‘With Bingo nothing was planned’

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Gold the most preferred investment

: to the limit with Bingo. How wise is the move to keep so many SKUs (stock keeping units)?

We came out with 16 variants (priced at Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 20 a pack). A good majority of these are region-inspired. So we have mustard for east India and paneer tikka for the north Indian market. But we do have some generic national flavours, such as premium salt, tomato and chilly formats, which go everywhere.

You had strategically timed the launch of Bingo to coincide with the Cricket World Cup. India, as we know, performed nowhere near expectation. How important is the time factor in the launch of a new food product?

As product launches go, wherever and whenever there is a good opportunity, marketers make the best use of it. With Bingo also, nothing was planned. It was indeed a happy coincidence that when we were introducing these products, the World Cup was on. So we made the most of that opportunity. I am sure, had something else been happening, we would have timed our launch to that event. As marketers, we just plough whatever terrain we are presented with.

So far, which is the most successful line of products for ITC Foods— staples, biscuits, ready-to-eat, confectionery or salted finger snacks?

Although exact figures are difficult to guess, the atta segment contributes as much as 35% to the overall sales, confectionary 15% and the rest make up for the balance. Thankfully, all our product segments are going great guns at the moment.

Finally, please crack this mystery code for us. What does ‘Bingo Tick Tock Boing!’ mean?