Vasenapoli revolutionized healthy eating with its millet-based delicacies crafted with the founder Chittem Sudheer’s mother’s expertise. Inspired by his travels and a passion for wellness, Sudheer embarked on a journey to create a sustainable and nutritious dining experience in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. Vasenapoli emerged in 2016 as a beacon of innovation through meticulous recipe development and prototype testing, offering diverse millet dishes and exotic chutneys to delight customers. Despite challenges with ingredient sourcing and consistency, Sudheer’s dedication and strategic approach propelled Vasenapoli to success, carving a niche in the culinary landscape. Seven years later, a few new competitors around the city with similar offerings had cropped up, and the quest for the next strategic move was troubling Sudheer.
This case focused on the scenario of income inadequacy at the Madras Crocodile Bank and Centre for Herpetology, a notable zoo in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, India. The zoo was run on the income it generated through visitors’ fees, corporate sponsorship, individual donors, and grants. It was under pressure to increase its revenue, reduce the surplus of reptiles, and maintain the climatic conditions inside the premises. The solution potentially lay in aligning its economic, social, and environmental challenges; that is, in achieving triple bottom-line excellence to save the people, the planet, and the profit.
In early 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown periods, the marketing director of Anand Milk Union Limited (Amul) was in a virtual meeting with his marketing manager. The two men were discussing plans for a marketing campaign for the hotel, restaurant, and cafes (HoReCa) market segment to be run during the pandemic. The campaign was expected to target and engage the key stakeholders (or influencers) of the HoReCa segment—the chefs in the food service industry. Before the pandemic, Amul engaged with chefs mainly through personal relationships, based on individual in-person meetings. However, in context of the adversity caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person meetings were no longer feasible. The challenge for Amul was to build a scalable and executable marketing campaign that would engage chefs, the market’s key influencers.