Storm in a coffee cup

AS GLOBAL CHAINS AND ARTISANAL BRANDS SHAKE UPTHE COFFEE MARKET, BRU MUST UPITS COOL QUOTIENT TO PROTECT ITS TURF

- CHRISTINA MONIZ

HINDUSTAN UNILEVER (HUL) recently relaunched its Bru Gold brand with a new campaign featuring actors Sara Ali Khan and Aditya Roy Kapur.With coffee consumption in India undergoing significant shifts driven by a slew of new-age players and homegrown coffee chains, Bru’s relaunch is aimed at driving consumer preference by promising a “superlative coffee experience.”

India has, by and large, beena tea-drinking nation but the coffee-drinking culture is on the rise. The coffee market in India stands at %9,000 crore but is growing over 2X the global average, according to market research firm Euromonitor. Nestle’s Nescafe leads the market with about 40% share. Bru, which had surpassed Nescafe in market share some 10 years ago, follows closely with an estimated 33% of the category. Other players in the market that is growing at around 10% annually include Tata Coffee, Continental and Davidoff. The entry of international coffee chains like Tim Hortons, Starbucks and Gloria Jean’s Coffees and the mushrooming of homegrown artisanal brands and chains such as Blue Tokai, Sleepy Owl and Third Wave Coffee has given the category a big push in recent years.