Makeover of Britannia

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Donning a New Look Contd...

The fact that the existing brand was too closely associated with the bakery business, could have been a hindrance to BIL's diversification efforts. Therefore, Britannia needed a more dynamic expression. So there was a need to restage the logo, with the twin objectives of communicating modernity and dynamism.

While developing the new logo and brand statement, the existing red and white shield like unit was retained with a modern rendition. The new corporate identity had three colours red (symbolising energy and vitality), green (nutrition and freshness) and white (purity) which collectively represented what consumers looked for in foods and beverage. Research had shown that the brand statement, Eat Healthy, Think Better, captured the essence of the Indian concept of the unity of body and mind. During the developmental process, care had to be taken to ensure that there was adequate representation of all social economic strata in urban and rural India, for 'Britannia' as a brand, cut across a cross-section of consumers. The red wave communicated the dynamic and energetic movement of BIL. Analysts felt that the redesigned shield made BIL powerful and was the identifying stroke that communicated the innovation and futuristic power of BIL and that the redesigned typography made BIL very contemporary and less industrial. The roundness communicated the value of nature Eat Healthy, Think Better.

The concept communicated perfectly BIL's potential value from physical to mental benefits. Said Alagh, " The new corporate identity will testify to the implicit (good) quality of all our products and all our products and colours stand for things we look for in all foods and beverages..."

The Balancing Act

For BIL, the new identity, laid the base to project its future as a successful food company- a company that provided high quality and tasty, yet healthy foods and beverages. Analysts felt that BIL seemed to have realised that its customers weren't really buying biscuits; they were buying health, nutrition, and food.

If it was nutrition, not biscuits, that the customer was buying when he bought Britannia, BIL could easily extend the brand to other markets where the customer looked for nutrition in every purchase. It was a repositioning that did not have any intrinsic boundaries and BIL, by taking a heath platform could enter other markets.

Said Alagh, " A key reason for re-engineering the brand was not only to make it more robust and contemporary but also stretchable."⁴ With the new identity in place, the next step in BIL's makeover plan was embodied in a two-pronged agenda: to bolster BIL's strength in biscuits and to reduce its dependence on biscuits (Refer Table I).

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4] BIL felt that with its strengths and Danone's partnership it could easily build on its existing competencies and position itself as a comprehensive foods and beverages company offering health and nutrition.

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