Parle-G, manufactured by Parle Products, is one of the best-selling biscuit brands in the world. Parle Products Private Limited is an India-based food products company which was founded in the year 1929 by the Chauhan family of Maharashtra. The family hailed from a neighborhood known as Vile Parle in the western suburban area of Mumbai.
Parle-G: An Origin Story
Parle has been manufacturing biscuits since 1939. After India gained independence in 1947, the company spearheaded a campaign to position its Gluco biscuits as an indigenous alternative to foreign (particularly British) brands.
Apart from the Parle-G biscuits, the company has also successfully launched other popular food products, such as the mango-flavored soft drink known as Frooti and the sweet candies known as Poppins and Mango Bite.
The Role of Advertising and Brand Positioning
Ever since the inception of the brand, Parle-G biscuits have been positioned as being a healthy and wholesome source of nourishment for children and adults alike. The company’s long-running “G mane Genius” advertising campaign created a firm association in the public imagination between the biscuits and the academic performance and future success of children.
The belief that you could be anything you wanted, that you could reach your highest potential with Parle-G by your side, became common among parents and children alike, encouraging generations of Indians to aspire to greater things. That campaign was also one of the major successes of Indian advertising and catapulted Parle-G into national prominence within a short period of time.
What Makes Parle-G Unique?
Parle-G biscuits are made from responsibly sourced, nutritious ingredients such as wheat and milk. With a unique taste and a distinctive product design – with the name of the brand featuring prominently on each and every slice of biscuit – Parle-G had become, according to Nielsen, the largest selling biscuit brand on earth by the year 2011.
Some of the ingredients used to manufacture Parle-G biscuits include sugar, wheat flour, RBD palm oil, sodium metabisulphide, invert sugar syrup, ammonium bicarbonate, skimmed milk powder, salt, and lecithin ghee paste. The Parle flavor mix is then used to add the brand’s signature aroma and unique taste to the product. Made largely from natural and nutritious products, the biscuit has been a favorite of parents and teachers for generations.
A Brand of India
Since its original positioning as the Indian counterpart to British biscuit brands, Parle-G has emerged as one of the major symbols of national self sufficiency as well as the meteoric rise of India to the world stage.
Apart from being a leading manufacturer of biscuits in India, Parle also plays host to many other popular snack and food brands. In the minds of the populace, the name Parle is synonymous with taste, quality, and nutrition.
Apart from quality products, what sets Parle apart as a brand is an in-depth understanding of the psyche of the typical Indian consumer. This understanding has enabled the brand to develop and promote a marketing philosophy that caters to and reflects the needs and desires of the Indian populace.
A desire to provide quality and nutritious food to one’s children, as well as the need to make cost-effective buying decisions, are the two major factors that drive a majority of Indian householders. Thus, the combination of health, taste, and value-for-money that Parle-G offers makes the brand a favorite amongst every member of the family.
Unity and Equality Through Food
This allows children around the country to enjoy the tasty goodness of a Parle-G biscuit, regardless of their social class or economic background. In this, more than anything else, Parle-G has succeeded in bringing the nation together through the most common desire that drives humans everywhere – the desire for good food for oneself and one’s family.
Children from the remotest villages of the country can savor a Parle-G biscuit at the same time as a child living in a global city like Mumbai or Melbourne. And it can be said that that is the most striking achievement of this pioneering Indian brand.
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