CCD goes mass again

In its second tryst with mass media communication, Cafe Coffee Day has released two product-centric TVCs to promote its newly launched Egg Wrap, an 'all day snack', and Crunchy Frappe, a 'liquid snack'.

According to Cafe Coffee Day's consumer insight research, patrons feel the brand is good at desserts, such as its chocolate-based offerings, and items that are associated with specific parts of the day, such as sandwiches for meal time and samosas during the evening. Cookies notwithstanding, there was a clear gap on the 'in-between meals' front. "'Do you have any mezzanine period meal?' is what our consumers asked," shares K Ramakrishnan, president, marketing, Cafe Coffee Day. The brand then got around to working on this feedback and developed an all-day snack, in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian variants, to fill this vacuum.

Enter Egg Wrap. Counter-intuitively, the product is not a breakfast play, nor is it a health move. "It is an 'any day part' play. And we haven't got any specific health-related inputs from our customers. When we go to them for feedback, they almost always come back to us and ask for indulgence-related stuff like chocolate based items. I don't think there's a health angle here," Ramakrishnan clarifies.

Another new product offering by CCD is the new Crunchy Frappe (made using Oreo cookies). It is being positioned as a 'liquid snack'. "The need for a liquid snack seems to be a global phenomenon that is catching on. We have tried to localise it," he says about this product, one he calls "a coming together of chocolate, CCD and Oreo."

When asked about the frequency and importance of launching new products, Ramakrishnan says the effort is to come out with at least one new range every quarter. A large chunk of CCD's patrons tends to order one of its signature products: cappuccino, cafe frappe, chocolate fantasy or spinach corn sandwich.

The brand attempts to create newer signature items because while people who frequent CCD do take comfort in the familiarity of their usual orders, they're also looking for newer things to try. "Tastes and preferences are ephemeral," he says, fully aware of the reality that "every new product can't become a signature."

To promote these new items on the menu, Creativeland Asia has created two TVCs. Unlike last year's mass media campaign -- that established CCD's brand identity and the concept of 'sit-down-ism' - the current effort is entirely product-centric. The brief, we learn, was simple. Anu Joseph, executive creative director, Creativeland Asia, says, "This time around, the objective was very tactical -- to make café goers aware of the delicious new offerings at Café Coffee Day. The films are single-minded, with Crunchy Frappe and Egg Wrap being the heroes."

The ad films are short; 20 and 10-second versions have been made. The campaign broke on December 8 and includes media channels such as press and social media, besides TV.

The vegetarian variant of the Egg Wrap is CCD's Chilli Cheese Toast, introduced about five-six months before the Egg Wrap. "The Chilli Cheese Toast has already found its potential. It has found its takers and doesn't need to be advertised. Egg Wrap, being very new, needs to be advertised," Ramakrishnan says, regarding the absence of a TVC for the vegetarian version.

Is this aggressive focus on food items in mainstream media communication an effort to position CCD as an eatery over a coffee shop? "We are neither a coffee shop nor a food place. We are a 'hangout place'. People come to CCD to have a conversation. And almost everyone who comes to CCD has a beverage. Some of them also have food. So we see food as an opportunity. If we have the right foods we can get a higher percentage of people to try them out," Ramakrishnan responds, insisting that today the lines between hangouts and eating places are blurring, with more and more QSRs (Quick Service Restaurants) trying to get into the hangout space and more and more cafes serving much more than just coffee. Today, the lines between the two, he says, are "nebulous."