Paper Boat

PAPER BOAT
In April 2011, four friends Neeraj Kakkar, Suhas Misra, Neeraj Biyani and James Nuttall
started a startup Hector Beverages based in Gurgaon and rolled out Tzinga in Delhi and
Bangalore for almost one-fifth of the cost of the biggest energy drink brand in the market,
Red Bull. The drink was a hit at early stage but soon distribution cost and limited variants
of Tzinga became a problem. They needed more production options and breakeven
looked a remote possibility. But on one hot summer day, when all of them were having
lunch together, Nuttall decided to make aam panna. “Misra used to get aam panna made
by his mother, and it was terrific. That was the genesis of Paper Boat,” says Kakkar.
Paper Boat started with two variants in August 2013: aam panna and jaljeera. These were
followed by aamras, kalakhatta, kokum, golgappe ka pani and imli. The drinks are packed
in squishy pouches that are easy to carry and are part of the brand’s appeal in urban India.
Hector’s Paper Boat range of drinks currently account for 75% of its sales. It’s also one of
the few home-grown beverage brands to have tasted success.
Hector Beverages has opened its second manufacturing plant in Mysore to meet growing
demand. Hector also sells Paper Boat in the US, Malaysia, Dubai and the UK, mainly
catering to people of Indian origin. It has also tied up with British supermarket
chain Tesco Plc to sell its products in London. The company has also tied up with Indo
Nissin, owner of popular brand Top Ramen noodles, to expand its distribution in Tier II
cities and rural pockets of India.
Paper Boat’s Vision:
Paper Boat’s brand proposition is ‘Drinks & Memories’ and with this Paper Boat
company endeavor to bring back childhood to those from whom it had been snatched.
Human beings belonging to any age group, each of us have a child within us and have
many childhood memorable stories. Paper Boat, the company that makes drinks one
usually have at home like aam panna, golgappe ka pani, jamun kala khatta and kokum,
wants us to go back to our childhood days and relive those childhood memories again.
#FloatABoat Campaign Strategy:
#FloatABoat has the right blend of a cause campaign, one that will not only help
establish Paper Boat’s brand proposition of ‘Drinks & Memories’, but also bring back
childhood to those from whom it had been snatched. Paper Boat launched the
#FloatABoat Campaign during monsoon season with objective of tying up childhood,
paper boats and schooling with a common thread. The brand tried to bring the three
together for its cause campaign aimed to educate needy children.
Commenting on the launch of the initiative, Neeraj Kakkar, Founder and CEO, Hector
Beverages, said that “the monsoons were the perfect time to roll out this campaign and
relive innocent moments. In a world that is getting hectic by the minute, it serves as a
reminder that there are still a few simple pleasures that can re-capture the magic of
childhood – like making and floating a paper boat.” He added, “This is also our little
initiative to gift a bit of childhood to people who really need it.” To participate in that
initiative one only needed to make a paper boat, upload a picture of their paper boat on
the Paper Boat site or on their social media pages like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and
hashtag the post as #FloatABoat.
For #FloatABoat, Paper Boat had teamed up with Parivaar, a West Bengal-based
humanitarian service organization that works for the development of less fortunate
children like orphans, girl-children and children from tribal areas. And every image of
paper boat that was shared on any social network, the brand donated Rs. 20 towards
children education.
In the second part of the campaign, a letter was delivered to customers who purchased the
product through Amazon and Paytm. This letter educated the reader about the cause and
also gave them a playful reason to make a paper boat.
Video Ad:
In 1.46 min video of rainy a day while the children were allowed to play outside the
class, their parents attended a special class. The class was not regular parent’s teachers
meeting but instead parents were handed 2 scrap papers each. And to the parent’s surprise
they were asked to make paper boat out of those. As expected only few of them
succeeded in making paper boats. The teacher then called the children inside the class and
asked them to help their parents make paper boats.
At the end an audio is played saying, “Do you still remember how to make paper boats?
Make one and stay like a child with every fold.” Through the audio company asks people
to upload those paper boats online as #FloatABoat and for every boat uploaded Rs.20
would be shared for children education. The company also requested people to spread the
word and participate for a good cause. While Social networks reflected user response to
the campaign the brand’s social media pages were inviting people to be a part of the
campaign, #FloatABoat has caused many timelines to be jammed with paper boats.
FloatABoat Campaign’s Success:
 The videos loaded on YouTube got more than 40 thousand views in mere 5
months and the emotional touch stays on with large number of viewers.
 Company plans to roll out a lot more variants, at least 25 variants in total.
 The brand now is available across 20,000 retail outlets including coffee chains
such as Barista Lavazza, airlines such as Indigo and Jet Airways and hotels such
as Westin and Trident.
 231 boats were uploaded onto the site by mid July 2015.
 The Paper Boat donations will go to approximately 805 children, housed by
Parivaar Ashram.
 Company has two plants in Manesar and Mysore has plans to set up a third plant.

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PAPER BOAT

Paper Boat’s Vision:

#FloatABoat Campaign Strategy:

FloatABoat Campaign’s Success:

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