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Features

Will Keventers’ formula work as it looks for a pan-India presence?

By

on

The Got Milk campaign changed America’s mind about milk. Can Keventers do the same for milkshake in India with a near 100-year-old brand?

As recently as a couple of years ago, Keventers was a strictly local favourite in Delhi — one of those oddities that the residents of a city are inordinately proud of. However, Keventers decided that though Delhi had served it well, it was no longer enough and has been on a rapid expansion drive. The milkshake brand currently has over 250 outlets and hopes to double that number by 2019.

The brand traces its origins to pre-colonial times, when Danish entrepreneur Edward Keventers set up shop in the 1920s. It became a house of dairy products and expanded to many smaller cities. As the country marched towards independence, Keventers handed over ownership to Ram Krishna Dalmia.

The brand had its ups and downs ever since; including dealing with knock-offs within Delhi, piggybacking on its equity. But the zeal to expand is relatively recent, spearheaded by Dalmia’s great-grandson, Agastya Dalmia, and his friend Aman Arora.

Today, Arora believes Keventers is more startup than legacy brand: “There are newer challenges to deal with. Also, we are into retailing, which was not the case earlier. We noted the learnings from our past manufacturing business, before venturing out.” Arora and Dalmia spent some time putting the team in place.

Sohrab Sitaram who had previous restaurant industry experience, joined as CEO in 2015 and Apoorva Bagchi with experience at Leo Burnett and Edelman took over the marketing division. Today, with her 8-member millennial team, Bagchi handles all Keventers’ digital duties in-house, and recently signed on BBDO India for the larger creative mandate.

The team built Keventers to be a premium brand: there was a great focus on design. The beverage is only available in takeaway glass bottles. While initially a great differentiator from the unorganised milkshake market, or shakes peddled by various large multinats in plastic cups, the bottles are now starting to evoke mixed feelings.

Mumbai-based Anisha Sadasivan, who works for her family buisness, often grabs Keventers’ sugarfree cold coffee, and loves the look, feel and of course the drink. But the price point and the bottles are a let-down for her: “After the first couple of times, it is a nuisance. There should be a system wherein the customer can return the bottles and get credits to be utilised against their next order. Most times, the bottles goes into the trash and you never know what happens next.”

Arora and Bagchi both admit they are often asked about pricing which currently ranges from Rs. 125 for a small classic shake to upwards of Rs 300 for a large thick shake. Considering the feedback, the company is currently working on a new price point. The bottles however look set to remain. Says Bagchi, “One of the reasons why we are loved is because of our imagery. I don’t think we would want to experiment with anything else. It adds to the premium value we offer.”

Ashish Mishra, MD, Interbrand India believes that in the dairy business, premiumisation in terms of both brand and packaging, along with product innovation is essential. “Intertwining these disciplines is key. Keventers has done well to build in a premium and thus has a better chance of sustaining business. What it needs to continually do is to ensure differentiation.” He suggests Keventers can take inspiration from Starbucks and Lindt.

“Starbucks has been building its brand by creating a unique, but consistent and deep brand experience around the world, outside classic retail structures. Isn’t it time for dairies to seize these opportunities? Lindt is about heritage, a great story, craftsmanship, experience with a premium quality and innovation linked to the brand’s essence, namely cultivated indulgence. Keventers has an opportunity to leverage these areas,” he says. Arora admits to wanting to experiment with formats: a cafe, kiosks, or even a cart. Interestingly, the brand has soft launched an app-based milk delivery service, and is looking at venturing into ice-creams.

Kalyan Karmakar, a food blogger, suggests that it’s time for Keventers to identify a clear and unique identity for the brand and what it stands for. “It needs to create a space that the brand clearly owns which becomes synonymous with Keventers.” Karmakar also says that the brand has to battle with the inconsistency that a franchise model brings across the table.

“They need to build a set of basic guidelines for the staff to follow during consumer interaction – what to say while greeting customers, what to say about the brand – and then ensure that this is adhered to. This can happen by building a sense of partnership and belonging among the customer-facing staff,” he concludes.

Keventers is conforming to classic marketing theory which dictates profits are to be made moving a product from an unbranded to a branded space. The big pitfall is preserving consistency as the brand expands, a traditional bugbear of the QSR business that has felled bigger brands. Because consumers are unlikely to care about a bottle, however beautifully designed and crafted, if its contents are not up to expected standards.

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