Sensory Straw success in Jordan
The Sensory Straw was one of the elements used to successfully reposition and add value to the well-known but undervalued brand of kid’s juice, Zakey.
Background
The Zakey brand, targeting children from 6-15 years, was first launched in 1979 by Kabatilo and is one of the oldest brands on the Jordanian market.
Zakey was being sold in the popular TBA 200 ml Slim package, with no straw attached, in Orange, Strawberry, Mixed Fruit, Pineapple and Lemon flavours. Traditionally the product had the highest brand awareness in the drinks category however it had a low quality association.
“Sales were driven mostly by the consumers “PULL” effect and everyone knew the Zakey brand, but didn’t associate anything special to it," says Boris Pavlacka, Key Account Manager, Tetra Pak East Med.
Over the last five years, in fact, sales of Zakey had been declining and its market share was shrinking.
“Imported products had a much more aggressive approach by applying new flavours, new features, value added products and promotions - having a straw attached also became the standard.” says Boris.
New approach
One of the first steps that reversed this downward trend was the launch of Zakey Max, a sub brand of Zakey, in TCA 150 ml. This provided good brand awareness and improved brand equity of the Zakey brand.
The next step taken was to upgrade the image of the product by creating a new modern trendy design and upgrading the quality of the product by adding value to it:
- a sensory straw was applied,
- a fruit content of 10% was added to the highest selling flavour, orange
- a five-vitamin formula was introduced to all flavours
Furthermore, marketing support consisting of:
- a cost efficient launch advertising campaign using a unique, colourful and funny layout common to all kinds of ads and focusing on printed media. The campaign ran using different media combinations from mid of September till mid December and included press advertising in the most popular newspapers, Al-Rai and Wasset.
- 4 big billboards in most frequented areas, 200 small outdoor billboards, P.O.S materials for the Sales Team (to support “pull” effect and create a balance between the push and pull effect on the market), stickers and the distribution of different sized of posters by the customer’s sales force.
Results were positive
The products were positively received by consumers and retailers were asking for more deliveries; in the first two weeks, customers experienced almost 20% growth but not only that, sales in October were almost 50% higher than the average of the previous last three summer months put together.
What’s more, according to Boris, November sales figures are even better and retailers see the increase as "all because of that funny straw!”
Consumer reaction to the Sensory Straw has in fact been so successful, according to K&B Sales Managers, that in some areas retailers have faced consumers actually stealing the Sensory Straw from Zakey products.
In short, the new strategy not only stopped the declining trend but very significantly started a clear growing one.
Furthermore, impact on members of the sales team was also positive and they became more self-confident and proud of to be a part of “K&B” team
After effects
Following the success, the customer has also just recently launched a TBA 1-litre product under the same brand. The first products were distributed during Ramadan and the customer is also considering introducing new flavours and new sizes under the brand.
For more information, please contact:
- Boris Pavlacka, Tetra Pak East Med.