Marketing Strategies of Knorr Brand

Company Name – Knorr
Founder – Carl Heinrich Theodor Knorr

The revolution of instant made soupy noodle widely emerged by the launch by Knorr.  The brand Knorr was founded back in 1838. Later it was it was acquired by the Unilever, A Dutch-English Company which is based in Germany. The company offers luscious soups, soup noodles, meal, mixes, and much more. In India, it was launched in 1996 with 10 exotic flavors of soups.

How It All Started

Back in 1838, the founder of Knorr opened a factory in order to supply chicory to the country’s industry of coffee. Mr. Knorr started experimenting with dried seasoning and vegetables also by preserving food values and flavors. With the success of the experiment, the company launched its first dried soup series across different countries of the European continent. With every new batch, the techniques of production were improved and new product development took place with this breakthrough.

By 1957, the brand Knorr was marketed across eight nations and by the year 2000, the brand has acquired its share of the market across ninety countries. Later in the same year, Knorr achieved a milestone by joining the Unilever family. Presently, Knorr is the most selling brand of Unilever, under the soups and beverage section.

 

Launching

The brand entered the Indian market back in 1996 with its irresistible soups and beverages. Back then the brand had entered with only 10 of its flavors which now have grown to 20 different flavors with an increment of using 100% natural vegetables without any preservatives. The range of cook-up soups comes in a wide range of different flavors such as mixed vegetable and thick tomato are the classic range. The soup also has also introduced international delicacies such as Mexican Tomato Corn and Italian Mushroom. Each pack of these soups is capable of serving four people in a row.

In 2010, the company came up with desi fusion of Chinese style soupy noodles. Knorr Soupy Noodles is a combination of noodles, vegetables, and soup infused with Indian spices and herbs which sums up to give an amazing taste. Considering the preferences of their global audiences, the company also launched other flavors in the range of Soupy Noodles such as Chinese hot &Spicy, Italian Margherita, Chinese Schezwan, and the forever hit Desi Masala Chaska.

A few years later the company also launched a range of snack soups for small hunger pangs. Cup-A-Soup is a range of small packaged soups which comes in nine different flavors such as mixed Veg, Machow Veg, Sweet Corn etc.  On the other hand, considering the need of the Indian families, Knorr has extended its proficiency by launching their range of spice mixes. These mixes are of a combination of spices which includes Chana Masala, Biriyani Masala, Sambhar and few others.

knorr soup ad

Knorr’s Marketing Strategy and Interesting Reasons behind its success
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Product Strategy of Knorr

Initially, the brand only started with ready-to-cook soups but with emerging demand and growth opportunity it expanded its portfolio. Later with years added several products in the product mix which includes soupy noodles, cup soups, meals mixes, and many more. Considering its global audiences it has launched its product in various continental flavors, in almost all of its ranges. In India, in order to capture more attention and customer loyalty, it has launched a series of spice mixes such as Sambhar Masala, Pav Bhaji Masala etc. Knorr also trades with wraps and rolls filling such as Chinese Chow, Tawa Chatpata etc.

Pricing Strategy of Knorr

The company is under tough competition with its existing rival brands such as Maggie, Yippee etc. across the South Asian market. Because of the high competition by its peers the brand has focused on keeping the price as low as possible in order to create a mass field of difference.   The 70 grams pack of Soupy Noodles comes in Rs. 15 whereas ready mix meals cost around Rs 50. A different price range has been for soup category also, where a single Cup-A-soup pack of cost around Rs. 10-15, four people serving soup costs Rs. 60. Knorr follows the penetration pricing strategy which is why the prices of the products are comparatively lower than that of its competitors.

Positioning Strategy of Knorr

After the acquisition with Unilever, Knorr is being sold across 78 different countries around the globe. Under the giant umbrella of Unilever’s FMCG section, the company distributes and delivers Knorr products by using the existing distribution channel. In India, Knorr falls under the supervision of Hindustan Unilever which has a huge network of redistribution stockiest which further supplies the product to approximately 6.3m retail outlets. The positioning strategy of the company targets to reach every possible segment of the market including an urban, rural and semi-urban segment of the society.  Apart from physical distribution, the company has also made available its products through online grocery stores such as Big Basket, Amazon.in, Nature’s Basket and even Flipkart.

Promotional Strategy of Knorr

Knorr applies aggressive marketing strategies for promoting its products. With the launch of every single product, brand or improvement in the existing product, it directly reaches to the customer via all the possible platforms of promotion. These promotional platforms include TV commercials, social media campaigns and all the conventional mediums such as newspaper, billboards etc. The company also follows and has a keen interest in public relationship and sales promotion strategy. Their ad commercials usually intend to show the bond between the mother, her children, and hunger. Currently, the TV commercials face is Pankaj Bhadouria, who is the winner of MasterChef India season 1.

Knorr’s Campaign
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As mentioned earlier, Knorr uses an aggressive promotional strategy. Thus, it has widely come up with new advertisements and campaigns. Let’s check out the most popular campaigns.

‘Khake ke Piyo Ya Peeke ke Khao’

This campaign was aired through TV and social media, which was launched to promote two in one benefits of Knorr Soupy Noodles. The company targeted to reach people by delivering the idea: one can have noodle as well as soup in the same bowl. It was received well by the audience especially youngsters.

‘Dishes out’

The campaign ‘Dishes Out’ was used to promote Knorr soups in chilly winters areas. It was widely promoted through billboards which were positioned near all major transportation means such as railways station, bus stands, outside of the metro station etc. This campaign targeted people looking out for something warm yet healthy.

Similarly, the Knorr Soups’ ‘7pm‘ campaign was highlighted to solve the hunger pangs before dinner at 7pm! Children often get hungry in the evening demanding junk food and Knorr soups is the best alternative that a mom can use. The 7pm would remind them of their evening snack. The campaign was well received on media channels and also on print media!

Conclusion

The brand and company target at providing the highest quality food and beverages by using real ingredients and without preservatives. The company is more consumers oriented than profit oriented. Even after being under the pressure by its peers, the brand has successfully sustained by undertaking efficient and effective product, pricing, placing and promotional strategies.

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