Founded in 2016 by school friends, Priyank Vora, Milan Gopani, Hiren Sheta, Mahatva Sheta, Umesh Gajera, and Chetan Kanani. Alpino foods is working hard to create a whole new branded category of consumption.

Peanuts.

In 2015, they graduated from college and started looking at the supplement proteins and healthy living space in India. And realised that healthy fats like peanut butter were not popular in India. But they also saw that India was exporting a lot of peanuts for peanut butter.

With the faith that the category could be developed in India, the team has set about putting Alpino at the forefront of peanut fat based health and nutrition.

This isn’t an easy task; multinationals have struggled to do this. In fact ask Kellogg’s and they will tell you about the journey to get Indians to change dietary habits. Its not easy.

But, with a bit of innovation, it’s possible for a young brand to pull this rabbit out of the hat.

Alpino has focused its market creation activities around a few simple premises:

(i) Product sourcing of the highest quality

(ii) Consumer communication driven by health and taste- led by influencers

(iii) Product range that allows for a wide range of consumer diets and dietary habits.

Product sourcing

The brand is very clear in its view that they do not grow peanuts. They simply procure them and process them, brand them Alpino. While they take care to ensure the quality is of the highest standards, this does make their business simpler, but focusing on sourcing rather than growing.

Consumer Communication:

This is indeed the hardest part. How can the brand re-orient the thinking of the consumer that peanuts, while full of fats- are a source of healthy fats. Here the brand does not rely as much on scientific data sheets and research as much as on influencers who vouch for the properties of peanuts. Body builders. Alpino’s digital marketing strategy is all about making a credible connect with consumers through the right message and messenger.

In addition, the brand has teenage influencers and housewives who all depict how tasty each peanut butter based snack is. Showing prospective consumers the range of diets that can be satisfied with peanuts. Their youtube channel is full of relatable influencers promoting the consumption of peanuts.

In addition, they extend this approach to the other powerful channel of communication, Instagram. Once again, recognising that their consumer builds opinion here, the have a vibrant channel built on product variety, product usage and product promotion via influencers. Being online and digital first in its communication is the right approach given its target audience is on Youtube and Instagram.

Product variety:

This third element of the product mix is extremely powerful. Product variety allows usage in various diet preferences. Milk shakes, health drinks, museli, regular spreads. A brand that’s introducing a new ingredient in your diet and encouraging you to welcome a new taste and texture, has the best chance of success by allowing consumers a choice of how to experience this taste.

A young brand’s success is almost always built on a strong product, a credible claim and the rightly defined target audience. Alpipno, in our view has certainly made the right moves as it encourages a whole nation to “nuts” over peanuts. To know more about how you can grow your young brand, visit us on GroCurv.com.