Coca-Cola, Bournvita, Ramadan Campaigns – Follow the Market and Thrive!

An enormous percentage of the Nigerian population are Muslims, and they form a very large market, especially for operators in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods companies (FMCG) segment, during the Muslim festive seasons. It therefore stands to reason that creating opportunities for building affinity and bonding with this population is a very logical business decision by any brand owner.
What we are used to in the time past is for brand owners to wait till the end of the Ramadan fasting season, known as Eid- Fitri, or the Eid – Kabir celebrations to identify with the Muslim population. This manifests in the conventional placement of the usual one page season greeting ads targeted at the Muslim population.
With the market becoming more competitive and with shrinking market spend, it is commendable that some brand managers are becoming more proactive in a bid to build relationships even at their low times. Findings have revealed that there is a lull in business during this time. It is therefore understandable when advertising on packaged food also experiences a cut back.
While some brands are doing it the age-long conservative ways, some brand are actually leveraging the essence of the season to deploy some tactical campaigns to further consolidate on the existing relationship between the brands and their consumers especially in this special season.
Notable among these brands are Coca Cola and Bournvita. Incidentally, these two operate in the food & beverage segment of the market which is always the most hit around this fasting period. The tactical campaigns which recently broke across the media suggest the brand owners – Cadbury Plc and Coca-Cola use the avenue to create a compelling need for their respective brands by the consumer.
Imagine when the message of the commercials hit the cord in the consumer. A chilled bottle of Coca-Cola to break a fast at dusk won’t be a bad idea. Neither would the idea of chilled cups of Bournvita for the Imam and his congregation after the long hours of fasting be repelled by these faithfuls. It will certainly add vitality to the famished bodies. These compelling need brought forth could actually increase demand for the brands despite the general downturn.
Beyond the immediate sales, building affinity and increasing potential bonding with the consumers provides long term benefit to the brand owners. About a year ago, Knorr cashed in on similar opportunity by going into the selected Mosques nationwide where it provided food for Muslims to break their fasts. The activation recorded huge positive impact on the brand and the company against competition. This is similar to what the two earlier mentioned brands are engaged in presently. The difference is that Bournvita and Coca-Cola are yet to involve the experiential angle.
How much do the brands really want to be in their respective customers’ lives? Just enough to make their consumers not to forget them; or enough to get their respective consumers and targets to become their best salespersons – spreading the sales message through word-of-mouth? It all depends on the brand owners.
A brand can become involved in the consumer’s life and lifestyle. For a brand like Bournvita, an exercise like this can be taken further to gather data on the target audience – his name, address and buying habits among other details. This will definitely provide special opportunity to deepen that relationship over time. The essence will be to bring about a relationship. There are five degrees of customer bonding. These are awareness, identity, relationship, community and advocacy. A database is not required at all levels. But with a database, it is possible to reach the higher degrees of bonding by maintaining a one-to-one relationship with each prospect and customer.
In essence, these two brands have started well with these beautiful initiatives – captivating radio, outdoor and press materials; but are there feedback loops or avenues where the brands can fully explore the benefits of these campaigns? I dare say ‘not enough’.
For Coca-Cola, this could be understandable; the brand’s global No.1 position justifies it. It can decide to be snobbish, but not Coca-Cola. However, Bournvita needs every of the data to boost its position in its vigorous battle to keep its head above waters in its competition against arch rival, Nestlé’s Milo.