Sparkling alcoholic beverage brand Fruzzanté gets a new mentor

Taking its expansion plans further, Fruzzanté, a part of Hill Zill Winery and a family-owned brand founded by Priyanka Save and Nagesh Pai in 2016, has brought on board Deepak Bhatnagar, as one of the directors of the company. With over 30 years of accomplished career history, DB (as he is fondly known) recently retired as the director – Sales & Marketing at Sula Vineyards. While he continues his contribution at Sula as an advisor, he has joined hands with his long-time family friend Shrikant Save at Hill Zill Wines. At Fruzzanté, he will focus on product visibility and brand awareness.

DB is a senior sales and marketing management executive and well-known in the industry for delivering revenue and profits within highly competitive markets. A dedicated and reliable leader, he possesses exceptional negotiation skills and problem-solving abilities. In his career span, DB has worked with some well-known brands, including Lowenbrau Buttenheim, Som Distilleries, Forbes and Cambell, and many others.

Fruzzante opts digital marketing strategy amid Covid-19

Speaking about this, Priyanka Save, co-founder, Fruzzanté, said, “It is heartening to have DB sir on board as a part of our senior management. He comes with years of extensive experience in the industry and is someone I have also known in personal capacity for a long time. Our focus for the last few months, ever since the Covid-19 pandemic, has been on a complete overhaul of our offerings in a better and bigger way. From rebranding to Fruzzanté – Sparkling Alcoholic Beverage to extensively using a digital marketing approach, we leave no stone unturned. With DB sir on board, we will be able to take this a step ahead.”

Adding further, Deepak Bhatnagar said, “Fruzzanté is a brand to reckon with already in its domain, and I am happy to join the team. We have already made some changes to the marketing strategy. The idea is to make use of various marketing and distribution channels for better product visibility as well as brand awareness.”

Fruzzanté is available in different parts of Maharashtra, covering now ten cities, including Thane, Pune, Aurangabad, Nashik, Nagpur and Kolhapur besides Mumbai. The brand has plans to enter Goa, Telangana, and other states after this is set properly. DB has set a target of 10,000 cases in the current year, Covid notwithstanding- a growth of over 800%. With his experience at Sula, DB also hopes to encourage wine tourism.

Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic struck, Fruzzanté has actively used the digital marketing channel for promotions. The availability of the brand’s products across the state was possible via 15 distributors in Maharashtra. Post rebranding, Fruzzanté continues with its key features like 100% fruit with no added color or flavor, vegan, and gluten-free, grabbing a significant focus. Based on evolving taste and preferences of Indian consumers from age-old cocktails to fresher drinks and local palate, the brand stepped into an unconventional and unexplored segment of fruit-based alcoholic beverages with six fruits, mainly; Mango, Strawberry, Star Fruit, Chikoo, Pineapple, and soon-to-be-launched Orange, each with its geographical identity.

Every bottle of the alcoholic beverage category follows a color scheme representing the fruit, for example, green indicates Starfruit, pink for Strawberry, and yellow for Pineapple. A bottle of Fruzzanté Strawberry and Mango is priced at Rs 200, Pineapple at Rs 185, Chikoo, and Starfruit at Rs 170.

With the launch of Fruzzanté as Sparkling Alcoholic Beverage, the brand hopes to cement a change in mind-set pre-defined by age-old liquor producers. Through the means of a visual mnemonic indicating ‘Brewing for a Cause,’ Fruzzanté aims to strengthen the fact that with every sip comes a contribution to the farmers directly or indirectly related to the brand. And that surely would help achieve the expansion goals in the wider territory!