Most of us probably know the popular Saffola brand from Marico. But what we don’t realise is that this brand is more than an oil brand; it represents a family. A family that has had the honour and privilege of selling oils to our families for decades, and which has made a name for itself in its relentless pursuit of excellent quality

This case study deep dives into knowing about Saffola, its target audience, the 4P of the marketing mix, its marketing strategies and campaigns undertaken by them. So let us first know about Saffola as a brand in the coming section.

About Saffola

 

One of India’s leading FMCG companies in the global beauty and wellness space, Marico has continuously strived to bring innovation to its customers through sustainable developments in its operations. Marico believes in challenging the established order and strives for growth and continuity in change. 

At present, one of three Indians uses a Marico product. It exists in more than 25 countries across the continents of Asia & Africa.

 

 

Saffola, being the flagship brand of Marico, is considered to be a leading healthcare brand today. It was founded sometime in the 1960s, but gained prominence only after 1990 when it was repackaged as a healthcare brand.

The brand has undergone a transition from being curative to preventive heart-care edible oil, which has been reflected in their communications too. 

Now that we know a little more about the brand, let us now go through Saffola’s segmentation strategy.

 

Target Market and Segmentation Strategy of Saffola

The demographic segmentation strategy of Saffola based on the parameters of Income, Occupation and Age:

Income

• High-income groups
• Middle-income groups

Occupation

• Home-makers
• Working professionals
• Educated youth

Age

• 21-45 years of people
• 45+ years of people

Now that we have an overview of the brand’s segmentation strategy, let us now focus on the marketing mix strategy of Saffola in the next section.

 

Marketing Mix of Saffola

The marketing mix model popularly knows as 4Ps, is a way to understand a business and its marketing efforts. It helps you evaluate key areas of the business on the parameters of 4Ps: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. So let us go through Saffola’s 4Ps of marketing mix strategy in the coming section.

 

Product Strategy of Saffola

Saffola has a variety of products to offer such as Oils, Oats, Ayurvedic products, Protein Products etc, categorised under the section of Mid-morning snacks, meals and snacks. This is the basic product strategy framework that Saffola focuses on.

 

Saffola’s farming methods do not pollute the crops, soil, underground water or the air. In addition, the brand undertakes in-house production and doesn’t opt for outsourcing thus resulting in quality products.

Even at a time when the affluent Indian’s obsession with health is leading them to buy super-premium olive oils at two or three times the price, Saffola is meeting the challenge with new blends like Aura combination of olive and flaxseed oil. 

 

Price Strategy of Saffola

Saffola has different products to suit different customers. Marico’s reasoning is that since Saffola oil commands a premium of 10-15% over other edible oil brands, the company is able to cater to the demand of all the customers from different purchasing power groups by offering a variety of products. 

The company wants to leverage the Saffola brand equity through brand extension. Saffola’s increase in market share is despite the fact that it is available at a higher price point than the rest. With upbeat demand for fresh buying owing to marriage and festive seasons in India.

 

Place & Distribution Strategy of Saffola

Marico has a very large existing distribution network. They use that same network for the distribution and tried to place Saffola initially at high-value outlets and gradually, after moving to different price categories, they increased the reach of the product to general stores. Most of the rural areas still remain untapped. 

However, numerous e-commerce websites offer Saffola products at considerate discounts which kind of taps the rural area but with less effectiveness.

Saffola is using a variety of distribution channels to reach out to people. Where, wholesale distributors, big malls, grocery stores act as key distributors in their distribution cycle to effectively meet the demands of the customer 

 

Promotion Strategy of Saffola

Saffola cooking oil reinforced the need for a product that was ideally, ‘healthy for the heart’.

• They, in fact, started streaming testimonials with doctors, persuading people to make informed decisions.
• Advertisements focused on targeting consumers having heart, blood pressure and health problems.
• To build trust amongst high-income groups, they showed Saffola as a branded oil

This clever appropriation of the space with communication that triggered the fear of almost losing a loved one to a heart attack did the trick. Saffola today equalizes with preventive heart care in the country. 

So this is how Safolla plays out its marketing mix strategy, let us now go through the main marketing strategy that it implements for better brand connect and high brand reinforcement in the mind of the customers.

 

Marketing Strategy of Saffola

Marico has positioned Saffola as a high-quality edible oil with heart-friendly properties as ‘Good for your heart’. The brand’s marketing taglines revolves around the same lines such as, “Life Insurance for Heart”, “Swasth ParivaarKe Dil Ki Dhadkan” etc.

For over half a century, Saffola has been one of the best edible oil brands in India. Modifying its product packaging and reviving its marketing approaches assisted the brand to stay relevant in the market and gather a huge audience.

Some of the marketing strategies of Safolla which has helped it to stay on the button are:

• Fear Marketing with High Recall Value

Saffola enjoys a strong recall value from both, its potential as well as loyal customers who uphold their faith in this brand due to the fear marketing concepts it instils in the marketing campaigns for a long time now.

• Digital Marketing Strategy of Saffola

Internet is an effective promotional tool in today’s times and Saffola has profitably leveraged it. Saffola’s advertisement bits are regularly streamed across major social media platforms. The Facebook and Twitter pages are active, regularly updated and responded to. 

Their website, www.saffolalife.com, is designed to calculate your heart risk. This website is a thoughtful not-for-profit initiative that dedicatedly provides information on keeping the heart healthy and also has a Youtube Channel under the same name, Safolla Life.

These are key marketing strategies that have helped the brand maintain its strong brand connect among the audiences. Let us now go through its advertising campaigns that Saffola has undertaken to increase brand awareness further in the next section.

 

Marketing & Advertising Campaigns of Saffola

Marketing and advertising are the very key elements for a company’s success. These two are no different from each other in any way; both have to work together to let people know about products and services.

Both are aimed towards creating brand awareness and also helps introduce a new product to the market. A good marketing campaign can boost a new product’s sales tremendously.

Saffola’s strategy when it comes to adverts, revolve around promoting fitness. They want their consumers to maintain a healthy lifestyle and live better longer lives. Let us look at some of the popular campaigns of Saffola in the coming sections.

 

Saffola Active – Ek Chhota Kadam, Fit Rehne Ke Liye

Saffola launched this campaign back in 2017 to promote the launch of Saffola Active’s low absorb oil. 

Saffola Active with Losorb technology helps to absorb fat contents from oil which also helps in the digestion process. Losing weight provides immense benefits to your health and well-being. 

This campaign was accompanied by a catchy song showcasing that we don’t just take one big step, but several small steps every day in order to stay fit. 

With Saffola’s low absorb oil, you can add one more small and effective step in the journey to further strengthen your fitness and diet regime.

Saffola Active New – Chaar Kadam Aage

Safolla launched this campaign back in 2015. The motive behind this campaign to promote Saffola Active’s new product variant. 

The campaign illustrated our daily life happenings in a very relatable way, portraying how people choose stairs over lifts, daily jogs etc but later ends up eating junk foods anyway which negates the diet and fitness regime. So to reduce the effectiveness of junk foods, Saffola’s Active Oil kicks in.

 

 

With this we have come to an of this case study, let us go through the final summary of the research in the coming section.

Conclusion

The Saffola brand from Marico is the market leader in edible oils in India. For over 30 years, it has stood for purity and trust among consumers. The brand started with oil products and soon became a versatile, trusted platform built around the leading edible oil products of today.

The brand has placed its products very well in a wide range of categories and has all the proper marketing instruments in place to promote its products. Thus keeping all the base covered up, be it digital or professional.

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