The traditional clay pot makers of Mottammal village in Kannapuram grama panchayat in the district get a helping hand from Management Studies students of Kannur University’s Managattuparamba campus to brand their product for further marketing access.
The students of the university’s Centre for Management Studies (CMS) have chosen the village as there is a large number of people from the Kambaran community traditionally associated with clay pottery.
They helped pot makers by applying modern management theories to brand their one-litre clay pot as it is found in laboratory studies that food items cooked in clay pot have higher longevity than those prepared in metal pots.
“One of the MBA senior batch students undertook his academic project to commercialise the pot industry by highlighting the longer life of the food items cooked in earthen pots,” said P. Vidhushekhar, Assistant Director of the CMS.
He took help from the university’s Department of Environment Science (DES) to test the samples cooked and preserved in clay pots and those in metallic vessels and found that the former had higher longevity, he added.
That was followed by four brand management sessions to identify brand identity to create a brand image and the brand name ‘Paluri’ was chosen for the clay pot.
During the awareness campaign the MBA students told the clay pot makers of the village to use the brand name to popularise for easy selling and quick identification.
When contacted, K. Manoj, head of the DES, said that of the food samples tested in the department’s laboratory, the samples prepared in clay pot were found to have higher pH value.
High pH value
“The food samples cooked in clay pots have a pH value measuring more than 7 and are more alkaline while those in metallic pots have a pH value of less than 7 and are more acidic,” he informed.
CMS students say they are planning to showcase ‘Paluri’ brand earthen pot in regional trade fairs in the district. As many as 70 students and five faculty members undertook the awareness campaign.