Cafe Coffee Day - Brand Transformation through Repositioning

- Group 4
Adrita, Dipankar, Shikhar, Shweta and Subham

Introduction

Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) pioneered the cafe culture in India in 1996. As the Indian urban class
got more and more exposed to cable television and media, they sought a more world-class
experience. Although CCD had a first mover advantage, the competitive environment provoked
the management to think about the repositioning of the brand in order to sustain itself in the
marketplace.

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Triggers that caused CCD to consider brand rejuvenation -

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In order to understand the triggers that caused CCD to consider brand rejuvenation, let us look at

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how the customers, competition and the company (CCD) have behaved so far.

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1. Consumer: The target consumer of CCD was young urban youth. With the opening up of the
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Indian economy and the influence of the Western culture, Indians were becoming more
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globally aware. The disposal income of the Indian middle-class was also on the rise. Their
population grew and they also became more and more acquainted with the rest of the world.
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They cherished individualism and carried a sense of aspiration and dynamism. Their buying
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also emulated the global buying habits such as the following preferences:
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● Branded experiences offering a sense of adventure and escape

● Brands that openly sought out dialogue with their customers
● Brands that could deliver a unique experience
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2. Competition: The Indian retail coffee market was growing. Landor, the consulting
organization conducted “competitive audits” for various cafe retail brands in India. Landor
looked at the various competitors on the basis of their differentiation and relevance in order to
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map the category. It found out that the CCD differentiators (like premium coffee, pioneers in
coffee culture, value for money, etc) were no longer unique and exclusive as it can now be easily
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replicated by the competitions. Landor also inferred that the regular guy/girl archetype was no
longer sufficient for CCD to compete in this highly competitive market.

3. Company: For the management of the company, CCD stood for the quality coffee, brewing
skills and authentic quality of service. CCD wanted coffee to play a central role in the customer
experience, whereas for customers, coffee was just another reason to come to CCD and meet
friends. Therefore, there was a clear gap between what the customers wanted and what the
management provided.

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 To the customers, the brand did not look the same and had inconsistent brand delivery across
several customer touchpoints. Clearly, there was a difference between what the customer
perception was and what the management intention was.

All the triggers made the consulting firm and CCD realize that CCD needed a coherent brand
rejuvenation, new positioning and evolved brand identity design.

Analysis of the various positioning options

In order to evaluate the positioning options, it is very important that the statement resonates with
the company’s strategy, and is relevant to the CCD’s target customer. At the same time, it should
help the Indian cafe to be able to differentiate itself among its competitors. To evaluate the
options let’s look at them from the following point of view:

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● Should build upon existing equity

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● Must be relevant to the existing customers

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○ Lending to CCD brand greater dynamism

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○ Lending greater aspiration
● Differentiation rs e
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Real Coffee, Real
Parameters Good Company Social Hub
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Moments
High Medium Very High
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Fresh perspective,
A great place for friends Nice, calm place;
accessible and
Builiding upon to catch up; convenient natural, convenient
affordable. Also
existing equity and affordable. Break for which resonates a
generates a sense of
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ordinary/mundane, sense of affliation amd

inspiration and
sense of escape belonging.
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forward thinking.
A stylish café that is
Good time spent with
Benefit (Rational A better shared coffee symbolic of a new
good people in a great
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and Emotional) experience emerging youthful

café
India
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Medium-High High High

Lending to CCD
brand greater The playful environment
dynamism developed by such a
postioning would lead to
a moderate-high
dynamism
Low Medium-High High

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 A place meant for the
The positioning does not
fresh generation of
resonate with an
This place will be about young customers
aspirational lifestyle.
authentic friendship redefining and
Rather it reflects a
Lending greater and community. reshaping the face and
person who is stressed
aspiration However, it still would culture of India. It will
and dissatisfied with the
not make it a place for turn into a place for
mundane lifestyle and
an aspirational youth highly inspiring and a
just wants to find a way
forward thinking
to escape.
generation.
High High High
Me too café culture that
borrows heavily from the Contemporary and
A place to linger over

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West. On-the-go, young stylish café where the
Differentiation great coffee to create

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customers dealing with youth of India can
friendship and

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the day-to-day stress and come together and
community

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the pressure of getting grow.
ahead

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Low Medium High
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Their target customers We can see that the
do not want to overall customer
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Relevance to the experience CCD in order A genuine café would experience along with
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target customers to get away from their be somewhat the differentiating

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mundane life. In fact, moderately relevant to aspects provided by

these are people who are their target customers. the cafe will highly go
always inspired and along with the
forward thinking. customers CCD targets
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The above evaluation clearly shows that the social hub positioning would perform well in all the
considered parameter and hence should be considered by CCD for repositioning.
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