The Challenge

Rama, South Africa’s best selling margarine, embarked on a brand repositioning from one that provided ‘energy for kids’, to a more overt message that Rama ‘helps kids grow’. The challenge for OIL in making this positioning change was the common misperception that Rama’s key ingredient for growth, essential fat, is bad for one’s health. In addition, there was a noticeable market shift away from buying premium priced brands like Rama. As a result Rama introduced cheaper variants which further complicated our job.

The Task

Find an emotional hook to convince moms that kids need good fats everyday to grow.

The Strategy

The strategy was based around the insight into any mother’s behavior motivation - that she will do anything and everything to make sure her kids grow up healthy and strong so they are capable and prepared to face the world one day. This was communicated in the typical Rama ‘charm’ way: through the eyes of a child. This worked perfectly with another insight that kids can’t wait to grow up! To overcome the negative perception around fats, simple and straight forward language and messaging was used to communicate an essentially foreign concept to the audience. A phased communication strategy, using a visual “Growth Metre” device, communicated the new variants without undermining the more expensive Rama Original.

The results

Rama showed an incremental 2.3% growth in volume share in difficult market conditions. This amounts to an extra 2500 tons of margarine! The ‘Growth Metre’ device based on our key insight, has since been implemented in 12 other markets around the world due to its success.