Paper Boat is a brand of traditional Indian beverages and foods produced and marketed by Hector Beverages, which is headquartered in Bengaluru, India. With the tagline of drinks and memories, the brand connects different traditional Indian flavors with childhood memories.
Hector Beverages was founded in 2009 by 4 friends. The company’s first product was a protein drink called Frissia, following which the energy drink brand, Tzinga was launched in 2011. PaperBoat was launched in 2013 in flexible pouches. It has played the game so wisely using storytelling. Paper Boat raised funding from top investment firms which included the Narayana Murthy-led Catamaran Ventures, Footprint Ventures, and Sequoia Capital.
- Paper Boat adopted a “Blue Ocean Strategy,” creating a niche category by branding traditional Indian drinks. It capitalizes on nostalgia by leveraging ethnic flavors and a quirky marketing strategy. The product uses traditional Indian ingredients and names such as Aam Panna, Jaljeera. Each Individual can relate this with their own childhood memories.
Partnerships with food manufacturers with large distribution networks have enhanced Paper Boat’s product reach. The brand is available on more than 20,000 retail outlets having tie-up with coffee chains like Barista, airlines such as Indigo and Jet Airways, and hotels such as Westin and Trident.
Attractive packaging enhances visual identity and helps to achieve product differentiation.
The brand created a buzz about the content written at the bottom of the pack.
Paperboat focused on the urban youth population mainly people of the age group of 20 to 40.
Paper Boat utilized social media for sharing stories with its fan following. They shared small activities like flying kites to running behind rickshaws, from playing indoor games to making Paper Boats became a point of conversation.
An advertisement narrated by Gulzar and moving around “Maigudi Days” is in sync with the brand’s philosophy of “Drinks and Memories”.
#FloatABoat campaign: To participate in the #FloatABoat campaign, one only needed to make a paper boat and upload the picture of a paper boat on the PaperBoat site or on its social media pages like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with hashtag #FloatABoat.
