Keynote address by Pradeep Pant, President, Kraft Foods Asia Pacific

During his keynote address at Nielsen’s inaugural Consumer 360 Conference in Jakarta Indonesia on October 19, Mr. Pradeep Pant, President of Kraft Foods Asia Pacific, emphasized the strategic importance for companies to focus on consumers’ need states in order to win.

The Asia Pacific region is an engine of growth for Kraft Foods. Over the last three years, the company has seen robust double-digit growth in the region, and is “moving the global needle” more significantly by winning the hearts and minds of consumers with its higher purpose of “making today delicious”. Within the region, Indonesia ranks high as a key market for Kraft Foods.

Mr. Pant shared insights into how the company is innovating to satisfy its consumers. The company’s innovation efforts are centered on deep consumer and shopper insights and leveraging the best of “GLOCAL” (think globally, act locally). He also discussed how new product development, integrated marketing communications and winning in-store are critical pillars to its innovation efforts.

Mr. Pant highlighted a number of consumer and shopper trends in the region, which are potentially huge opportunities for companies. These include:

• Evolved Snacking: Move beyond category-specific options
• “Premium-ization”: consumers prefer a small taste of something special instead of a lot of something mediocre
• Fun, Healthy & Affordable Meals: Mothers are challenged to provide delicious meals for kids that are nutritious, enjoyable and budget-friendly
• Personalization: Consumers are demanding greater product personalization and the “mass” consumer group is fragmenting into smaller, niche segments
• Growing Children: Mothers feel that their children are growing up so quickly that they will be “gone in 60 seconds”
• Retail Touch Points: Impactful secondary touch points in modern trade stores are critical as 80 percent of shoppers visit only 20 percent of a store’s footprint
• Focused Assortment: Traditional trade store assortment needs to reflect the needs of shoppers who are focused on immediate consumption

Kraft’s Five Key Principals - How to Win Today’s Battle for Consumers' Hearts and Minds:

1. Understand the needs of consumers and shoppers deeply – use analytics for smarter decision making
2. Go GLOCAL – not “global vs. local”
3. Expand product portfolio using insight-based solutions
4. Integrate Marketing Communications: Go beyond the 30-second TV commercial to multiple touchpoints
5. Use Shopper Insights to win in-store and use Sales as a brand-building instrument

These principles were instrumental to Kraft’s successes in various markets in the region, including:

1. Fueling the winning spirit in every child in Indonesia with Biskuat biscuits, by satisfying needs (nutrition and fun)
2. Breaking into the local sweets market (Mithai) in India with Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates. This was prompted by deep insights that show that Indians consume sweets to both celebrate and start something auspicious or new
3. Bringing Oreo biscuits to life in China by appealing to local tastes (less sweet), involving an icon (in this case, world-renowned Chinese basketball player Yao Ming) and innovation (introducing ice cream Oreo biscuits and wafer sticks)
4. Rejuvenating Tang powdered beverage in the Philippines by “making water exciting” and expanding the range beyond the traditional orange flavor

Mr. Pant closed his keynote address, titled “Deep insights … Local execution – Capturing the Consumers’ Hearts and Minds” by reiterating the need to “make it real” for consumers.

Nielsen’s inaugural Consumer 360 Conference in Jakarta Indonesia brought together industry and Nielsen experts to share the most innovative and insightful views of the consumer.  The conference in Jakarta was themed “Capturing the Consumers’ Minds”.  More than 300 guests from a broad range of industries including Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Retail, Media, Telecommunications, Pharmaceutical and Social Media participated in the full-day proceedings.

Please contact us if you would like to be included in upcoming Nielsen Consumer 360 Conferences in the Asia Pacific region.