An enormous market - neglected

Arla, a global dairy company, felt that the needs of the ethnic population (initially in the UK), were not being met when it came to authentic Indian dairy products. Given that the behaviours and priorities of the UK’s two million British Indians are not particularly well documented, and given the enormous implications developing and marketing new products in any category, Arla understood it was imperative to progress in a culturally sensitive, deeply-informed and commercially minded manner. They came to Dragon Rouge for reassurance that their thinking was sound, the opportunity valid, and to define a clear path into the market.

Five clear needs

We began with extensive, up-close research. We shopped with British Indian families, watched them cook, and performed extensive interviews across the varied cultural and generational spectrum of this element of UK society. It turned out that there was a very clear need for products – in fact many Indians were ‘making do’ with the best available substitutes, and many of their dairy purchases, even for regular supermarket shoppers, were coming from the most neglected part of otherwise highly impressive local ‘ethnic food specialist’ stores: the refrigerator. Through extensive concept exploration in second and third generation British Indian womens’ as well as ethnic food lovers’ groups, we confirmed a first stage opportunity for five truly authentic, top quality dairy ‘cornerstones’ - lassi mango, lassi sweet, paneer, dahi and raita. The premise being – get the fundamentals right and there was permission to go far wider and deeper in future.

The dawn of something special

As an exceptional dairy producer, Arla have the expertise to make these products to an exceptional standard. It was down to Dragon Rouge to reflect that in the name and design. It needed to have an obviously Indian look and feel, but feel comfortable in a mainstream environment to draw in the ever- growing numbers from all cultures wanting to cook Indian food at home. The result sets classic dairy freshness and cleanness cues against the intricacy of traditional patterns and scripts. The brand name, SAVERA, is the Hindi word for dawn, which easily evokes images of pastures, fields and cows, but also, of course, is associated with new beginnings. In this case, for two million British Indians, this new start means the chance to now be able to cook fine Indian food with proper, convenient, dairy ingredients but with an authentic premium quality on a par with home-made. It was launched in August 2011.