Insight
The 75 year old Kissan brand is synonymous with tomato ketchup in India. However, commoditisation within the ketchup category was causing Kissan to lose relevance among consumers. In this low involvement category, tomato ketchup had become a generic term for any red sauce notwithstanding that it may not entirely be made from tomatoes.
This lack of differentiation within the category prompted consumers to opt out to cheaper alternatives and Kissan began to lose share to local discounted players. Therefore, the marketing challenge lay in creating differentiation and inspiring consumer preference for the brand. In an effort to differentiate itself with the category, Kissan repositioned itself earlier in the year by adopting the “100% Real” communication platform.
The brand aimed at inspiring consumer preference by leveraging the fact that it was “made from 100% real tomatoes”. However, merely making the “100% Real” claim wasn’t enough and there was a need for the brand to build credibility on its use of real ingredients in order to truly create a point of differentiation. Therefore, Kissan needed to corroborate its claim with a communication strategy which was not only more relevant but also embedded in the everyday life of its consumer.
Strategy
Mothers needed convincing that Kissan was made from 100% real tomatoes as they are the gatekeepers of food that children eat. On the other hand, it had to improve brand appeal among kids who are the ultimate consumers and influencers. Research indicated that “100% Real” was not only something that mothers attributed to natural ingredients in food but also a way of life where children grew on the back of real, natural experiences. However, in an overly urbanised life, real outdoor experiences are becoming a scarcity and kids are restricted to indoor games and virtual worlds.
Mothers are anxious about the artificiality surrounding their children and are looking for occasions where their children can interact with nature. Armed with these insights, it was clear that the communication strategy had to be two-pronged. On one hand, it had to convey to mothers that Kissan was a champion for the overall growth of a child while on the other hand children had to be communicated with in a fun and engaging manner.
Therefore, it told the consumers, “What you grow is what you eat”. With this communication at its core, Kissanpur (farmers land), a holistic and media agnostic campaign was born which aimed at bringing alive the message through multiple touch-points. They took both mothers and children on a journey where they had the opportunity to physically experience our communication by growing their own tomato plants at home. Through Kissanpur, not only would the message resonate with mothers as they afforded children the opportunity to experience nature first-hand but also kids, who were engaged with the brand through the enriching experience of tomato farming.
Execution
To reach out to more kids and mothers this year, Kissan has taken a step forward, by distributing the tomato seeds in a uniquely designed Kissan ketchup bottle. The new bottle cap transforms into a mini-pot and helps the kids begin their journey. It takes 3 months to grow a tomato plant.
The challenge was to keep kids’ enthusiasm high for this entire duration. So the brand built a microsite, (www.kissanpur.co.in), where it shared tips on how to grow tomato plants. Mothers and kids shared pictures of their plants as they grew, and Kissan cheered them through social media, e-mailers, SMS, digital updates and blogs. It had encouraging messages played on radio as well. When fruits began to ripen, the brand showed them a vision of what their tomato plant could look like.
To give consumers a taste of the real, Kissan came up with innovative hoardings with small hanging tomato farms. These innovative hoardings became the talk of the town, and were amplified using different mediums such as print, radio etc. A robust society contact programme for families was the highlight for the brand. Here families physically planted tomatoes in societies and pledged to spread the movement. Seeding drives where also conducted in societies where popular celebrities planted tomato seeds with families and pledged to support the Kissanpur movement. They learned how tomatoes are used to make natural tomato ketchup and saw for themselves that Kissan tomato ketchup was indeed “made from 100% real tomatoes”. Few lucky housing societies, were awarded and certified by a celebrity guest, causing them to associate with the brand in an cherished way.
Results
1. Kissan grew both Value and volume share on account of Kissanpur - 230 BPS in Value & 290 BPS in volume (Markets where Kissanpur was implemented)
2. Ketchup market grew at 4.4% Value & 0.5% Volume, Kissanpur aided Kissan to grew ahead of market in 14.6% by Value & 13.5% by Volume
3. Higher engagement platform created with 1.56 Lakhs registrations (compared to 59000 from 2012).
4. Average time spent of 1 Min 56 sec (compared to 1 min 39 sec from 2012)
5. 1.4 million page views, with half a million unique visitors.
6. Average Bounce rate was 5.6%, industry standard is at 30-40%
7. Media uplift on consideration went up by 2%
8. Helped build Differentiation and Trust, delivered key campaign KPI “Are Natural”
9. Kissanpur campaign had a media uplift on below attributes:
a. Make your food taste better
b. Fit with a healthy and balanced diet
c. Enhance the pleasure you get from your food
d. Are brands you can trust
e. Offer something that other brands do not.