Elephant House is a well known brand in Sri Lanka, with a vast product portfolio consisting of beverages, frozen confectionaries, dairy products and processed meats. Backed by one of the country’s largest conglomerates, John Keells Holdings, throughout the years Elephant House has managed to keep its brand sustainable, and has always remained aligned to its customers’ needs.
At present, Elephant House is one of the key players in the frozen confectionary market, commanding a top of mind brand presence amongst consumers in Sri Lanka. Elephant House ice creams include a various range of products, ranging from the ever popular vanilla, chocolate and strawberry to fruit flavours and even calorie free flavours to cater to the health conscious buyer.Having seen the positivity that prevailed due to the dawn of peace in the country, Elephant House made the decision to rejuvenate its brand and make it relevant to a whole new generation of customers, all the while retaining its core values of trust and wholesome goodness. The strategy adopted by them was to position the brand in a manner in which it aligns with the aspirations of their consumers.
A new logo was launched in July 2010, along with a change in packaging as well to suit the new look and feel of the brand. (CCS, 2011)Even after the successful implementation of these activities, Elephant House recognized that there is a rapidly growing segment which seeks a location to comfortably relax, spend some quality time and leisurely have an ice cream with friends, family etc… and also realized that it was only the international chains of Baskin and Robbins and Il Gelato and the locally produced Carnival Ice Cream that had such cafes situated in Colombo.Ice cream continues to be driven by consumption patterns that are linked heavily to the consumer psyche. Even though Sri Lanka is a tropical country, consumers purchase ice cream only for special occasions as the dessert culture is not yet prevalent among most social segments. Elephant House has tried to change this concept by which they aim to change the mindset of the consumers where consumption of frozen confectionary products becomes habitual rather than occasional.
