No repentance, even at leisure, with Saffola

‘Saffola is only for heart patients’, or that’s what most people believed. Till Saffola came up with a hugely successful campaign called ‘Kal Se’. This campaign helped the brand shift its imagery from 14 per cent to 54 per cent and increase its consumer base from 6 per cent to 11 per cent.

But where, earlier, the challenge for Saffola was to reach out to consumers without heart disease, now it needs to retain the success achieved by the ‘Kal Se’ campaign and establish a strong positioning for itself. So, it has launched its latest TVC, ‘Prayaschit’.

R Chandrasekar, category head, Saffola, says, “We wanted to reach out to consumers who are in their thirties. At this age, people are normally not heart patients, but prone to such disease. Through the ‘Kal Se’ campaign, we tried to educate them about corrective measures against heart disease through their wives.”

He adds, “The ‘Prayaschit’ commercial has also taken a similar route, but it conveys a new message to the wives.”

The new Saffola Gold, which comes with ‘Losorb’ technology, ensures up to 22 per cent less absorption of the oil into food.

Though the ‘Prayaschit’ TVC – created by McCann-Erickson – Saffola asks wives to change their cooking oil to save their husbands from the penitence of exercising more, when they eat in excess.

The TVC shows various men involved in different physical exercise such as crunches, peck deck, skipping and jogging. Their counts have been replaced with the names of the various foods (‘samosas’, ‘gulab jamuns’, ‘jalebis’, butter chicken and ‘aloo puri’) that they are trying to work off.

At the end of the ad, the voiceover says, “Aap khilaye oily khana, unhe pade pachtana. Apnaiye Saffola Gold with ‘Losorb’ technology. Aap ke oil ke muqable 22 per cent kam absorb hota hai. Saffola Gold – Oil kam, pachtawa kam (You cook oily meals and he has to repent. So switch to Saffola Gold with ‘Losorb’ technology with up to 22 per cent less absorption of oil into food than your regular oil. Saffola Gold – Less oil, less guilt).”

Chandrasekar says, “The ‘Prayaschit’ campaign is based on the insight of ‘guilt after indulgence’.

Saffola’s commercials have always been inspired from real-life incidents. This is why McCann-Erickson conducted extensive research on the general consumer psyche before conceptualising the TVC. The study revealed that today’s consumers were more conscious about their eating habits. And for every extra intake of food, they look for ways to work it off.

As Prasoon Joshi, regional creative director, South and South East Asia, McCann-Erickson, says, “We decided to take this insight through a humorous route.”

He adds, “The commercial, which is the brainchild of McCann’s creative team (Ramanuj Shastri, Puneet Kapoor and Rahul Mathew), has been successful in portraying Saffola as a premium healthcare brand for the masses.”

As the TVC wanted to portray real life with a comic touch, getting the right expressions from the actors was a tough task. “This was the biggest challenge,” says Shoojit Sircar, director, Red Ice Films, who shot the film.

He adds, “Getting the right actors was a mammoth task. We auditioned more than 5,000 people. Apart from their acting skills, we needed actors with a particular kind of physique. However, these were all happy problems and, at the end of the day, it proved to be a fun job.”

The campaign had its funny moments. Sircar says, “The guy in the ‘samosa’ segment took some 20 takes to give the final shot. In every take, he failed to do more than two or three crunches. So, at the end of the day’s shoot, he was sitting on the floor holding his stomach. It was hilarious!”

Apart from the television campaign, Marico has undertaken a host of other marketing activities, all of which advise consumers to adopt a healthy lifestyle. On World Doctor’s Day, Saffola organised a ‘Doctor’s Run’ in Bangalore, in which the city’s doctors ran to spread the message of heart care. Saffola took a thought leadership stance for World Heart Day by pioneering the idea of cause-led marketing on a grand scale. A 360-degree integrated marketing programme was developed to spread the message of heart care.

Celebrities such as Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan, Isha Koppikar and Revathy were roped in to strengthen Saffola’s preventive heart care cause.

To conclude, Chandrasekar says, “We are looking at consolidating our hold over the premium edible oil space.”

© 2005 agencyfaqs!