Larsor Launches New TVC

Olaseeni Durojaiye

Larsor, a food seasoning from the stables of Tiger Foods Nigeria Limited, seems to be making more strides than critics thought. The recent launch of a new television commercial for the product appears to underscore a strong resolve to play big and increase its market share.
The new TVC, M2 checks reveal, is capable of revving-up the consumer base of the brand, as experts posit that it meets some of the requirements expected of a result yielding ad copy.
Against the backdrop that the food seasoning category market is saturated, brand builders and watchers hold that launching the TVC is a welcome development adding that doing so in the weeks preceding the Easter season is strategic and will further rev-up the market share of Larsor. This conclusion is premised on the fact that the season is similar to the yuletide when there is high scale cooking and merriment in many homes.
Besides the sales angle to it, it is believed that the TVC is primed to achieve core advertising goals: attract people in the product’s target market, build interest in the product, and lastly, create a desire for the product with the capability of inducing trial.
That Larsor is targeted at consumers in the ‘D’ and ‘E’ socio-economic class and the fact that a couple of the characters in the humour laden TVC copy are well known and enjoy popularity within the above mentioned categories further helps the copy to connect easily with the target segment. The ability of a copy to connect with its target audience, many brand builders agree, is a vital point to consider when crafting an advertising copy. Of what good is an ad that cannot talk to its audience? Or that which fails to engage its audience?
The ‘Landlord’ in the TVC is a popular comic act. His role in a popular sitcom as a cantankerous landlord and other cameo appearances in some television commercials, industry watchers agree, are in sync with the subject matter of the Larsor TVC.
Another factor that helps to create a connection with consumers is that the society is replete with landlords who are not only troublesome, but jump at the slightest opportunity to jerk up the rent. Such landlords are known to often resort to extra judicial means to achieve their aims; sometimes engaging Area Boys to do so. All of these issues are put into play in the Larsor TVC and it helps to attract the interest of the audience.
However, it must be noted that an Ad is only one of the components of the whole mix that drives a product’s sales success. Distribution, pricing, promotion and the quality of the product are among the others. This is one of the reasons why the decision to launch the TVC at a strategic time is hailed as a vital goal when considering ‘promotions’.
According to media reports, the product is currently riding high in the market, which presupposes that its quality is commendable. While not much can be said about the pricing, it is likely that that the TVC will help to increase its market share provided the pricing is right.
Meanwhile, it is commendable that the brand custodians deemed it fit to launch the television campaign pan Nigeria as this will no doubt help its penetration into markets beyond Lagos, which is considered as the main hub of many Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FCMG) brands.
A typical example of this is the fact that even when it was off other markets, Coca Cola ensured that its 5Alive brand was present in the Lagos market during the reconstruction of its Benin, Edo State, manufacturing plant that was gutted by fire a couple of years back.
In conclusion therefore, the new Larsor TVC deserves some commendation. It chooses a subject matter that its audience can relate with. It also employs characters that its target markets are familiar with. Yet again, it uses humour as a route via which it can attract the interest of its audience. A crisp and clean picture, short and sharp story telling device, and a good directorial approach are other factors that fetch the ad some hard to earn plaudits.