MAM
Britannia Milk Bikis campaign explores Tamil Nadu’s flower biscuit ritual
Talented campaign turns the ‘Poo Potta Border Biscuit’ eating habit into a debate
MUMBAI: It is a case of taking a bite out of a debate, as Britannia Milk Bikis turns a familiar Tamil Nadu biscuit ritual into the centrepiece of its latest campaign.
The Classic biscuit is known in the state for an unusual eating habit: consumers often bite around its flower-shaped border before getting to the centre. The ritual has become so familiar that some consumers have dubbed it the ‘Poo Potta Border Biscuit’, or the ‘biscuit with the flower border’.
The new campaign, conceptualised by Talented, takes that local nickname and asks a deceptively simple question: what flower is actually featured on the biscuit?
The campaign film follows a young girl on a mini investigation as she quizzes people around her, including a flower seller and her science teacher. When the answers fail to settle the matter, she turns to one of Tamil Nadu’s best-known debate moderators, Solomon Pappiah, to deliver the verdict.
The idea plays on the Tamil word ‘poo’, meaning flower, and ‘anbu’, meaning love, using the biscuit’s tiny design detail as a way to explore the affection Milk Bikis has built among consumers over generations.
Puneet Das, Chief Marketing Officer, Britannia, said the brand’s relationship with Tamil Nadu runs across generations, adding that the local name ‘Poo Potta Border Biscuit’ reflects how consumers have made the product their own.
PG Aditiya, Co-founder and CCO, Talented, said the campaign found its idea in the question itself, with the wordplay around ‘poo’ and ‘anbu’ providing a way to highlight the connection between the brand and consumers. He added that Solomon Pappiah was a natural choice to settle the debate.
The campaign was directed by Kadhai Films, with Farooq Mohamed, Director and Co-founder, saying the team wanted to turn a small detail on a familiar biscuit into a curiosity-led story while retaining the warmth associated with the brand.
The campaign is also moving beyond the screen and into stores. Britannia has introduced retail guides demonstrating the traditional way of eating the biscuit, while a photo series captures the different ways consumers across Tamil Nadu follow the ritual.
By turning a border, a bite and a little local curiosity into campaign material, Milk Bikis is betting that sometimes the smallest details make for the biggest conversations.
