Saffola Cooking Oil

The Repositioning Journey

By Laurel Antony

By Group 6 :
Ankit Parashar PGP17008
Arunabh Sengupta PGP17012
Gaurav Pratap Singh PGP17024
Jahangeer Asif PGP17027
Pratish Dugar PGP17052
Protosh Pratim Borah PGP17053
 Repositioning

 Repositioning refers to the major change in positioning for the

brand/product. To successfully reposition a product, the firm has
to change the target market’s understanding of the product.
 This is sometimes a challenge, particularly for well-established or
strongly branded products.
 Firms may consider repositioning a product due to declining
performance or due to major shifts in the environment.
 Following companies have been successful in repositioning
themselves: Burberry, Harley Davidson, McDonald’s, ITC, Royal
Enfield and Saffola as well.
Marico

Introduction
Harsh Mariwala, promoter and CMD of
consumer goods firm Marico had joined his
family business in 1971
Our Business
Marico is an Indian consumer goods
company providing consumer products
and services in the areas of Health and
Beauty based in Mumbai

Brands including Kaya Limited,

Parachute, Saffola, Hair&Care, Nihar,
Mediker, Revive, Manjal, Livon, Set
Wet, Zatak, Fiancee, HairCode, Eclipse,
X-Men
 Saffola Variant

SAFFOLA ACTIVE SAFFOLA TASTY SAFFOLA GOLD SAFFOLA TOTAL

 Journey of Saffola
Launched as Edible oil in 1960’s under the brand BOIL
Sub-brand of Marico(found in 1990)
Tasted success in 1990s
During 1990’s:
They marketed on higher PUFA(Poly-unsaturated fatty acids) content
displaying it as a h
Targeted age group: 45+ years male
Target Customer: Wife's of the target age group
It was advised by cardiologists.
Soon became the brand of choice of heart patients
Advantage of first mover
 Continued…

 During 2000’s:
 Two brands were on sale namely: Saffola and Saffola Tasty
 During the turnaround of Faced stiff competition from Sundrop and
Goldwinner
 Deeply entrenched as medicinal and therapeutic brand
 Growth largely came from within the existing user base experimenting with
different variants
 Introduced ‘Saffola Nutriblend’ as a choice of healthy living
 ‘Sehat se jeena hai campaign’ launched and sales improved by 15%
 After the campaign, the sales fell to pre campaign level
Problem with Current Positioning
 Stagnation of sales
 Perceived as a prescription brand
 Narrowing of target market
 Attached with negative connotation of fear in an increasingly
optimistic society
 Performed poorly on aspirational and emotional dimensions
 Perceived as low taste product
 ‘Specialist’ brand not fit for children
Kapferer’s Brand Prism Framework
 Case Dilemma

Whether to target and widen brand appeal to non-heart related

consumer segment to improve stagnant sales or increase focus in
potential heart risk related consumer segment which was
increasing in India (one in four adults)
 New Strategy
 Targeted new demographic segment ‘hopefully healthful lifestyle’
consisting of primarily women and couples living in metros
 Transformation of negative connotation of heart like heart attacks,
cardiograms, hospitals, cholesterol to positive connotation of
heart like its association to healthy living, stamina and feel-good
factor
 Culture of fear to culture of trust
 Introduced Saffola Gold promising emotional benefits to the
consumer
 Employed 360 degree marketing approach
 Discontinued ‘Saffola Nutriblend’