From oil to oats

Stale markets have norms that haven’t changed for years, leading to commoditised offerings, mindless ritualised operations and wafer-thin margins. What were the stale norms in your category?

When Saffola entered the edible oil market in the 1960s, almost all the players focused on food and taste. All the conversation around edible oils was driven by the oilseed and each region of the country favoured an oil based on the taste. There was very little differentiation or branding and hence the market was driven by commodities.

It is at this point that Saffola realised that it could create a differentiated play in the edible oil market on the vector of health; a differentiated but relevant play since the burgeoning middle class and a stretched lifestyle was increasingly putting urban heart at risk. This immediately set Saffola apart from other edible oils in the market and created a premium profitable brand in an otherwise commoditised category with wafer-thin margins.

In the oats market, consumer research revealed that in spite of Indian consumers finding oats healthy, they would choose other daily breakfast options over oats on account of the lack of taste.

The R&D team also identified certain strong preconceived notions which worked against the market for oats in India. Oats was perceived to be plain, tasteless and boring, and as a result meant only for the ‘sick’ or ‘old’. Indians inherently are used to hot and savoury breakfast. Oats porridge is usually had sweet, which doesn’t go well with Indian tastes. The consumer would see health and taste at the opposite ends of the spectrum i.e. consuming healthy would mean compromising on taste and vice versa. Once again, identifying this opportunity in the consumers’ lives and hence in the market, Saffola launched the first-ever savoury, flavoured oats, and the innovation has worked well in the market.

What was your breakthrough and what insight was it based on?

In the early 1960s, years before organic food consumption and healthy living had caught the interest of Indians, Marico had introduced Saffola as India’s first edible oil that is good for the heart. Saffola has emerged successfully time and again to create relevant products for the consumer that reiterates the brand promise.

In addition to this, in a country where most people do not care about their heart till they encounter a heart problem and one Indian dies every four minutes due to heart disease, Saffola took upon itself the task of driving awareness of heart health. Today, after over five decades, not as just a brand but a way of life, Saffola has built an ecosystem which works actively towards adopting a healthier lifestyle.

It started with the realisation of building a niche and premiumised brand for selective target audience that spoke a different language. Highlighting the heart risk that Indians at large face, it played a significant role in urging the consumers to move to healthy oil. One of the many innovations that Saffola brought to the market is the introduction of blended oils. Blended oils were considered inferior because of fears of adulteration. However, Saffola was the first to blend two edible oils that received market acceptance with no hindrance. Even today Saffola keeps pushing the bar on innovation in oils.

Saffola ventured into the oats category in the year 2010. In a short span it has become the number two player nationally both in terms of value and volume, as a result of its innovation in the category. Marico realised that while there was an existing market for healthy breakfast and snacks, there was a lack of tasty options. The challenge was to get a ‘universal tasting’ product keeping regional nuances in consideration. Indian taste preferences across regions were decoded and a common thread was identified, which gave universal taste appeal. The brand realised that Indians are used to a very ‘masala’ sort of taste palette. Thus, Saffola Masala Oats was launched, a product that brought together the goodness of oats along with a dash of masala and vegetables, thereby becoming the first savoury oats in the world and transformed the way ‘oats’ used to be perceived.

Furthermore the market was expanded and now Saffola Masala Oats not only is a breakfast but also a snack option.

To become a true game-changer, the new concept must trigger a storm and for that, it must hit the critical mass at a certain pace. Any slower, and the concept could join the large number of ‘great ideas’ that almost made it. What did you do to hit the critical mass?

The foundation of all Saffola products has been the same — innovative products that are good for the heart and backed by the credibility of cutting-edge science. This has allowed us to be differentiated and hit the critical mass on our successful ideas. At the onset of the business, it was largely built through recommendations from key influencers and local marketing efforts. As we got more scale, mass marketing campaigns started and then we realised that we were faced with a unique problem.

Consumers don’t think much about heart care unless diagnosed with a problem. But equally unique is Saffola’s approach to this mission, reminding the Indian family in many small and big ways about the need to be proactive about heart health. Saffola’s methodology defies all known practices. The brand has always kept social uplift firmly above profits, kept heart health above all corporate machinations. In 1991, Saffola created The Healthy Heart Foundation and then the non-profit artery of Saffolalife in 2006.

Saffola facilitates expensive diagnostic test and medical check-ups to those unaware of their own BP and cholesterol levels (both users and non-users), builds awareness around women’s heart health, provides dietician service and engages with consumers on World Health Day.

In a span of just four years since its conceptualisation, Saffola Masala Oats has become the No.1 brand of India in the savoury oats category. The innovation led to major players identifying this to be a market with great potential and they followed suit. This resulted in the creation of an entirely non-existing market that was the need of the hour among health-conscious Indians looking for a tasty option.

What qualities, according to you, separate the ‘Market Stormers’ from the rest?

Market stormers are the ones that refuse to be passive spectators. Challenges are assertively faced. They identify opportunities even in failures and slip-ups. They are on the constant lookout for changing industry trends, consumer behaviours, and technology upgradations and accordingly alter their approach.

Stormers do not hesitate to experiment or break traditional barriers to open the market to a fresher trend. There is an urge to provide not a mere product or service, but walk the extra mile to provide satisfaction and fulfilment.

Storm The Norm is a business book authored by marketing strategist Anisha Motwani with a unique framework by Innovation expert Ranjan Malik. It contains case studies of brands that wrote or rewrote the norms of their respective industries.

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