Anuradha Sridharan

There is a new trend in marketing these days - creating a new need. A decade ago, marketing was catering to the prevailing needs of consumers by positioning products/brands accordingly. This involved understanding consumers' needs (both expressed and latent needs), current alternatives used and the struggles consumers faced with those alternatives. The promotions - ad narratives, taglines and messaging all revolved around these aspects.  But if you see the latest trends in marketing, it is all about creating new needs in the minds of consumers. Packaged food brands achieve them in two ways - one based on instilling fear and the other based on aping Western trends. Once the new needs are established, the product category gets created and new brands get launched.  Since the last 3-4 years, Indian media has been abuzz with articles stating that Indians don't eat enough protein and publish statistics/research to substantiate those claims. This is the precursor to crea...

I came across this product in Instagram when a popular food blogger lavishly praised it as "tasty and healthy with the power of 5 superfoods". This new product " Fittify Gourmet Hi-Protein Meal Soup " by Saffola is trying to capitalize on the latest high protein craze with the claim "up to 10x protein vs regular soup". The front side of the pack of Spanish Tomato flavor lists other claims - "11g protein, 6.3g fibre, 26 vitamins and minerals". What caught my attention was this phrase " With 5 plant-based superfoods - quinoa, moringa, amaranth, buckwheat and turmeric ". All the right words to grab the attention of today's health-conscious, time-starved urban consumer, isn't it? Firstly, we need to understand these 10X protein claims. In tiny font, it is mentioned that 10X protein comparison is with regular powdered instant soups available in the market, the ones like Knorr that hardly have any nutrition. All...