Brands
Parle Products brings back consumer favourite Rol.a.Cola
MUMBAI: Parle Products, India’s leading biscuits and confectionery manufacturer, today announced the relaunch of its most popular confectionery product Rol.a.Cola on the back of popular demand led by the social media buzz earlier this year. Priced at Rs 5 and Rs 20, Rol.a.Cola will not only make its way back into Parle's other iconic product line-up but also mark one of the biggest brands moves in Indian FMCG in the recent past.
Rol.a.Cola, the hard-boiled candy with the Cola flavour is a rolled format which was discontinued by Parle in 2006. 13 years hence in February 2019, after a social media user tweeted requesting Parle to bring back his favourite cola candy, Parle Products sought 10,000 retweets to bring back Rol.a.Cola. In response, consumer driven #BringRolaColaBack campaign went viral and secured more than 711k impressions on Twitter. Soon, Parle Products initiated the #RolaColaIsComingBack campaign to assure the consumers that their wish was granted. This is the first time in India that a product was making a comeback because of a digital movement run completely organically by users. The entire campaign on social media garnered a whopping 5M digital footprints.
Speaking on the launch, Krishnarao S Buddha, Sr. Category Head – Marketing at Parle Products commented, “While a tweet created a disruption in the market for a comeback of the iconic Rol.a.Cola candy, we connected with the emotions to honour consumers demand. Earlier, consumers had no platform in which they could voice their opinions and concerns. Now, they can simply reach out to a brand they like and let them know what they think. Today, each user is an influencer who played an essential role in our marketing efforts. The love received by people led us to accelerate the manufacturing of the candy and we are extremely thrilled to give back the Rol.a.Cola to our consumers.”
He further added that, “Our classic Rol.a.Cola candies were made to be shared with others. By maintaining its rolled candy format, we hope that adults as well as kids are inspired to share a candy and make new connections with people.”
Parle is changing how it does business, thereby transforming the way brands interact with consumers, making it personalized and adopting a pro-consumer approach. As a pioneer in the FMCG space, the company has begun its robust distribution for the confectionary and is expected to be available in every market within this month. With a modernised packaging and fresh approach to connect with consumers, the company has assured consumers that the candy will retain its original taste and will be priced at Rs 5 for same roll candy format. For the modern trade channel, Parle is looking to launch a bigger multiple pack offering priced at Rs 20 a unit.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
