Inside: Chupa Chups’ resolution to make ‘confectionary’ cool among young adults

Social Samosa takes a look at the global brand Chupa Chups' communication strategy keeping the Indian consumer at heart.

Perfetti Van Melle India, in 2016, brought global confectionary brand Chupa Chups to India announcing its category expansion and targeting the lollipop market in the country. We speak to Perfetti Van Melle and its creative partner Ogilvy India to shed more light on the brand’s positioning, the making of the ‘Fun Ka Booster’ campaign, and the brand’s communication strategy.

Insight: A Focus on Adulting

Teens today are living in a pressure cooker world where they are caught juggling everyday stress and idolizing adulthood to meet social expectations.

Paritosh Gupta – Associate Category Director - Marketing, Perfetti Van Melle India shared, “The spontaneous childlike fun that they enjoyed while growing up has now taken a back seat, and they sometimes wish that they would not have outgrown it. Hinged on this insight, campaign #FunKaBooster launched two films that highlighted fun & spontaneity and urged teens to diffuse the pressure by infusing some irreverent in their daily lives.”

The two digital-only films were based on little stress points that the protagonists face in their everyday life, but are able to handle with cool composure, inspired by Chupa Chups.

The Big Brief

Chupa Chups globally stands for the platform of ‘Forever Fun’. The brand encourages the audience to not let fun be the casualty of growing up. It is a gentle reminder of not letting go of that inner kid and keep having fun no matter what. 

The task for Ogilvy here was to introduce the brand thought of Forever Fun/KarteRaho Fun Fana Fun on digital while having relatable conversations with teenagers and making candy consumption relevant for them.

Conceptualisation & Execution

Chupa Chups decided to help the teenagers break the cycle of uninteresting events and encourage them to have irreverent fun. The brand aimed at picking on these pressures and asking teenagers to take it lightly, by infusing fun in their un-fun lives, dialing on the brand positioning of 'Fun is for life and not just for kids'.

The #FunKaBooster campaign kick-started with two digital films, Race for Extruded Jellies and Selfie for Gum Filled lollipops.  Ritu Sharda- Chief Creative Officer (CCO), Ogilvy informs that both the films highlighted situations of pressure/un-fun in a teen’s life such as in Race film, Gopi'sfear of coming last in a race which can lead to his friends making fun of him and in Selfie, Zuleikha not getting enough likes or comments on her selfie i.e. social validation.

Social Media Play

The films were promoted on key social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. With the help of two teenage celebrity influencers, Siddharth Nigam and Anushka Sen, the brand gauged traction on the films and reached the right audiences.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Anushka Sen (@anushkasen0408)

While the two films marked the launch of the campaign, the brand continued to build the platform with more engaging content from its fold.

To further amplify reach, the campaign was also supported with engaging GIFs on Instagram that acted as a frequency builder.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Siddharth Nigam (@thesiddharthnigam)

Gupta asserts that with a strategic objective of creating social acceptance of the category whilst establishing Chupa Chups as a cool Fun brand through “Influencer Marketing” and “Playing up Product Playability” to drive the coolness quotient whilst strengthening fun associations form the key execution levers for the brand's strategy.

“Influencer Marketing along with an always-on content approach whilst leveraging topicality of brand-relevant occasions are the key to Chupa Chups’ approach on social media platforms like Instagram & Snapchat. Further, while staying within the brand realm -Humor, tapping into micro-moments and Product Playability are the key content hooks for the brand,” he shares.

Also Read: Chupa Chups launches ‘Fun Ka Booster’ campaign focused on adulting

Chupa Chups' Communication Strategy

The Media Mix for Chupa Chups entails a combination of Television advertising, digital advertising, and on-Ground activations in schools & colleges.

Talking about the content play behind the latest campaign for Chupa Chups, Sarda states that ranging from academics to sports to social validation, FUN KA BOOSTER straddles across and lets teens break away from these stressors while completing the task at hand.

“Every piece of communication, content, engagement ideas, influencer collaboration, topical posts from the brand will have a reflection of #FunKaBoosterin them. The second phase of the campaign will further propel this thought on digital via social influencers, gamification, and more,” she asserts.

As most of the competitive brands are talking to kids, the brand-agency duo take steady steps on digital by aiming to talk to an older audience. Looking to resonate with them and deal with the issues they face on a day to day basis.  

Sarda shares, “With the overarching strategic objective of creating social acceptance of the confectionery category and establishing Chupa Chups as a fun/ cool brand; Chupa Chups taps on relatable moments while using ‘humor’ to strengthen brand associations.”  

Further, Chupa Chups keeps exploring various touchpoints like Static/Gif’s posts, Video Content, and interactive stories to engage with the right set of audiences on various social platforms. The brand not only promotes the messaging through Influencer led communication but also often creates content pieces with youth communities like SchoopWhoop/Yuvaa which are majorly followed by the Brand’s TG.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Chupa Chups India (@chupachupsindia)

“Further, with an objective of staying relevant to the new age population whilst seamlessly communicating the brand message, Chupa Chups has not only been using “influencer marketing” as a key execution lever in its digital strategy but also has been building “Gaming” and “Music” as its key strategic content platforms,” adds Gupta.

The recently concluded association of Chupa Chups with a gaming App “Loco”, the gamified AR Snapchat lenses, and the upcoming association with gaana.com are a few examples.

Targeted at teens & tweens, Chupa Chups' communication strategy is based on the idea that the brand keeps the fun of childhood going forever. The brand aims to unlock confectionery potential in young adults, who consider confectionery kiddish.