During the early 90’s, the brand Horlicks faced a problem in West bengal. Though the brand is well known and the consumers are buying it, the consumers are not buying the 1Kg pack and are repeatedly buying the 450gm size pack. Though the 450 gm size pack helped gain new users (trials), the repeat purchase is still happening at 450gm pack size only. Consumers are not buying the 1Kg pack.

Objective: 

To make the existing consumers to uptrade to 1Kg size, and capture the heavy users of the competitive brands like Complan and Viva.

Promotion Vehicle Chosen: Container Premium

The 1Kg Horlicks was packed in an attractive premium glass jug. The jug decorated with a floral pattern, and had a plastic handle. The lid was embossed with a big logo.

Results:

Sales of the 1Kg bottle in West Bengal increased by 28%  and an increase of 10.4% in the controlled market Bihar.

This is an example of an excellent promotion targeted at housewives. This is a very ambitious promotion as this Horlicks jug involves changing all the existing ground rules. There are a lot of changes required like the factories are requried to fill a glass jug rather than the usual bottle requiring change in production processes. The whole logistics are to be changed as the jugs require larger cases for transit. The jugs occupy more space in the shelf, and has to be negotiated with the retailer.