Britannia encourages Time Pass with baked snacks

The company reached out to 25,000 youths through college level activities

Biscuit major Britannia has ventured into the fairly new baked snacks category, launching a baked wheat snack called Time Pass targeted at the youth. The company claims that the wheat product is free from trans fat, MSG and cholesterol.

The snack is being made available in three flavours - Mindless Masala, Tapori Tomato and Loafer Lemon - at two price points, Rs 5 and Rs 10. Since it is targeted at the youth, the brand has adopted a language that is not pretentious and appeals to the youth. Time Pass aims to participate in the banter of youth and makes 'doing nothing' a legitimate option.

To promote the new snack, the brand's creative agency, Lowe Lintas, came up with a unique idea. In a tie up with Big FM, branded vans visited colleges in Bengaluru and interacted with students, asking them to share their 'time pass' words which were recorded. The youth could also call in to a number and say the word. These words, with the actual voices, were then taken and put together in an 'Ultimate Time Pass' track, composed by veteran singer and composer Gurukiran.

With more than 25,000 youth participating in the activity, words received were as random as 'dishkaon', 'macha' and 'dude', in their style. The selected participants who contributed the catchiest words were also entitled to a cash prize and a chance to work with Gurukiran.

The track, which is also being called the Time Pass anthem, will be played across radio channels and youth and music channels as well.

Interestingly, Britannia usually communicates with housewives or children. The youth is a new target group that the company is speaking to in this communication. It has chosen the radio route, which allows interactivity as the youth can easily connect with radio and music.

R Balakrishnan (Balki), chairperson and chief creative officer, Lowe Lintas, who conceptualised the campaign, says, "The attempt with Time Pass was to introduce an exciting offering in Britannia's snacking portfolio of 'delectables' for the youth - a brand that is an anti-thesis to the mindless rat race. It is dismissive, indifferent, irreverent - a way of life."

Britannia isn't the first to launch baked snacks. Companies such as Parle forayed into this market with the Aamir Khan-endorsed Smart Chips, and later, Parle Agro launched its brand of baked snacks, Hippo.

Shalini Degan, category director (delight and lifestyle), Britannia Industries, speaking on tackling competition in the category, says, "Baked snacks are a very new and nascent category in the Rs 6200 crore Indian snacking market and will obviously see a slew of launches one after another. However, the leader will be the one that is able to delight consumers with taste and is able to connect and satisfy them using this new technology effectively."

She adds that as a company, Britannia's core competency is in the baking arena and this will give it a competitive advantage.

For now, Time Pass has been launched in Bengaluru and will see a sequential roll out across Karnataka, followed by the West and other markets in the South. The markets in the North and East will follow subsequently.