relaunching failed product
DESCRIPTION
Discussing the reason as why the product failed product failed and relaunching it.TRANSCRIPT
INTRODUCTION
Engro Corporation is one of the leading Pakistani business conglomerates with stakes in the
fertilizer, food, power generation, petrochemicals, automation and terminal storage industries.
Having had undergone an employee led buyout in 1992 it has expanded phenomenal in the past
two decades. As a holding company its subsidiaries include:
Engro Fertilizers Limited
Engro Foods Limited
Engro Eximp Private Limited
Engro PowerGen Limited
Engro Polymers and Chemicals Limited
Engro Vopak Limited
ENGRO FOODS
Engro Foods Limited was officially launched as a fully owned subsidiary of Engro in 2004.
Using dairy as a stepping stone to enter into the food business, the Company has established
state-of-the-art processing units in Sukkur and Sahiwal, along with an ice cream production
facility in Sahiwal.
Top quality brands like Olper’s, Olwell, Tarang, Omore and Owsum have been successfully
launched under the helm of Company’s dairy products. To support these brands and their highest
standards of quality, Engro Foods has invested heavily in milk processing and milk collection
infrastructure.
With an acquisition of Al Safa – a fast growing and established Halal meat brand – Engro Foods
is now venturing into North American market starting from Halal Foods category. The new
organization, Engro Foods Canada Ltd. with a subsidiary Engro Foods USA, LLC, intends to
aggressively grow the business in this market.
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LASSI
Lassi is a popular and traditional yogurt-based drink which originates in the Punjab regions of
India and Pakistan. It is made by blending yogurt with water and Indian spices. Traditional lassi
(also known as salted lassi, or, simply lassi) is a savory drink sometimes flavored with ground
roasted cumin while sweet lassi on the other hand is blended with sugar or fruits instead of
spices.
OMUNG LASSI
Engro Foods introduced lassi brand called Omung Lassi in mid of June 2012.
Omung Lassi Slogan: “Guru Ho Ja Shuru”
Omung Lassi Flavors:
1) Namkeen Taskeen (Saltish Lassi)2) Methi Masti (Sweet Lassi)
Omung Lassi Competitors: No Competitor
Price: The price of Lassi is Rs. 20.
Promotion: Engro used the electronic media, bill boards, internet, vehicles for promotion.
Place: They target all over the Pakistan, mainly urban areas. Because people in rural areas prefer to make lassi with their own hands.
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TARGET MARKET
According Geographical aspect, it is targeting mainly urban areas.
According to Demographical aspects, they are targeting young boys and girls only.
According to Social Class, they are targeting the middle and upper middle class people.
As a dairy liquid it is targeted at SECs B and C.
Grade Social class Chief income earner's occupation
A upper middle class Higher managerial, administrative or professional
B middle class Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
C1 lower middle classSupervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative or
professional
C2 skilled working class Skilled manual workers
D working class Semi and unskilled manual workers
EThose at the lowest levels of
subsistence
Casual or lowest grade workers, pensioners and others who
depend on the welfare state for their income
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TV COMMERCIAL
A Word From The Client
”The idea of launching Omung Lassi stemmed directly from a significantly untapped potential
for hygienic lassi which tasted like it was homemade combined with the convenience and
confidence of a safe packaging format. Traditionallylassi has been a popular drink for the masses
and it was strategically correct to position Omung Lassi under the portfolio of Omung since it
offers price and value to discerning consumers.” - Zulfiqar Ali Ansari, Group Brand Manager
– Dairy, Engro Foods
A Word From The Agency
“Our pitch was ‘make lassi sexy’ in a way that would connect with our key audience (young
men). The insight for our bullseye audience was that at this age they are looking for love; are
trying to make a statement with what they wear and the brands they consume; and their icons are
people like Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and the likes. So we have come up with a character
called the Love Guru and given it a Pakistani feel. The platform for Omung Lassi is Pyaar Ka
Naya Ilaaj and the Guru gives advice on how to find true love. Yes, and the solution he provides
is Omung Lassi.” - Neil Christy, CEO, Headlion
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SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
It has no competitors.
It has a relatively low price as products that comes under the umbrella of Dairy Omung
are relatively low in price.
It has a very attractive packaging.
Tetrapak to ensure it’s freshness.
Weaknesses
People prefer to make Lassi at home.
People doubt the freshness of a packed Lassi.
Opportunities
New variants
Increase market share
Threats
Strong competition from competitors in near future.
Inflation
Low Purchasing Power
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Questionnaire
Name:
Age:
1) Do you like to drink Lassi?a) Yesb) No
2) How often you drink Lassi?a) Dailyb) More than 3 times a weekc) Less than 3 times a weekd) I don’t drink it
3) Have you ever tried “Omung Lassi”?a) Yesb) No
4) Where did you first come to know about “Omung Lassi”?a) Through TV advertisement.b) Through a friend or relative.c) Through Bill board.d) Through internet.e) Any other source, please specify ________________.
5) Do you like the concept of packed Lassi?a) Yes b) No
6) Rate “Omung Lassi” according to it’s taste?a) Excellentb) Goodc) Averaged) Bad
7) Do you think Omung Lassi has a reasonable price?a) Yesb) No
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8) Rate Omung Lassi’s “Guru Hoja Shuru” TV advertisement?a) Excellent b) Goodc) Averaged) Below averagee) Cheap
9) Do you like the idea of aligning a drink like Lassi with “Love”, as Engro did in it’s marketing campaign?
a) Yesb) Noc) Not sure
10) Do you think; as a Lassi, it’s packaging needs to be changed as it has to be different from juices packaging?
a) Yesb) Noc) Not sure
11) Is it available in your nearby retail shop?a) Yesb) No
12) Rate your preference from 1 – 5 for any food brand? 1 for most preferable and 5 for least preferable!
a) Low Price ( )b) High Quality ( )c) Taste ( )d) Availability ( )e) Hygiene ( )
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SURVEY
1) Do you like to drink Lassi?
No
Yes
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Q1
Q-1
2) How often you drink Lassi?
I don't
More than 3 times a week
Less than 3 times a week
Daily
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Q2
Q2
3) Have you ever tried “Omung Lassi”?
No
Yes
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Q3
Q3
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4) Where did you first come to know about “Omung Lassi”?
Internet
Bill board
Friend
TV ad
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Q4
Q4
5) Do you like the concept of packed Lassi?
No
Yes
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Q5
Q5
6) Rate “Omung Lassi” according to it’s taste?
Bad
Average
Good
Excellent
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Q6
Q6
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7) Do you think Omung Lassi has a reasonable price?
No
Yes
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Q7
Q7
8) Rate Omung Lassi’s TV advertisement?
Cheap
Below Average
Aveage
Good
Excellent
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Q8
Q8
9) Do you like the idea of aligning a drink like Lassi with “Love”, as Engro did in it’s marketing campaign?
Not sure
No
Yes
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Q9
Q9
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10)Do you think; as a Lassi, it’s packaging needs to be changed as it has to be different from juices packaging?
Not sure
No
Yes
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Q10
Q10
11) it available in your nearby retail shop?
No
Yes
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Q11
Q11
12)Rate your preference from 1 – 5 for any food brand? 1 for most preferable and 5 for least preferable!
Preference
Price QualityTasteAvailabilityHygiene
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WHY IT FAILED?
After doing extensive research, we came to the conclusion that there were mainly two reasons
behind it’s failure.
1) Advertisement: Engro has just targeted young people for this product however Lassi is a
drink which is loved by elders and kids too. Whether young or old, it is a drink enjoyed
by all age groups. You really can’t classify it as a ‘sexy’ drink, only aimed for young men
and women and it is definitely not ‘pyar ka naya ilaaj’. Also the way of communicating
message is not decent at all as they’ve associated their brand with a bit of cheapness.
Firstly, since we’ve stopped producing original stuff, it’s not surprising that this
commercial is a desi version of the Heineken Serenades campaign (not that the original is
any good either). Secondly, what are they really trying to say? What’s the point behind
‘Guru, ho ja shuru’? Who is the Guru? Is it the man dressed in the hideous blue jacket,
dancing away with women who are reminiscent of namkeen and meethi lassi-cum-love?
How can lassi be compared to love and also be the remedy for love at the same time?
Not only have they taken a long-established product, but also given it the wrong
characteristics. They’re targeting the age group whose prime objective in life (according
to the proposed strategy) is to find perfection in love. It’s not liqueur or an energy drink
for the youth that they can choose a specific target audience or even try to change the
characteristics of the product when it already has a deep-rooted image. Also, the ad
doesn’t really tempt the viewer into going to try the product.
Recently, Olpers also started a scheme where with every carton (containing 12 boxes of
Olpers milk) you would get four packs of Omung Lassi free. Apparently, companies have
to start implementing such promotions when their advertising strategy fails.
2) Taste: Many people whom I talked to said that they don’t like the taste of lassi, as it is
different from the genuine taste of a lassi. The taste fails to satisfy the taste of costumers.
During Pakistan/ India cricket match, Omung Lassi was ordered in bulk quantity.
Hundreds of students tried that out and just after taking a sip or two, they threw it into the
dustbin. It’s taste is more like that of a Salted\Sweetened Laban – a popular drink during
Summer and Ramazan in the Middle East.
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RELAUNCHING “OMUNG LASSI”
POSITIONING
Positioning is in the mind of the consumer and can be described as how the product is considered
by that consumer. When researching the positioning of a product, consumers are often asked how
they would describe that product if it were a person. We need to position this Lassi as a part of
their daily life. As a symbol of thirst quenching and freshness. When any person thinks of
Omung Lassi, the first thing that would come to his mind is it’s freshness. This affinity between
the brand and the consumer leads to a high degree of loyalty and makes the purchasing decision
easier.
CHANGE IN TARGET MARKET
The market has been segmented by us geographically, demographically and according to the
social class. Geographically, we’d try only to target urban areas as this product won’t do any
wonders in rural areas because people there prefer to make lassi by their own hand. Apart from
that places like breakfast hotels, railway station would specially be preferred and Engro would
make sure to have their product at these places everywhere.
According to demographics, we’d try to target every age group because it is a drink loved by
everyone, elders and kids, not just by young men and women. So it is in appropriate just to target
young people. More importantly we’d try to make an impression on housewives.
According to the SEC(Socio-economic class), the company would target the same chunk of
costumers ranging from Middle class to Upper Middle class.
CHANGE IN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
As we find out during the research that people really don’t like Omung Lassi’s taste. As many
compared it with the middle eastern drink Laban, the production department has to change their
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way of manufacturing it and to make it’s taste more like a rich Lassi. This is very important for
the brand, as no matter how much brilliant promotion a company does, if it’s product is not
according to the expected value by costumers, they are not going to buy it again.
PRICING STRATEGY
As Engro’s product Omung Lassi has no competitors and since it follows the target market of
middle class and upper middle class people. It simply needs to follow cost-plus pricing. The
profit would be set to initial level to encourage the costumers to buy the product and try it out,
and when it’s equity would increase then we would slightly increase it’s price as well.
CHANGE IN ADVERTISEMENT
You don’t need rocket science for advertisement of a product like Lassi. What first comes in our
mind when we think of a Lassi. Is it “Love?” or is it the freshness of a Lassi. Instead of their
recent advertisement that everyone called cheap during a survey from mostly middle class and
upper middle class people, we would base their marketing campaign around the fact that the
drink itself is thirst quenching and refreshing in this hot summers, and would try to communicate
its healthy yogurt like properties.
Hence a tempting advertisement would be made targeting mainly people who has a fast life and
who travels a lot, and also those people who don’t have time to make it in home. They would
prefer a good quality product from a well known brand like Engro Foods.
CHANGE IN PACKAGING
Since Lassi is a dairy product and it is different from juices and other bevarages, we think that
square box is not suitable for it. Lassi is more of an open drink. So we have changed it’s
packaging strategy. Instead of a square pack, a glass shaped round tetrapak has been introduced
by us. Now you could either drink it with a straw or more preferably you could drink it by
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removing the upper cap of the tetrapak which would provide you real life-like scenerio, as most
of the people do not prefer to drink such a product with a straw.
Another change includes 2 variants of Omung Lassi. 250ml and 450 ml.
450 ml 250 ml
DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY
As Engro has a vast network of distributor all over Pakistan and it distributes the products along
retailers very effectively and time, so there is no need to make a change in it’s distribution
strategy. They just have to make sure about it’s freshness as I is dairy product.
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