MUMBAI: Future Consumer Ltd, the flag-bearer of FMCG 2.0 in India, recently launched a special Braille-friendly packaging for its body wash brand—ThinkSkin. The step is an initial one to make its products more inclusive and accessible to all. With this, the company not only wants to reach the differently-abled customers but also aspires to help the Indian consumers upgrade to a better and healthier way of bathing.
On the sidelines of the launch, Indiantelevision.com interacted with Raunaq Sharma, the chief marketing officer for the FMCG Brands of Future Consumer to get some insight into what goes behind creating more inclusive and accessible products, and what other innovations are in the pipeline in the near future.
Sharma said that the company is definitely looking towards taking its FMCG 2.0 legacy forward in the coming years and has a lot of products in the pipeline including its very own detergent and some interesting offerings in the snacks segment. The company is looking towards innovating more and creating products that come out as disruptive brands, are unique and also affordable.
Speaking about what helps the company in creating these offerings, Sharma, with much passion, briefs about the extensive research that the company does. He says, “One of the beauties of being a part of the group that also runs retail chain Big Bazaar is that you get access to a lot of data – what the consumer is buying or not buying, who is buying what, and what products are being picked at what price point. We have a team that constantly churns this data and then derives insights that further help us in finding out white spaces, in which no other established FMCG company is offering any products and we can experiment.”
Another advantage that he talks about is having the distribution under control. “We don’t have as much of a problem that other established companies would have in initially placing their products. For example, they might have to take the product to 1 lakh outlets and thus have to produce that much. We, on the other hand, can do small production and introduce the product in a few stores.”
He further adds, “We, therefore, get the chance to improve the product prior to launching it in the big bag way. That’s a big advantage that we have. Consumer insight, access to analytics and the ability to experiment without really having any fear of failing is helping us in making more of these products.”
This experimentation is definitely helping the group in getting big numbers. He proudly mentions that the category share of Future Consumer jumped from 5 per cent to reach 60 per cent in the past six months. “This is because we realised that if we have the right product at the right price, there is a huge market available,” he quips.
Sharma also spoke about how these products are being placed in the market. On being asked about the marketing budget for the year, he refrained from quoting any numbers and says, “We are looking at the year positively. We are going to spend a lot more than what we had spent in the last year; a significant jump is going to be there.” As per him, the biggest goal for the company to achieve is to get more consumers to pick its products.
Talking about advertising Sharma shares, “We are focussing on digital the big way. Even ThinkSkin will be promoted hugely on digital platforms to tap the consumers. Also, we have recently announced integration with Big Bazaar for a cooking show on YouTube.”
As per recent trends, the company is also undertaking product integration into digital videos. “A year before the last, we did a web series on Kosh—our oats brand and that did well. Right now, we are seriously looking into all the possibilities that we may have in content marketing. Content marketing is a place where consumers can’t skip. When you have smartly integrated content, the consumer also remembers it for a longer time. The great part is that till the time the content is there and watched, the brand remains alive.”
