Agro Processors & Atmospheric Gases (Pvt.) Ltd (APAG), the owner family corporation of Soya Supreme – one of the top three players in the premium segment brand of the edible oil category -recently launched the ‘Soya Supreme Life Ki Theme’ campaign. APAG which has been in the business since 1954 has three brands in the category including ‘Smart Canola Oil’ and a mid-segment banaspati and cooking oil brand ‘Malta’ while ‘Soya Supreme’ remains the company’s flagship brand. Currently in the growth stage of its product life cycle, the campaign’s primary purpose is to upgrade the brand’s image while establishing it as the mother brand. Previously, the core focus of Soya Supreme has majorly been on its cooking oils while a few campaigns focusing on banaspati were developed. This made it important to develop Soya Supreme as the mother brand and establish separate identities for its cooking oils and banaspati.
The secondary purpose of the campaign was to establish the corporate identity of the company, APAG. Before this campaign, the company has only focused on promoting Soya Supreme as its flagship brand, but never established its corporate image. The APAG logo was developed alongside this campaign to achieve this objective and is presented animatedly with a voiceover at the end of the ‘Life Ki Theme’ TV commercial. It can also be seen on Soya Supreme’s print advertising.
Also, the commercial communicates a change in positioning. Previously, all advertising highlighted functional aspects of the brand. Yet, this is the first time when Soya Supreme has taken an emotional route to make consumers connect emotionally with the brand.
The commercial focuses on incorporating the idea of healthy living and healthy eating. The opening sequence shows a mother working out to stay fit along with teaching her daughter to do the same, driving home the importance of staying fit. The advert then progresses towards incorporating fun in food, especially for children, so that they eat healthy; and shows how food adds to the creativity of young girls and their passion for cooking. It highlights the connect between relationships by showing a husband and wife cooking together. Lastly, the ad emphasize on festivity and celebration as an important aspect of our society and how food and Soya Supreme play an important role at these special moments. Throughout the commercial, Soya Supreme has been branded in an effective manner successfully connecting it with the theme of the ad.
In order to make the ‘Life Ki Theme’ campaign successful, a central marketing and advertising strategy was devised. The strategy focused on reaching out to a younger age group of females between the ages of 25-35 years who believe in a modern lifestyle and want to adapt with the changing times. Furthermore, the fact that food has always been an integral part of our culture also helped in formulating the strategy. Due to this, Soya Supreme is shown as an integral part of any family’s food ethos hence giving birth to the concept, consumers’ ‘Life Ki Theme’ by the concept team at the creative agency, The Brand Partnership (TBP) that played an instrumental role in shaping the central idea for the campaign. The campaign also took help from Indian films to have a more refined execution.
The campaign utilizes a 360 degree communication strategy that sells to the premium consumer segment. The media vehicles range from Above the Line (ATL) mediums in which mass media is used, TV, radio, outdoor, PR and digital to Below the Line (BTL) activities such as one to one advertising which usually includes pamphlets, brochures, and other point of sale material. Currently, the brand is working with the Brand Partnership for BTL activities. Digital medium was used to make the new TVC go viral on major social media websites including Facebook.
Other than advertising, brand integration was also carried out based on the target audience for Soya Supreme. Hum Network’s food channel, Masala TV, as well as entertainment channels including ARY Digital and Express Entertainment, and the hybrid channel, Samaa TV, were utilized.
The idea for the Life Ki Theme campaign was devised after a market study was conducted on consumer and market behaviors towards the brand and the vegetable oil category. The survey-style research revealed that Soya Supreme lacked emotional appeal in its previous campaigns, and only focused on its functional aspects. Therefore, the brand had to create an emotional hook with consumers in order to connect with them effectively. The survey also revealed that food is the nucleus of any Pakistani household’s activities while cooking oil or vanaspati act as one of its main ingredients.
Also it has been observed that the month of Ramadan witnesses the highest sales for edible oil category and many consumers register an increase in their buying behavior therefore the campaign was launched right before the holy month in order to get maximum sales results.
No campaign or effort is considered complete if it is not fruitful. However, the Life Ki Theme campaign is an ongoing one hence its effectiveness still needs to be gauged. As for now, the campaign has been very well received and appreciated by all the stakeholders and we are confident that it will help Soya Supreme in increasing its market share and growth.