SAFFOLA COOKING OIL-THE REPOSITIONING JOURNEY

By: Group “S”

Saffola was the flagship brand in the edible oils category for Marico with strong health
associations and commanded a premium in the competitive Indian market, where oil was
used extensively in food preparation. Faced with stagnating sales in 2001, Saffola had
launched an advertising campaign rooted in a comprehensive repositioning strategy.
In terms of product attribute, Saffola’s “higher PuFA” content made it healthier than regular
cooking oil. This fact was widely used in Saffola’s marketing strategy. A significant change
during this decade was the increase in the intensity of the competition. Since the primary
market has been increasing because of heightened level of health consciousness, existing
competitors such as Sundrop increased their advertising expenditure and new competitors
also entered the market. However, the expectation that the consumers would switch over
from the competitors ta a Saffola offering or upgrade within the Saffola product line had not
materialised. One consequence of the hard hitting hospital campaign and engaging with
doctors on the benefits of the ingredients in Saffola could be that consumers perceived
Saffola as a prescription brand with a positioning that was strong, but that would appeal
only to a narrow segment.
Marico mandated an advertising agency with a directive to reposition the brand so as to
secure more consumers into Saffola’s fold. Brand Saffola was studied with Kapferer’s brand
prism framework. In this framework, a brand is evaluated on six dimension: three internal
(physique, personality and culture) and three external (customer self-image, relationship
and customer reflection). Physical facets such as the heart imagery and strong brand name
benefitted Saffola. However, on most aspirational and emotional counts, Saffola drew a
blank. The brand relationship was that of a saviour and solution provider, thereby lacking
direct emotional involvement with the customer. Saffola had built a culture of fear around
itself and this was in with direct contrast with the general upbeat mood of the country
owing to buoyant economy and overall optimistic outlook. In its new ad, Saffola positioned
itself as the choice of healthy living. This commercial was a video montage of happy, healthy
people of various age groups ranging from children to senior citizens, engaging in various
forms of activities and affirming that they would take responsibility to ‘live healthy’ and
there would be no compromise on this. The campaign rightly communicated the shift in
Saffola’s positioning. Saffola decided to broaden its appeal to include a whole new
demographic segment into its ambit. This compromised primarily women or couples in Sec
A and B in the age groups 25-45 years and living in metros. Within this demographic
segment the attention has to be focused on the busy executives with packed lives and busy
schedules, accompanied with a general positive outlook to life. However, whether this was
stray health related incidents within their close network or a less than perfect blood test,
there was a general sense of lurking mortality within this group. To put this succinctly the
idea was to shift from the wrong side of the heart (namely heart attacks, hospitals and
doctors) to the right side of the heart (healthy living, stamina and overall feel-good factor).