Kitchens Of India ITC

Friends, I have a confession to make this is not exactly the brand I started with, I thought of analyzing the Indian ready to eat segment and started analysis for Veetee foods. But in between all this, the analysis took me to the web page of Kichens of India (From ITC) and frankly speaking I fell in love with the website (and the brand). The site is a must visit for marketing students.

ITC made its foray into the branded packaged food business in August 2001 with the launch of kitchens of India. ITC wanted to de risk its revenue from the tobacco business and The packaged foods business was an ideal avenue to leverage ITC's proven strengths in the areas of hospitality and branded cuisine, contemporary packaging and sourcing of agricultural commodities. ITC's world famous restaurants like the Bukhara and the Dum Pukht, nurtured by the Company's Hotels business, was a proof that ITC has a deep understanding of the Indian palate and the expertise required to translate this knowledge into delightful dining experiences for the consumer. ITC has stood for quality products for over 98 years to the Indian consumer and several of its brands are today internationally benchmarked for quality.

The Foods business is today represented in 4 categories in the market. These are:

• Ready To Eat Foods
• Staples
• Confectionery
• Snack Foods

Kitchens of India falls in the ready to eat segment. It is present with two broad range ( 1) Kitchens Of India priced at Rs.89. (2)Kitchens Of India Ashirwaad priced at Rs.49.

Kitchens of India the flagship range offers major delicacies line from the major ITC restaurants like Bukhara, Dumpukht, Dakshin etc. The other range Kitchens of India Ashirwaad is a low priced range which offers traditional Indian cuisines at affordable price.

The kitchens of India brand faces competition in the Indian market from MTR foods, Haldiram’s Minute Khana, Veetee foods. It also faces competition from other instant food categories like Noodles, Soups etc.

Analysing Positioning Strategy

Kitchens of India’s positioning can be best summarized as Feast of the senses, which also is, by design (not default) its tagline. There is a lot of care which is required to be taken before analyzing this brand and hence we will proceed element by element only. After analyzing the brand element s we will analyze the communication effectiveness of the Ads.

LOGO – The logo of the brand has a wooden plank with Kitchens of India written on it in a stylized font . And a stylized India map in black and golden borders  in the corner of the plank, it has also got Kitchens of India written on it. These elements together give a royal , exclusive and warm feeling to the brand. The use of wood is good move because it is traditionally believed that food prepared using wood for cooking is tastier. Thus the use of wood helps evoke the memories for taste. One thing worth noting in the logo is that  INDIA is written in a greater font size than the rest of the words. The main reason behind this may be that the product was initially developed keeping in mind the export markets, where evoking india and royalty centric emotions would have been necessary. 

COLOUR – Mainly light golden colour is used to give a royal Indian feel to the brand.

IMAGES – The images used are very high quality images of Tasty food in precious/exquisite looking utencils. The imagery has been designed to appeal to the visual senses and hammer the concept of high quality food deep inside customers cognition.

GRAPHICS – The graphics used are those which can be described as traditional Indian art used for crafting sides and borders, usually found in Indian palaces and forts. This is also done to provide an india centric identity.

FONTS – Stylised fonts which add to the india centric appeal. Moreover they also evoke association with ITC.

PACKAGING- The outer packaging has been done In good quality hard paper to preserve that “authentic” touch prominent with the brand.

NAMES- The names of the dishes have also been wisely choosen to reflect the positioning which is “Authentic ,Tasty Indian Cuisines” . Names are also choosen to reflect the association with ITC’s restaurants like Bukhara,Dumpukht etc in its welcome group hotels.

ADVERTISEMENT – The advertisements reflect the positioning well while sending strong visual stimuli to stimulate the senses and create favourable perception. The marketer adopts a peripheral route to persuasion by stimulating the senses. The brand tries to appeal to more than one sensory receptor to make effective impact and there fore it has started endorsing  Indian classical music to complement the visual stimuli with the auditory stimuli. The brand has come out with a range of classical music albums to appeal to consumers hearing tastes. The website even has a classical tune playing in the back ground. (I liked it..and even got it downloaded). Thus Kitchens of India is really a feast for the senses.