1. SAFFOLA COOKING OIL- THE
REPOSITIONING JOURNEY
AJI R CHACKO(191303)
SANJAY KUMAR SINGH(191334)
SITESH UPADHYAY(191340)
SUMEDHA PAUL(191344)
TINCY THOMAS(191347)
Integrated Marketing Communication
2. HISTORY
• Company Name- Marico Limited
• Founder- Harsh Mariwala
• Saffola was founded sometime in the 1960s and started out with
processing edible cooking oils and slowly they became a premium
brand in their category.
• Saffola had carved a niche for itself in the edible oil category by 1990
with its slow and steady growth.
• It gained prominence only after 1990 when the Harsh Mariwala
repackaged it as a healthcare brand.
3. COMMUNICATING THE HEALTH
PROPOSITION(1990s)
• Saffola’s higher PuFA (poly unsaturated fatty acid) was used in
marketing efforts of Marico.
• The consumers were basically urban dwellers in the age group 45+
belonging to the socio-economic classification.
• Heart Patients forming the chunk of customers base.
• Costly and to be taken on doctors advice/recommendation.
• Marico with their marketing efforts promoted saffola as a brand for the
healthy heart.
4. • The marketing team of saffola came up with advertisements and
projected it as a therapy for the heart.
• Another marketing effort that stood out was when they established
Saffola Heart Foundation. It Involved doctors specifically cardiologists
to make the people aware of how saffola is important for heart
patients.
• Even the doctors started advising saffola to their heart patients.
• Saffola became the brand for the heart patients. It played with the
fear factors of the heart patients and gave them security due to
which they were bound to choose saffola.
• This particular group became saffola’s loyal customers and this way
experienced a healthy growth.
5. NEW CHALLENGES OF THE NEW
CENTURY
• Saffola’s sales begun to stagnate.
• Two variants of saffola during this period came into picture -saffola
(kardi oil) and saffola tasty( safflower and corn oil blend).
• Growing competition from sundrop and gold winner and market in the
“health oil” segment.
• Very strong perception of Saffola as a prescription brand.
• Appealed to a narrow segment of heart patients.
• A preliminary market research ensued to study how consumers view
Saffola as a brand
6. PERCEPTION OF THE BRANDS
• Large scale consumer study was conducted in 2001 to understand the consumer and
the homemaker’s perception and reaction towards saffola, evaluate the brand’s
marketing mix, assess competition, develop cues to adjust the positioning and the
overall brand startegy.
• The cooking oils were divided into two categories- heavy, sticky and fattening
ones(Ruchi, Gemini, SVS) and light refined and the healthy ones(Sundrop, Saffola,
Sunola, Postman, Sunoil, Goldwinner).
• Sundrop stood as the market leader in the light redefined and healthy category.
• Even the users of the heavy oils were likely to change their oils with sundrop except
for the people with heart problems.
7. REPOSITIONING
• The objective of Saffola was to broaden the franchise without losing the
price premium that the brand commanded
• Reposition itself as brand for healthy living that will be consumed by all
people of all age groups., rather than just for a health heart.
• Kapferar’s prism was used and the brand was evaluated based on 6
dimensions-3 internal(physique, personality and culture) and 3
external(customer self-image, relationship and customer reflection).
8. Dimensions Current prism Desired prism
Physique • Red heart picture
• Pulsating heart
• Trusted health
• Good for health
• Trusted health
• Good for health
• Heart visual
• Healthy family
Personality • Scientific
• Modern
• Mature
• Intelligent
• Reliable
• Modern
• Mature
• Caring
• responsible
Culture • Scientific
• Problem solver
• Fear inducing
• Scientific
• Health conscious
• Family values
Self image • Health conscious
• Control seeking
• Discerning
• confident
• Health conscious
• empowering
• Control seeking
• Discerning
• confident
Reflection • Health conscious
• Trusted
• Confident
• efficient
• Health conscious
• Loveable
• Trusted
• Confident
• efficient
Relationship • Savior
• Protective
• Providing solution
• Healthy
• Happy
• Care
• Proactive
• Fullfilling
9. • New advertisement with new variant i.e Saffola Nutriblend came into the
market with the tagline sehat se jeena hai.
• The negative imagery that was created with the fear quotient that was
replaced with a positive imagery. They realized how creating fear can
affect their sales.
• Tie ups with sports clubs, health clubs and gyms and subject matter
experts.
• Even with initial 15% growth saffola came to the conclusion that it was
from their existing user base.
• Target audience were not clearly defined and the marketing campaign
failed.
10. NEW STEPS TAKEN
• Transformation from Healthy Heart to Healthy Living was their motto now.
• They targeted new demographic segment primarily women or couple, group age 25-
45 years and living in metro cities and working professionals.
• New variant was introduces i.e. Saffola Gold and saffola nutriblend was discontinued.
• Product related to expertise of the parent brand Saffola with a promise of intangible
emotional benefits meant for a new generation of consumers.
• Saffola Aaj se advertisement also came into the picture with saffola gold
• They went for 360 degree marketing approach
• Other than these they sponsored Laughter Olympics, initiated Dial-a-Dietician,
indulged in product placements in popular tv serials.
11. SWOT ANALYSIS OF SAFFOLA
Strengths • Higher recall value
• Higher PuFA
• Trusted Brand among the heart patients and
advised by the doctors as well
Weakness • Medicinal tag as they established in the very
first place
• Higher cost
• Taste
• Works on fear factors
• Inefficient segmentation(too much focus on
urban population)
Opportunities • New taste variants
• Cutting down cost
• 360 degree marketing for new potential
customers
Threats • Competition(from sundrop, golwinner as they
are cheaper, tastier, light and liked the
consumers more)
• Failure of campaigns as it has establishes itself
as a therapy for heart patients only
12. SUGGESTIONS
• Highlight the benefits of the oil other than just being benefitial for heart
patients.
• Should work on their taste factor.
• Advertisements should be more towards emotional quotients so that
each and every person gets the attracted.
• Other than just tying with sports clubs, gyms, etc it can also partner with
various food contests, food festivals, eating shows, chefs, etc.
• It should definitely make itself available for all the people not just the
urban population. It can do this by cutting down the cost.
