So Klin Deepens Market Share with Unique CSR Initiative
So Klin recently stepped up activities through unique but highly impactful 15 minutes national radio reality show that qualifies for a Corporate Social responsibility initiative. O’Lekan Babatunde writes about this marketing on a shoe string budget tracing the history of the brand in the market.
Branding is about building parity for a product with a view to differentiating it from the sea of competitors in the market. So Klin, came into the market in 1995 aptly described as ‘cheap unbranded detergent’ product. The marketing then was more of a happenstance with the product managing to wriggle through the mesh which the detergent market has become.
However, playing the price war and basically marketing to the bottom wrung critical mass on the market ladder, it commenced a slow ascent gaining market recognition and consumer acceptance.
This upward swing in the market was made possible because a space exists in the market due to the fact that leading and established brands like Omo and Elephant blue detergent were almost out of the reach of the common consumers. This was also aided by the fact that these leading brands did not readily have economy packs sizes for the consumers.
It therefore chose to be the “Cowbell” of the detergent market, introducing first economy pack sizes to capture the vast majority of the low end income earners. This strategy paid off delivering the market to So Klin as it were. “Sensing there is a market for small packs, So Klin ventured into an uncharted territory where all other brands are packed in bigger and less affordable sizes. The move easily connected with the Nigerian masses”, reveals Oliver Terante, Marketing Director, Eko Supreme Resources.
At the entry of the product into the market, its white colour format, when other brands were blue in colour, further reinforced its claim to deliver superior cleanliness with just a little amount of powder used. This was succinctly captured in the tag line “So Klin, So Little Gives So Much”. Claiming that this was made possible because “So Klin is a high concentrate detergent”, the Marketing Director added that the concentrated formula actually raised the standard of powder detergents in this market category. The product was imported up until 2004, when the regulatory landscape changed with the imposition of an importation ban on a wide array of consumer goods including powder detergents.
After a period of absence, the marketers of the fledging brand latched on this opportunity to commence local manufacturing of the product. “While competition may have expected the demise of So Klin, it sets up its local manufacturing plant revving to regain what it lost during its temporary absence.
For a brand be able to stand the test of time, it must remain relevant to internal and external stakeholders – the society where it operates and consumers, most especially.
Fired by this belief, So Klin commenced a series of Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) by way of donating desk top computers and printers to selected schools in Lagos State. So far, over 30 schools have benefited from the project. So Klin aims to expand the project by giving it a pan-Nigeria spread before the year runs out.
Recently, So Klin added a new but unique CSR initiative to strengthen its brand relevance and move the brand to the next level when it commenced a 15 minutes CSR programme on radio stations across the nation.
The programme tagged “Dear Soklin” started on Star FM Lagos and has since commenced on Wazobia FM, Lagos , Splash FM Ibadan, FM Ilorin and other stations covering the South East, South South and Northern areas of the country. The 15-minutes programme is like a wish-giving reality show. “Dear So Klin” will grant ‘wishes’ from people who send in their wishes either through e-mails or text messages to publicised e-mail addresses and phone numbers.
Only wishes that are meant for someone else, and not for the wish-sender, will be considered. Ideally these will be wishes that carry emotional and maybe life-changing values.
The programme currently in its 10th episode is being presented by Moyo Oyatogun, with Wale Obadeyi Producing, Dada Ajai-Ikhile, Supervising Producer and Oliver Terante Executive Producer.
The programme pushes a ‘positive results’ approach. It focuses on the hope and dream of the recipient and not on the misery of his/her circumstance. A number of individuals have benefited from this unique CSR initiative.
For Terante, who claims the initiative is delivering positive results on the brand, he hopes to take So Klin beyond its current self claimed number 2 brand in the powder detergent category. This is primarily due to the fact that So Klin mainly competes in the sachet segment – from 35 g and below while most of the other competing brands offer multiple sizes and multiple variants, he explains.
To deepen its market share market, So Klin recently introduced the 200g, 400g and 900g pack sizes to its range. This is to meet the growing market of affluent Nigerian consumers who sees some economic efficiency in bigger sizes. This Terante hopes to tackle and deliver better sales result with the company’s social platform being the catalyst to enhance its market performance.
