Parle Agro to spend Rs 150 crore on advertising, distribution to expand rural reach

Parle Agro, the maker of Frooti mango drink, will spend Rs 150 crore this year on advertising and building its sales and distribution network to enter more rural markets.

"We will spend about Rs 150 crore this year of which about Rs 70 crore will be on expanding our brand presence and distribution in more rural markets while about Rs 80 crore will go towards advertising," Parle Agro's Joint MD and Chief Marketing Officer Nadia Chauhan told PTI.

"Currently, our sales force is about 4,000, and we will expand this by about 20% this year. We will increase our distribution to about 3 lakh more outlets to reach one million outlets this year," she added.

In 2015, the Rs 2,500-crore company executed a complete rebranding strategy for its flagship brand Frooti, which accounts for more than 50% of its sales.

The company expects 25% growth in overall sales in the new fiscal.

The mango-based beverage category saw almost flat sales, with 1% growth last year, while Frooti saw double-digit growth following its rebranding, Chauhan said.

Sales of Frooti have been robust in the tetrapak category and the PET bottle segment is seeing the fastest growth, she added.

The company has set up a plant in Sitarganj, Uttarakhand -- its 76th manufacturing facility and eighth for beverage production -- which will be operational this year.

The company is also present in the glass-bottle category since the past few years to challenge the dominance of Coca-Cola's Maaza and PepsiCo's Slice.

Sales of Appy Fizz have grown by 20%, she added.

Additionally, Parle Agro is in the process of driving a massive scale-up for Appy and Appy Fizz with significant investments planned this year.

In 2015-16, the company spent around Rs 100 crore on brand's TV-led campaign with an aggressive focus on digital marketing.