Dhara adds the 'X factor' to its Kachi Ghani Mustard Oil

The campaign correlates the word 'jhanjh' (meaning pungency) to the purity of its Kachi Ghani mustard oil variant with the help of three TVCs.

Dhara, the edible oil brand from Mother Dairy, has launched a campaign for its Kachi Ghani mustard oil variant. The campaign aims to establish a recall value in the minds of consumers by making the word 'jhanjh' the X factor. 'Jhanjh' means pungency and is an oft-used term when referring to mustard oils. On another note, it also stands for purity of the mustard oil. DDB Mudra, the creative agency of Dhara, has tried to establish this colloquial term through three TVCs.

The three TVCs showcase an upcoming singer, a party worker and a footballer, respectively, aiming to make it big in their respective fields, as they are guided by their gurus. The gurus tell them that while they have the talent, they do not have the X factor (jhanjh) to make it big.

Dhara adds the 'X factor' to its Kachi Ghani Mustard Oil

Dhara Kachi Ghani Mustard Oil, through this campaign idea, amplifies a dilemma we as individuals often face. While working on tasks we feel there's something 'amiss'. With our intuition, we are able to tell the absence of the 'X factor', but struggle to define it. This is the insight the campaign builds on. For mustard oil users, the presence of jhanjh is an important purchase consideration which adds that extra flavour and taste to food.

Talking about the campaign, Amit Kumar Taneja, deputy general manager, marketing, Dhara, says, "The biggest challenge for us was to create a differentiated product. Mustard oil is a big category within the edible oil segment and hence, we identified it as a growth driver for the Kachi Ghani variant. After extensive research, we found that people have specific reasons for buying mustard oil. While everyone wanted something different, which is 'jhanjh', hardly anyone talked about it." That is when the team at Dhara decided to establish a connect keeping in mind not only the mainstream players, but also the regional ones, hence establishing Kachi Ghani was a huge marketing challenge for them.

Taneja further says, ''We worked on breaking category codes at the grassroots. Also, tier II cities like Bhilai, Jorhat and Patna have been driving a lot of trends lately. Our target group for the campaign involves women in the 25+ age group, who are primary decision makers for the kitchen and secondary target group is the males."

The brand positioning has seen a major shift as well. While in 2012, for its 'India Ka Tadka' campaign, the focus was on brand alone, for the Kachi Ghani campaign, the spotlight is on the variant. For the same, marketing spends have seen a 100 per cent jump from the previous years. Towards the promotions, print, digital, TV and outdoor have been used extensively in equal measure. In OOH, metro stations, especially on the blue line in Delhi, have been targetted along with Mother Dairy booths. A digital campaign is under wraps and will be rolled out soon.

Speaking on the campaign, Sanjiv Giri, business head - Dhara, says, "The campaign has been developed after an extensive research involving consumers. It is preceded by a packaging change and fortification with Vitamin A & D. I am confident that, with our new campaign, we will be successful by bringing in clarity of our positioning and USP of the product to grab the mind share of our valued consumers."

Adding to it, Taneja explains, "Jhanjh in Kachi Ghani mustard oil is the most sought after virtue driving purchase consideration for consumers, but is also the least talked about. With no brand currently talking about it, we saw an opportunity to own the space. Also, in the eastern part of the country, Jhanjh, apart from meaning pungency, also connotes attitude. We used this as the creative hook to build on the campaign. The central idea was to make it synonymous to Dhara Kachi Ghani Mustard Oil, by correlating jhanjh to attitude."

Divyapratap Mehta, founder and chief twiner at Intertwined, has good things to say about the Dhara campaign. "The brand has tried to break stereotypes and has brought out a fresh perspective through its TVCs. The word 'jhanjh' will help in creating a good recall value for the campaign," he says. Continuing further, Mehta says,"For any commodity marketing, differentiation is the main challenge. For a mustard oil sale, hundred brands may sell the same be it Annapurna, ITC, Nature Fresh or Fortune.They may sell different grades of mustard oil whether low quality or high one but differentiating it from the rest is the key. Any brand may try to differentiate itself in two ways- either by creating a unique brand perspective around some brand personality such as mustard oil for working women, mustard oil for modern women or mustard oil for a healthy heart. The second way is, by creating a certain attribute for the product that makes consumers believe that their product is superior than others."

Furthermore, Mehta shares," Dhara, in my view, has tried to play upon this 'perception value' of a superior quality by linking it to Jhanjh. Jhanjh in itself, is not a consumer word but it could turn to be catchy and give consumers a reason whithout any specific reason to buy Dhara mustard oil in Kachi Ghani variety. Thus, Jhanjh could prove to be a cosnumer handle for better quality." Also, according to Mehta, the setting of the TVCs is very mass-like that caters to the entire population at large while it shows men instead of women in these ads.

"The ads break consumer codes as they have not shown a woman telling another how to cook or how to take care of her children by using a good mustard oil. Most women these days, do not even like listening such stuff from others of their gender. On the contrary, the TVCs have been presented in an interesting and heartwarming manner where the execution of the ads uses day-to-day language and modern communication to convey the message clearly." states Mehta.

Quoting on the campaign, Shivil Gupta, creative director, DDB Mudra North says, “Dhara has been a core family member in every household for over two decades. The challenge was to make the consumers aware that Dhara Kachi Ghani Mustard Oil is the most pungent mustard oil. This lead to the creation of smart, humorous and clutter-breaking scripts that refrained from showing stereotypical daughter-in-laws, mother-in-laws, happy families, kitchens, mothers / wives etc. as the custodians of the family’s health. Jhanjh is the word which commonly stands for pungency but colloquially also denotes attitude in the Eastern parts of the country where it is consumed the most. Now, through the commercials whenever someone thinks of Jhanjh – Dhara Kachi Ghani Mustard Oil will come first in his mind.”

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