Challenge
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When we started our journey with Monginis, the brand did not have the ubiquitous presence and huge market penetration that it enjoyed later. Aristocratic Kolkatans used to pay occasional visits to the hallowed portals of Flury’s, Nahoum’s or Kookie Jar. In the scene of bakery chains, much more accessible to the middle class crowds – Kathleen and Upper Crust were much popular brands and so was Sugar & Spice. Monginis was ambitious and eager to emerge as the market leader. We also had faith that with right positioning, Monginis would soon become the bakery behemoth.
But before becoming a brand for the mass, it had to go through a crucible test of creating acceptability among their potential audience. The initial two-fold problems that we faced were – firstly, the brand Monginis had no specific identity among people and secondly, people around the city had no idea on how to pronounce the word Monginis.
The market was littered with different versions of pronunciation of the same word. Some said it as ‘Mong-ee-neez’, while others vigorously nodded heads and said, it must be ‘Mong-aa-neez’, while the actual pronunciation should have been ‘Mon-ni-nih’, the Italian name from which the brand has its name.
Also, the common trend among the city’s bakeries was to position themselves as more of an ‘anglophile’, a colonial hangover which would not help the brand in the process of reaching out to the millions of Bengali middle income group households and creating an impression on them.

Solution
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The first thing we did was we decided to position Monginis as a pro-Bengali brand. And what followed was the coinage of the now famous tagline - “Mon-er Jinis Monginis”.
Overnight two things happened, the brand Monginis got its strong Bengali (and not Bong!) identity and became a much accepted and loved brand for the millions of Bengali households; and secondly, the confusion over the pronunciation of the brand name ‘Monginis’ got resolved!
Based on that positioning and piggybacking on the success and acceptance of the tagline, the brand strategy was crafted for the imminent years, which provided rich dividends later.