Maricos Marketing Strategy Analysis

Initial Positioning
Marico Ltd. began positioning Saffola as a medicine and therapeutic brand and it
proved to be a huge success. Success of the campaign was equally supported by a
high quality product with highest PUFA element. Doctors, Cardiologist, Subject
Matter experts were made aware of the brand and they started recommending this
to heart patients and potential heart patients. This resulted in a niche segment.
Marketing Mix

Product Quality product with highest PUFA

Price - Premium
Promotion Above-the-line below-the-line marketing activities.

Companys STP

Revised Segmentation and Target

1. Customer survey was right in a sense that they thought of covering the whole
family.
2. It was a correct decision to cover SEC B, 25-45 age group, health conscious
and working busy executives

Revised Positioning
Company realized that they will have to reposition their brand to tap into another
non customer segment which is looking for healthy, light and tasty cooking oil. This
non customer segment avoided the saffola brand considering it necessary only for
people who are heart patients. In order to penetrate into this segment it was
necessary to reposition the brand with a new message. However, company failed to
do so because customers developed a deep sense of initial brand positioning and
they would recall health, less tasty, fear and medicine when they think of Saffola.
Positioning of parent brand was so impactful that only existing customers changed
to new product resulting in cannibalization of sales and it failed to tap non
customers.
Sales Report

Recommendation
Company should have used Saffola brand to target the existing segmentation and
for extended segmentation they should have launched a new brand altogether.