MAP Executive Tea Meeting

Peek Freans – the Sound of Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow
Venue & Date : PC Ballroom 2, October 1, 2009

 

A two-hour Executive Tea meeting was organized under the auspices of the Marketing Association of Pakistan(MAP), which was attended by faculty and students of IBA. The guest speaker for the evening was Mrs. Saadia Naveed, Deputy Managing Director, English Biscuits (Pvt.) Ltd, who addressed the topic: “Peek Freans - The Sound of Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow.” She enlightened the participants by providing a thorough overview of EBM, starting from its introduction, core values, to its evolving market strategies such as market penetration, branding, CSR initiatives and its future approach to ensure brand loyalty.


Mrs. Naveed highlighted the importance of creating a positive perception regarding one’s products in the minds of the consumers. Quoting the example of the “Incredible India” campaign, she emphasized how essential it is for us to adopt a similar approach to brand Pakistan. Moving on to the topic, she spoke about EBM as the pioneer in the local biscuit industry, having an experience of more than forty years. In 1973, EBM created a brand called Peak Freans along with an umbrella brand widely known as the “Pied Piper” to position its products with an effective jingle and the tagline – The Sound of Today. The ideology behind this was to introduce the idea of “biscuits” as in-between meals’ food. The same strategy is still being followed and is the reason for the success of Peak Freans’ brands such as Sooper, Marie, Peanut Pik, and Peanut Pista. EBM’s core values involve leadership, vitality, humanity, innovation, accepting change as a constant, sensitivity to the environment, constancy of quality and most importantly, it takes “Rizq” as an “Ibaadat” which ultimately makes them believe in “Pakeezgi” of the heart, observed in every step of its production process.
 

It was the first company to attain certifications such as ISO 9000 and 27000 and also to change the perception that branded biscuits were only for the upper-middle class. In 1970s, when EBM was losing Rs. 5000/day, it realized the importance of entering the branding arena and creating a niche for its products. Since competitors at that time (BP and Sunshine) considered marketing as a useless expenditure, EBM was able to create a larger-than-life icon through the Pied Piper brand. Around that time, it implemented the concept of product development by launching a new brand of biscuits called “Happy”, whereby, EBM gained 30% of the market share.
 

During the 80s era, the market matured since new entrants like Union and LU entered the industry. EBM realized that it was time to go for innovation and opted for brand extension by creating a niche product through a new concept of “Farm-House cookies”. Intense competition in the 90s made EBM lose a considerable market share and go for a new strategy of HIGH VOLUME AND LOW MARGINS. EBM side-lined the element of profitability and kept the prices of its products constant for 10 years, becoming the market leader yet again! This was achieved through economies of scale by low production costs and high quality maintenance. Obviously, the small players crashed during this time due to high raw material costs. EBM signed long-term contracts with suppliers to ensure a productive distribution channel and observed a conservative financing approach. It paid off its liabilities in order to avoid the exorbitant cost of interest. Today, it is a self-sufficient company which observes self-financing.

EBM has set successful examples of market penetration strategies, such as the launch and re-launch of its brands, Sooper, Party and Rio. It proved itself as an innovator through its brand Marvell (innovative shape). By this time, EBM started capitalizing on its market leadership position and entered the rural market significantly through its brand activation campaigns. Since EBM was short of capacity, it decided to focus on five of its major brands. The market grew and so did EBM – by 37% from selling 100,000 to 681,000 master cartons within 3 years. The local demand is so high that at present, EBM does not plan to venture into the international arena. However, it does consider this option as a viable future strategy. EBM has achieved numerous awards such as the “SUPERBRANDS’ AWARD”, “BUZZIEST BRAND AWARD”, and “ENVIRONMENT AWARD”.

The session was in essence a true learning experience for students of marketing and branding. It broadened students’ vision by providing a local success story. Also, students got an opportunity to meet Mrs. Naveed and expressed our desire to invite her as a guest speaker to IBA to teach students more about the pros and cons of marketing in our country. Business cards of companies such as Ala Chemicals (Dentonic) and Mr. Rafiq Rangoonwala,  CEO Cupola Groups of Companies,  were also shared.