Cargill is a 150-year-old company which offers a wide range of food, agriculture, financial and industrial products and services to the world. With the release of their campaign for Nature Fresh Sampoorna Chakki Atta, Neelima Burra, CMO, Cargill Foods India tells us why the tagline ‘Khali peth jung nahi jeeti jaati’ rings true for most women across the country today.
By NEETA NAIR
“For the women of today who are competing with men in every aspect, a lot of energy and mental strength is required to break the glass ceiling. There are equal challenges at home and office, several dreams to chase, so many aspirations to fulfil, all in 24 hours. So this campaign talks about how you can get more energy to demand more out of life with Nature Fresh Sampoorna Chakki Atta. If you ask me why Atta, it is because, in all these struggles and battles of day-to-day life, one generally tends to skip lunch or breakfast while on the go. You can’t win any battle on an empty stomach. So we at Cargill Foods India are attempting to give you Shakti Har Jung Ke Liye through this atta,” says Neelima Burra, CMO, Cargill Foods India, adding that the inspiration for this ad came from her personal life.
The brand has adapted this campaign to reflect the different struggles in life with taglines like ‘Boss se jung khaali peth nahin jeeti jaati’ and ‘Metro main seat ki jung khaali peth nahi jeeti jaati’. Burra elaborates, “Most of the consumers I have interacted with claim that they don’t have the strength to voice their thoughts at work because of a not-so-supportive work environment. So we have a parallel campaign which is also on air, targeting employees.”
Meanwhile the company itself is facing a big challenge in rebranding one of its heritage brands — Gemini oil. “The product is basically for Marathi and Kannada population and has kept pace with the changing consumer needs. Initially Gemini used to stand for purity and freshness, but over the years we have started focusing on the health aspect more,” says Burra. Talking about the challenges while marketing their diverse range of oil related products like Gemini, Nature Fresh, Sweekar, Rath and Sunflower Vanaspati; Burra says, “If you look at India geographically, every 500 kms the food, lifestyle, culture and oil preferences changes. South India consumes more of sunflower oil, North India consumes mustard oil and soya. It becomes very difficult to make a generic campaign which will resonate from North to South and East to West. Looking at the way the oil industry is fragmented, it’s better to speak to consumers one-on-one in their language, in a manner that reflects their culture and tradition to make it relevant to them. So we focus on making concentrated campaigns even though it takes a lot of effort as opposed to making one umbrella campaign.”
But one kind of oil which is finding its way into the Indian household irrespective of the regional preferences is olive oil, and Cargill Foods India’s recently acquired Leonardo Olive Oil is fast creating a dent in the segment. Burra says, “We already have a campaign on air for our olive oil brand. It’s called ‘Khaata rahe mera dil’. It’s a very good take on Indianness. As Indians, we love food and thus oil shouldn’t be a barrier when it comes to our food habits. So we are promoting olive oil because that will take care of all health issues while adding to the taste of food.
Talking about Cargill Foods India’s marketing strategy Burra says, “In a year, we spend more than Rs 100 cr to build our brands which include Gemini, Sweekar, Sunflower Oil, Nature Fresh oil and Nature Fresh atta as well. Then there is Rath Vanaspathi, Sunflower Vanaspathi and Leonardo is of course the olive oil brand.
For Leonardo, the spends are mostly on the digital medium, experiential marketing and BTL promotion in the form of retail experience drive, demonstration, mall participation etc. However for the other products we also indulge in consumer engagement activity in rural areas. This includes drawing their attention through skits, melas and exhibition participation.”
