Kellogg’s chief says local consumer changing

Sangeeta Pendurkar, managing director of Kellogg’s India, was recently in the news for snaring Harpreet Singh Tibb, general manager of packaged foods at Hindustan Unilever and naming him the company’s marketing director. In an interview, she explains what the cornflakes and oats maker is up to. Edited excerpts:

What’s the strategy behind reworking of the leadership team now?
There’s no new agenda. The strengthening of the leadership team began 18 months back. We have invested significantly in building talent to keep pace with our growth ambition and to execute strategy effectively.

Kellogg’s is largely perceived as an urban brand. How has the acceptance of cornflakes and oats been in smaller towns and hinterland? Will Tibb’s entry be about enlarging your fortune at the bottom of the pyramid?
See today, it’s a matter of great pride for us that cornflakes are synonymous with Kellogg’s. Sure, we’re focused on making nutrition accessible to people and on getting them to experience the ready-to-eat cereals. That’s why we have driven the distribution of single-serve packs priced at Rs10 in Tier I and II towns. This has helped us recruit new consumers, and the process is ongoing.

What about the generic competition you face? How tough has it been to get people to uptrade to Kellogg’s?
The point is, the face of the Indian consumer is changing. With more people working, household incomes rising, nuclear families and time constraints, there is greater demand for value-added, nutritious, low-fat foods.  And the growth of organised retailing has also increased the demand for breakfast cereals. Our eating habits are changing and this includes breakfast consumption. Consumers have become more health conscious. Good nutrition and simple grains lie at the heart of Kellogg’s. We have used our unparalleled knowledge of cereals to create innovations such as Heart-to-Heart Oats to participate in the exploding oats category, and renovated our existing products to include whole grain, increase fibre such as All-Bran Wheat Flakes etc. And the response from consumers is very encouraging.

You are largely a breakfast player, but there’s a huge market to be catered to for the rest of the day. How do you plan to take a bite of that?
While the breakfast space is rapidly growing in India, we believe it is still fairly new and unchartered so there is a lot of headroom for growth. Our foremost agenda is to drive the goodness of cereal proposition and to give impetus to the health and nutrition efforts in the country.

In a country where the breakfast customs change every 100 kilometres, how can you succeed by focusing on just cornflakes  and oats, and not cater to local palate?
I think we have to go back to the point of increasing awareness among Indian consumers about the benefits of healthy eating. However, we also love our food to be tasty and we like variety. So Kellogg’s is constantly innovating based on consumer understanding.

How has the change been for you, from selling credit cards at HSBC to cornflakes at Kellogg’s? What have been the takeaways from the transition?
Be it credit cards or cornflakes, the consumer remains the King. At Kellogg’s, my biggest learning has been around the consumer, and how we need to engage with them by providing opportunities to experience the brand. I also learnt that building new categories such as ready-to-eat breakfast cannot happen overnight. Strategies rooted in consumer insights and complemented by effective execution always lead to success.