Interview: Sudhanshu Nagpal, Mondelez India on Oreo's digital marketing strategy

Sudhanshu Nagpal, Head – Biscuits Category, Mondelez India gets talking about the Oreo Digital Marketing strategy that helped the brand become a favourite among its consumers. 

Brand Oreo from Mondelez stable has come a long way to become the ultimate leading global snacking powerhouse. Taking the special ritual of ‘Twist, Lick, Dunk’ forward, the biscuit brand recently rolled  out its new global campaign Oreo People simultaneously across 50 markets in AMEA, LA, MEU and will be localized with nuances to drive relevance.

The new global creative platform, coined Oreo People, is the latest installment of the brand’s Wonderfilled campaign. Oreo People is built on the idea that when we connect with Oreo, playfulness is evoked in us all – despite differences, playing with Oreo brings people together. Every time an Oreo cookie is twist opened, a new playful side comes out which is optimistic with limitless possibilities.  The campaign is especially designed to engage with consumers in today’s multi-screen, short-attention-span world with exciting visuals and irresistible music, extending across all channels, with a strong focus on digital.

Social Samosa gets in conversation with Sudhanshu Nagpal, Head – Biscuits Category, Mondelez India to know more about the brand’s digital marketing strategy, insights of the campaign, Oreo’ IPL connect and much more…

Excerpts:

What was the objective behind getting Oreo Wonderfilled to India? How was the campaign customized to suit the India market?

Oreo, the world’s No. 1 biscuit brand by Mondelēz International, a leading global snacking powerhouse, with its Oreo Wonderfilled campaign aims to widen the appeal of the brand in India and connect with a larger audience, while continuing to play on its core TG. The new TVC displays a wide cross-section of people and how they enjoy their cream biscuit, thereby making the much-loved brand relevant across target groups. It was simultaneously rolled out across 50 markets in AMEA, LA, MEU and was customized to drive relevance in India. Mondelez India takes the special ritual of ‘Twist, Lick, Dunk’ that has always stood for bringing people together and the Oreo People campaign takes this proposition ahead.

Also Read: What do I communicate with my consumer every time? Water is water after all: Anjana Ghosh, Bisleri

How has the campaign performed so far? Please share the key highlights of the campaign

Oreo’s marketing efforts have always focused on building an appeal to bring out togetherness. The new campaign also brings to life a key universal insight of bonding and the playful spirit, through which we often forget about the modern life pressures.

Oreo People, an addition to the brand’s Wonderfilled campaign was built on the idea that when we connect with Oreo, playfulness is evoked in all of us – despite differences. Every time an Oreo cookie is twist opened, a new playful side comes out which is optimistic with limitless possibilities. The campaign was especially designed to engage with consumers in today’s multi-screen, short-attention-span world with exciting visuals and irresistible music, extending across channels, with a strong focus on digital.

As a global brand, how do you think India market has been different for Oreo from a marketing communication point of view? What is it that works in India that might not work for its global counterparts?

India as a nation has grown very traditionally with culture and values at the core. However, it is progressing day by day on the technological and social front, with young adults dominating the demographics. Oreo has grown with India and strategically stayed relevant first by creating the iconic “twist lick dunk” ritual and then bringing in the global campaign to woo a broader target audience. The Oreo people campaign was mainly implemented with an objective to widen the brand appeal to a cross section of people that not only include mother and kids, but also youngsters.

Oreo as a cookie brand is known for its fun, trending, and upbeat personality. When you first came to India, how did digital marketing platforms help in communicating this brand image and recall to the Indian TG?

The primary objective of Mondelez has been to universalize the brand and increase household penetration. The biscuit category, which is predominantly consumed by kids, has been a major obstacle for achieving the brand’s objective. The campaign therefore aims to widen the appeal of the brand, connecting with an audience surpassing the predominant cream biscuit consumers, while picking up on the local nuances to drive relevance. With millennial and gen Z increasing day by day, we have seen increased data consumption on digital platforms. Over the years we have used this insight and marketed on digital platforms. The Oreo people campaign has also been well received digitally and has successfully managed to woo a younger audience. Given that IPL was the flavor of the season, we launched a digital-only cricket themed campaign on popular digital platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Hotstar and Cricbuzz. The Oreo People campaign had over 100 million views on the digital platforms.

What would be the equivalent of the success and critical acclamation Dunk in the Dark enjoys in the global market in India?

The Dunk in the Dark campaign had seen some immense mileage on social media in the US markets. For most of its 102 year existence, Oreo was America’s best loved cookie, but today it is truly a global brand. Oreo has proven to be an excellent world traveller being sold in over 100 countries. Since the start of our journey in India in 2011, we have banked on the Twist Lick Dunk ritual and experience which has gone on to become the biggest differentiator for the brand in the category. India is now the 4th largest market for Oreo in the world.  This is a significant achievement for the brand as it is only 7 years old in India.

Oreo has created some snackible content around IPL – where does sports marketing stand in the scheme of things at Oreo? Please take us through the IPL campaign. How has the content performed so far? Do you have any other initiatives in the pipeline?

The Oreo People campaign aimed to broaden the brand appeal to teens and young adult. However, we needed to communicate better with this consumer group. We decided to apply our principle of Personalization @ Scale – which essentially means curating content that communicates better with the consumer audience you are focusing on. Instead of going to a mass audience, we decided to make content that would appeal most to teens and young adults.

The result was a cricket themed campaign that celebrated the fans of this great game. And how they enjoy the sport in their own different way but are united by the passion for the sport. The content went on-air in May on popular digital & social platforms. The campaign was a short campaign but delivered on the audience reach plan we had set out for it.

What next on Oreo’s marketing TDL? Please give us a sneak peek in your upcoming campaigns

Up next, we would be continuing to establish the Oreo People campaign in the India market. We are planning to bring this campaign to the consumer in new and exciting forms. The journey has just begun and it promises to be an inspiring one.