Here we deep-dive into the marketing strategy of gourmet popcorn brand - 4700BC. Founder, Chirag Gupta shares how the brand's marketing strategy is less popcorn and more pop culture.
Chirag Gupta, Founder, 4700BC, outlines the modus operandi of creating a social media marketing strategy that strikes the audience by being subliminally promotional but always visually appealing and informative about entertainment and sports - the two pillars that bolster the snacking consumption behaviour.
The Popcorn market in India registered a positive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.11% during the period 2014 to 2019, with a sales value of 8,605.43 Mn INR in 2019, according to a report. Additionally, in the last two years, the pandemic has induced further demand for snacking products.
A double-digit CAGR is expected in the coming years for the popcorn market. Reasons being cited for a positive development are the increased inclination of consumers toward healthy snacking in the urban areas and India's favourable agro-climatic conditions, which makes maize the third most important food crop after rice and wheat.
Founded in the year 2013, and after having received its first round of major investment in the year 2015, the Indian popcorn brand, 4700 BC, has established a presence in 9 different countries. Having been ranked 1st on
4700BC plans to withhold its positioning and transition from a premium snacking brand to a gourmet brand with new product categories, tapping the growing popcorn market by popping pop culture.
4700BC Marketing Strategy - Bold, Classy & Wacky
Named after the fact that the oldest evidence of popcorn was found in the ancient caves of Peru, nearly 6700 years ago, 4700BC sustains a visual brand voice as unique as its name. With punchlines full of puns, a deluxe colour palette, and barefaced self-love support the premium snacking experience with a 'creator' brand archetype - a tonality that the brand plans to continue to follow.
Chirag Gupta, Founder, 4700BC, shares that the focus still remains on spending on the creation of clutter-breaking content and then promoting it from a digital-first lens. Marketing has been an important part of building the brand and is majorly invested in digital and social promotions. "We believe if the content is best-in-class, eye-catching and makes an indelible impact, the word will travel like fire even with limited ad push".
Sports, movies, and popcorn have always gone hand-in-hand and are a part of a developed consumption pattern but, Chirag mentions that has not been the case in India. "We are passionately pursuing this opportunity to build a subconscious association for popcorn with sports".
The content assets are built around recommendations on movies, music, sports or pop culture in general. The approach of being a recommendation platform and not mentioning Popcorn in those assets has been a conscious decision by the brand.
This content strategy that relies on being unconditional and not transactional has resulted in a 1.5-3X Saves to Like ratio on social media.
This means there could be 12,000 saves on a post that has 4,000 likes, according to the brand. The brand believes in not relying on short term transactions, and rather on long term relationships and genuine brand affinity
"We don’t sell Popcorn on our Instagram, we just sell Pop Culture. We are only selling entertainment touchpoints that allow us to subconsciously build our presence in the viewers' minds".
To maintain a connect with millennials & Gen-Z, the two integral age groups defining pop culture, Chirag mentions that the brand has kept it real and without pretence. The average age of the brand and marketing team is 23-24 which has helped the brand seamlessly cater to content that strikes a chord with the core consumer set.
"We don’t sell Popcorn on our Instagram, we just sell Pop Culture. We are only selling entertainment touchpoints that allow us to subconsciously build our presence in the viewers' minds," Gupta adds.
Some of the prominent content hooks that stand out on the brand's Instagram page include - recipes including 4700 BC popcorn, lists and calendars of upcoming movies, shows, events, 'best of' lists featuring movies and other content IPs.
All the content is featured on a dark coloured template that resonates with the popcorn brand's packaging.
The Way Forward
Building a brand beyond popcorn, with the introduction of new products in various categories and re-inventing a present category, is the way forwards, mentions Gupta. Building awareness for the new categories and withholding the positioning of the brand is aimed to be achieved through the tool of marketing.
He adds that 4700BC plans to sustain a “Creator” archetype brand, with luxury and premiumness being at the core of the positioning. "Our brand voice will always be Bold, Classy and Wacky".
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