Saffola Sec-A Group 7

SAFFOLA COOKING OIL - THE REPOSITIONING JOURNEY Case Summary

Group 7, Section A: Swati Matta (PGP/16/054) Vivek Pratap Singh (PGP/16/057) Meenakshi Subramanian (PGP/16/090) Ashima Aggarwal (PGP/16/135) Gagandeep Singh (PGP/16/260) Thomas Dardare (IE/16/008)

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The case analyzes the repositioning journey of Saffola. It was introduced in 1960s and it carved a niche for itself in the edible oil category by 1990. Growth has been steady for over a decade leading up to the turn of the century. Faced with stagnating sales in 2001, they launched an advertising campaign but its impact was short lived. In 2004, they again undertook a repositioning strategy to boost sales and appeal to people other than just heart patients. 1990s: The Healthy Decade Saffola’s target consumer: Urban Dweller, age group of 45+, male and belonging to SEC A. Promotion: Brand for the healthy heart Advertising Campaign: Played on the fear factor in patients. To give them a sense of security and a feeling that by consuming Saffola oil, they are taking a precautionary measure to avoid another encounter with a heart related condition. Their marketing efforts revolved around highlighting the fact that Saffola had ‘higher PuFA’ compared to regular oil. The consumer switched from regular cooking oil to Saffola oil on recommendation by his doctor or after suffering some heart-related condition. New Challenges of the New Century Around the turn of the century, Saffola’s sales had begun to stagnate. They introduced ‘Saffola Tasty’ at a lower price and better in terms of taste. The competition in the market increased with heightened levels of health consciousness among the consumers. New competitors entered and existing competitor, Sundrop, increased its advertising expenditure. Saffola targeted a very narrow segment of consumers: heart patients of patients with impeding heart problems. Saffola was being used only for the heart patient in the family while the other members used different oil. Consumer Study and Repositioning Strategy for 2001 In 2001, Marico used a market research agency to find the root cause of stagnation of sales and to reposition the brand based on the research results. Qualitative research was done on eight groups of homemakers in three metropolitan areas. Cooking oils were divided into two categories: the heavy, sticky ones: and the light refined and healthy ones.

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The key highlights of the study were as follows: o Saffola had high recall with consumers o It was perceived as a light, refined, and healthy cooking oil o It is viewed as problem-solution brand o Saffola’s image was that of expensive brand that did not taste/smell well o Sundrop was perceived as good quality, light, tasty and healthy oil for all o Saffola Tasty had low advertising recall, not clear understanding of its ingredients With the above insights, Marico planned to reposition the brand to secure more consumers into Saffola’s fold. The objective of the ad campaign was to reposition such that the franchise would be broadened without losing the price premium. Saffola brand was studied using Kapferer’s brand prism framework. After the study, the team felt to position itself as an optimistic, forward looking brand. Saffola should reposition itself as a brand for healthy living, rather than just for a healthy heart, thereby including all the family members in its purview. To communicate this new positioning, it launched a new variant ‘Saffola Nutriblend’. Saffola positioned itself as the choice for healthy living. An ad was released with title ‘Sehat Se Jeena Hai’. The 30 second ad resulted in drastic shift from the negative imagery that it had employed in the past. The commercial ended with a byline “Saffola- The heart of a healthy family”.

Current Scenario The initial response to the campaign was encouraging but it was temporary and the sales started to dip again and reached pre-campaign levels. Saffola hired a new ad agency to analyze what had gone wrong. Two main sources were used to obtain the information. o Series of interviews were conducted with the customer base. Insight: Consumers still associated it specifically with the heart. About 35 to 40% of volumes were achieved through doctor advice. Of a random sample, 85% of users were suffering with heart ailment. o The second source was a study conducted by the Saffola Healthy Heart Foundation. Insight: It revealed that 1 out of 4 adults at a risk of heart problem. This clearly indicated that there is still untapped market.

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New Repositioning Strategy Target Segment: Primarily women or couples; in SEC A and B; in the age group of 25- 45 years and living in metros. Rationale: Individuals of this segment had basic health consciousness. Most individuals in this group were busy with their packed lives. They even don’t have time to take care of their health but they are worried. It decided to position this strategy through sub product Saffola Gold. Saffola Nutriblend was discontinued. The agency believed that Saffola needed to shift from the culture of fear to culture of trust. Additionally, the customer self image was redefined as health-conscious but carefree. The new campaign was titled “Kal Se”. Saffola positioned itself as a brand with expertise in heart-care that provides the user with assurance. Saffola supported the World Heart Day and to increase one-on-one interactions with consumers, they initiated ‘Dial a Dietician’.

We believe that the new positioning strategy is likely to succeed because of the smart segmentation done by Saffola. They are not just focusing on 45+ years heart patients but also on young and busy couples between 25-45 years. The 360-degree marketing campaign brings life into the brand and also helps to increase the recall value among the consumers. It helps to increase the contact points with the housewives, young couples as well as the heart patients. Saffola used dipsticks and in-depth interviews to understand the requirements as well as the perception of Saffola brand in the minds of the consumer; and design a campaign based on those insights. Although, Saffola can work on taste and price so that it becomes the first choice of everyone in the family.

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