Abstract:

When Perfetti Van Melle (India) Pvt. Ltd. (PVMI), the wholly-owned subsidiary of the world’s third largest confectionery company Perfetti Van Melle S.p.A. (PVM), launched Mentos in India it realized that the global positioning of the brand was not cutting much ice with the Indian audience. Globally, Mentos was PVM’s biggest brand and the world’s second largest confectionery brand. It was marketed on the ‘freshness’ platform with the pay-off line ‘The Freshmaker’. In India, after initially extending the global positioning of the brand, the company adapted the communication strategy to position Mentos as a fun brand with advertisements (ads) created by Ogilvy & Mather India Ltd. (O&M) in 2003.


Some very creative ad campaigns followed, which, along with other online initiatives such as the award-winning Mentos Helpline, helped make Mentos a strong brand in the low-value, low-margin, fragmented sugar confectionery market in India.
Issues:

» Understand how the European confectionery major Perfetti Van Melle made Mentos a big brand in the Indian sugar confectionery market.

» Understand the pros and cons of extending the global communication strategy of a brand to new markets vis-à-vis adapting the communication strategy to suit local preferences.

» Understand the issues and challenges in devising a communication strategy for a low involvement product.

» Understand the pros and cons of using different appeals in advertising and in using different ad formats.

» Appreciate the importance of advertising in influencing consumer behavior especially in products that are bought on impulse.

Contents:

Creating Endearment through Advertising
Background
Marketing Mentos
Online Initiatives
Results
The Evolution of the Ad Campaign
Outlook
Exhibits