Introduction

 Saffola is the flagship brand of Marico Ltd.

 The brand had positioned itself as an oil good for maintaining a healthy heart and
prevent from high cholesterol, leading to heart attacks and other heart related
problems.
 Saffola consumers were primarily males in the age group of 45+ and belonging to
SEC(A)
 Most consumers switched to Saffola by doctor’s prescription.
 Created a niche category in the edible oil segment.
Overall Evaluation
 The new campaign for Saffola Gold was again keeping heart as the main focus and
then portraying healthy living message.
 The message in the new campaign was similar to the previous campaigns.
 Saffola did not learn from competitor Sundrop’s communication to the consumers.
 Target market again revolved around males and couples aged between 20-45 yr. Did
not target family members as a whole
Evaluation criteria
 Target segments.
 Brand communication
 Marketing approach

Brand communication
 Marico had the first mover advantage since it pioneered in bringing branded products
in the market.
 Used its “higher PUFA” fact in its advertisements and portrayed it as an oil that is
healthy for heart.
 Able to command a premium over other competitor and garnered good sales.
 Healthy heart promotion was made by through an ad campaign communicating “there
are many things that affect your husband’s heart that you cannot control but there is
one thing you can do – switch to Saffola- the cooking oil with the highest PUFA
content that actually reduces cholesterol build up – Saffola cooking oil- its life
insurance.”
 Unique marketing strategy where they identified doctors and specially cardiologists as
key influencers to promote their product.
Challenges
 Sales had begun to stagnate.
 Sundrop increased its marketing expenses.
 There was an increase in competition. Sun drop being the market leader and Gold
winner provided products at lower price points and gave Saffola tough competition in
the southern market.
  Strong perception of consumers regarding it as a prescription based oil i.e. mainly for
people having heart related problems and not meant for people who do not have any
such issues.

Brand perception
 High brand recall.
 Light, refined and healthy cooking oil.
 Viewed as problem solving product.
 Expensive brand
 Medicinal in nature and not meant for children
 Low brand recall for new variant Saffola Tasty, it was considered as a cheap
alternative for Saffola oil.
 Brand position was strong but in a narrow segment.

Problems faced by Saffola

 Price premium restricted it to enter into consumers of all economic category.
 The oil was not bought for its taste but for only health benefits.
 Mothers did not find Saffola appropriate for their children due to the perception of
heart related medical effects.
 Not considered as a generic cooking oil.
Repositioning
 In Brand prism fear dimension was replaced with care and happiness, therapeutic
dimension was replaced with proactive and heart was replaced with health.
 New ad campaign – “sehat se jeena hai” communicating live healthy.
 Tie ups with sports clubs, health clubs and gyms to communicate their healthy living
message.
 Initially showed a growth if 15% but the sales came back to pre- campaign levels.
 Only existing consumers were driving the sales.

Measures taken
 Targeted new demographic segment primarily women/couple with age group 25-45
and living in metro cities.
 Introduced saffola gold mainly targeting young consumers to maintain a healthier
lifestyle.
 Applied 360 degree marketing approach in daily soaps like Jassi jaisi koi nahi and
astitva since these shows defined their target audience.

360 degree marketing approach

  World Heart Day
 annual Laughter Olympics
 "Dial A Dietician" programme
 TV show tie - ups - connecting with concerned housewife
 Saffola came up with "Saffola Functional Food" - to control cholesterol

Saffola marketing mix

1. Product
 Edible oil perceived as medicinal in nature for heart ailments

2. Price
 Expensive product
 Many customers used it for family members who had heart problems since they could
not afford it for the whole family.

3. Place:
 Retail outlets

4. Promotion
 Ad campaigns
 Healthy heart promotion
 Sports clubs and gyms
 Doctors as key influencers

SWOT

Strength Weakness
 Higher brand recall  Prescription based perception
 Higher PUFA which resulted in  Premium price
low cholesterol  Target audience not clearly
 Loyal customers defined
 Strong brand value  Rural market is not the approach
of the brand
Opportunity Threats
 New target segments  High competition
 New variants  Campaign failures
 Health conscious people are  Threat of substitute
increasing  Threat of low price competition

Perceptual map
 TASTE HIGH

SUNDROP

LOW HIGH

HEALTH

SAFFOLA

LOW

Recommendation

 Improve taste of the product

 Add more variants for other segments such as weight loss.
 Add healthy recipes on their packaging
 Involve kids in their campaigns to more connect with the consumers.
 Work on distribution strategy
 Approach rural areas to widen their base and reach which would bring more profit.
 Come up with mustard oil variant since it is most used in Indian households with
price to be on the lower side and benefits to same as the refined oil category.