Dalda gets new avatar after 75 years

Anurag Basu - Televisionpoint.com | Kolkata
Dalda, the edible oil brand that was born in Kolkata 75 years ago and became a generic name for vanaspati oil in South Asia before its popularity dipped following health concerns, is being relaunched with a health proposition.

Bunge Ltd, the New York headquartered Bermudan food conglomerate that acquired the hydrogenated vegetable oil brand from Hindustan Lever (now Hindustan Unilever) in 2003 for Rs 90 crore, is unveiling Dalda in a new avatar.

Apart from the new-look brand, Bunge claims the product will contain oil variants fortified with vitamin A, D and E. "We are reinveting the brand and launching it from Kolkata, it's home," says Adhiraj Sarin, managing director, Bunge India.

While retaining the name, Bunge has gone in for a complete makeover, discarding the earlier logo of a palm tree. The new look and contemporary brand logo has been designed by Shombit Sengupta, who has redesigned some of the biggest international and national brands.

"Dalda is an iconic Indian brand. The fact that it has been around for 75 years shows its deep-rooted romance with Indian consumers. The brand, however, needed to reinvent itself to remain relevant to young consumers by changing its looks and adding new-age values like health along with the taste and trust that it has built over years," Videh Jaipuriar, vice-president, Bunge India says.

Till not so long ago, however, Bunge was banking on the brand's taste, heritage, quality and emphasising the different DNA in its communication. Though most edible oil brands had boarded the health platform, Dalda emphatically stated it wasn't about health and nutrition but good times - physical, emotional and psychological feelings of goodness.

But with trans fatty acids in hydrogenated oils considered to have an adverse effect on blood lipids and immune system, Bunge went in for the image makeover to address concerns of health consciousness consumers.

"This is not a facial change in package graphics but also a product upgradation. We hope to gain acceptance across edible oil consumers who look for health but don't want to compromise on taste," Jaipuriar said.

In India, edible oil consumption is currently pegged at 14.5 million tonne and is projected to grow to 20 million tonne by 2015. Bunge's market share in edible oil is 2 per cent. It is the leading player in soybean oil market. Hydrogenated vegetable oil was first imported from the Netherlands in the 1930s and sold in India by Kolkata-based trading firm Dada Ltd.

When Hindustan Lever wanted to brand it, the trader who still retained a commercial connection with the product, insisted it be named after his company. HLL wanted to include the letter 'L' in it for Lever of the Unilever group, and thus was born Dalda, one of the longest-living brands in India.