Background:

Pillsbury, a Fortune 500 Multinational entered India through a joint venture with Godrej. The company introduced wheat flour under the brand name Pillsbury Chakki Fresh Atta (PCFA). Later, the company introduced Pillsbury Cake Mixes.

As a consumer focused company, Pillsbury wanted to provide customers avenues to interact with it in case they had any comments regarding their products. The company appointed us to receive queries from consumers and reply to them within a specific time-frame.

Pillsbury also wished to use the consumer database to develop a relationship between the brand and the consumer.

Our Contribution:

As Pillsbury was introducing wheat flour for the first time in India, there was a lack of information regarding the type of queries that an Indian consumer would have. Flour being a staple food in most households, it was not clear whether the Indian housewife would ever need any information regarding the product. We, along with the marketing department of the company developed a list of over 600 queries that the consumer could possibly have. These queries were divided into various groups such as color, odour, taste etc. These queries were also further designated as standard queries. All queries that did not fall into these groups were termed as Non-Standard queries.

The standard queries had answers developed in association with the company’s research and development wing.

We developed a knowledge management software that could address consumer queries in 11 Indian languages and named it “Sambandh” ( Relationship). This software was tested by the Consumer Relations Dept. of Pillsbury USA. As Sambandh met the standards set by Pillsbury USA, the software was used to manage the interaction between Godrej Pillsbury and the consumer. The software program was at the core of the mail based Consumer Contact Center set up by Tempest for Pillsbury.

Besides ensuring that every consumer contact was replied to in the stipulated time-frame, Tempest also developed a proactive consumer contact program using the gathered database. While developing the program, the consumers were classified based on Indian socio-economic classification parameters. This resulted in a far greater relationship between the consumer and Pillsbury brands.

We provided periodic Management Information Reports on queries received and the action taken. These reports were used by Pillsbury to take the necessary corrective action. Introduction of Pillsbury Cooker Cake Mix was the result of feedback received from consumers under this program.

Result:

Based on the quality of work done for PCFA, Pillsbury handed over the consumer contact management for all their brands to us. These brands included Pillsbury Cake Mixes, Pillsbury Cooker Cake Mixes, Green Giant Corn and Green Giant Niblets.