Grands Moulins de Dakar (GMD), a wheat flour company, launched the Souki sugar brand to diversify into fast-moving consumer goods. GMD purchased sugar from Compagnie Sucrière Sénégalaise in bulk bags, repackaged it under the Souki brand, and sold it at a slightly higher price than the unbranded bulk sugar. Through market research, production, advertising campaigns, and retailer promotions, Souki quickly gained brand recognition and market share. However, a government policy change lowered the price of bulk sugar significantly compared to Souki, threatening its viability. To maintain the brand, GMD absorbed losses by continuing to sell Souki at a reduced price for six

1. Launch of the sugar brand
SOUKI®by GMD
- Or how an old-fashioned mono-product
industry became a Fast-Moving Consumer
Goods leading Company -

2. • 100% pure crystallized cane sugar (powdered and lump sugar)
• PRODUCED by Compagnie Sucrière Sénégalaise (CSS – Groupe Mimran).
• PURCHASED by Grands Moulins de Dakar (GMD – Groupe Mimran) .
• In unbranded 50 kilos bags.
• RECONDITIONED in 250g, 1kg and 5kg packs.
• Under the Souki® brand, owned by GMD.
• AVAILABLE for the end-user.
• In neighborhood shops, supermarkets and local markets.
• At a PRICE slightly exceeding the unbranded CSS sugar present in bulk in the same
distribution circuit.
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SOUKI® : a simple product…

3. The product : from a local bulk sugar to a local
+50FCFA
strong brand
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CSS BULK SUGAR
250g
150 FCFA
GMD SOUKI®
SUGAR 250g
200FCFA
CSS BULK SUGAR
50kg
28 500 FCFA

4. 4
Packaging suitable for all needs
BAGS OF POWDERED SUGAR
250g 1kg 5kg
200FCFA 800FCFA 4000FCFA
BOX OF LUMP SUGAR
1kg
800FCFA

5. Analyze-Think-Create-Develop-Manage :
THE RATIONALE
• Non-existence of a CSS sugar brand
• Lack of positive reputation, weak quality perception against CSS by consumers
• Continue on the road of transformation of our activity
• From a product-oriented industry (core business : mono-product production of wheat flour and animal
feed primarily sold to distributors - B2B)
• To a customer-oriented company
• By offering to end-users a FMCG basket (B2C)
• Capitalize on the confidence expressed by consumers towards the brand “GMD”
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or why a wheat flour industry would create and sell a sugar brand ? (1/2)

6. • Work on the confidence won by the implementation of a
institutional campaign that has settled our Brand and our
corporate values
• I.e. Know-how, Proximity and Innovation
• To progressively erase in the mind of the consumer the idea
of GMD as only a wheat flour industry.
• And offer a variety of FMCG adapted to consumers’ needs
(households wheat flour “Fati®” & “Fati Booli®”, “Gaya®”
rice, “Souki®” sugar, edible oil, powdered milk…)
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7. Drafting of a strategic note
Steering committee (Think-Tank : market intelligence &
commercial information)
External market research on offer, demand, consumers’
needs, usages and habitudes, competition, distribution, legal
frame
Synthesis and committee decision-making
Compliance with legal requirements: submission to the
authority for agreement to sell (AMM)
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What way have we taken :
The key steps of the launch (1/2)

8.  Cost price study and evaluation of projected sales in volumes & values
 Presentation to the CEO (final decision and go!)
 Limited (final test phase) & mass production
 Development of an advertising campaign
 Advertising campaign Pre-test
 Ensure the availability of the stock on the market!!!
 Launch of the advertising campaign
 Trade marketing and local household’s animation
 Evaluation of the ROI
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9. Working together:
collaboration with stakeholders in the company
GM: thinking on the opportunity and main issues
 Industrial : lead times and costs of the industrial investment
H.R.: technical and commercial human investment
Commercial: Test phases in distribution and with end-users |
selling of the product
Purchasing: procurement of raw material, primary and secondary
packaging
Management accountant : costs control
Supply chain: distribution
 Steering Committee: economic, organizational and technical
feasibility analysis
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10. Gathering a “dream team” :
the advertising & trade marketing teams & budgets
• BDA Market Research Institute: consumers surveys, pretests of naming, packaging and
advertising campaign
• Atoo M&C. Ag. : naming and packaging design (Souki® Standard)
• Caractère M&C. Ag. : packaging design (Souki® Premium)
• DakCor M&C. Ag. : development & production of the A.T.L. advertising campaign
(Quality, Health, Safety, Affordability, Practicality: a short, confident and clear
message to end-users)
• Minerve M&C. Ag. : media buying (3 months)
• People No Limit : leading of the B.T.L. trade marketing & households animations
campaign (3 months)
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14. We made it !
product & Brand performance after the launch
• Immediate ownership of the product
• Strong brand recognition
• Through an extensive advertising campaign
• But also many field activities with end-users and retailers
• While ensuring a continuous availability of the product on the
market
• Which led to a very good performance of the product since its
launch, corresponding to our expectations…
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15. So, finally, everything went well ?
• Souki® brand quickly penetrated the market and was replacing
progressively bulk sugar usually sold by retailers
• The demand was present, even if in some areas the
purchasing power of some end-users was too low to accept
our selling price
• GMD reputation as an innovative company, always listening to
its customers grew up
• But… something went wrong, something completely
unexpected happened…
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16. What went wrong ?
and how did we manage it…
• Government decision to lower the price of sugar
• By decreasing the Value Added Tax only on sugar sold in 50kg bags and
repackaged in bulk…
• Results : Difference of more than 50% between the price of bulk sugar
and the price of Souki®, making its sales price unacceptable for the
consumer
• Solution : price sacrifice, by even losing money, during 6 months, to let
our brand enter and remain in the market, and pushing the consumer
to see it, claim it, buy it, use it and ask it again to resellers.
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