores on this exercise, including plant and equipment.

We followed this up with a strong distribution strategy. Our retailer network is probably the strongest in the country. We are present in 100 markets and over the next one year, we plan to expand to about 300 more.

Also, we evolved a completely new and modern merchandising solution for this launch. Our retailers are happy with the attractive stands and other display material for Bingo. In the end, our communication strategy with a heavy dose of humour has also been different and daring, which struck a chord with our target customer.

And who is this target customer?

To be honest, anyone from 10 to 60 years of age. But to establish a new brand you have to position it somewhere; so we decided to target it at the young Indian consumer. This comes out very strong in our campaigns.

How did you hit upon a brand name like Bingo? The entire range—Live Wires, Mad Angles and Tedhe Medhe is a little hatke…

That was precisely what we had aimed for. We had some terrific flavours and we wanted to go the whole hog in connecting with the young consumers. Mad Angles and Tedhe Medhe are hot, intriguing names. These names, we thought, would resound with today’s youth and that hunch has turned out to be true.

Any specific challenges you faced while foraying into a new category, knowing that you would be pitted against formidable competition?

One of the biggest challenges we faced was playing in a pure impulse purchase category. From the beginning, we knew we would have to make our product really stand out in the clutter. Also, it’s a category where you have to deliver very convincingly on the promise made, as soon as a packet is opened.

How fast is the salted finger snacks market growing in India? And what’s Bingo’s share in this market?

The total market size could be to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore, of which Rs 2,000 would be organised, growing at 25% per annum. In the market that we are in, we could be holding anything between 15%-50% share at various geographies. And the unorganised sector could be growing faster than the organised sector. Every time I walk down a street, I spot a new chaat-papriwala doing brisk business.