Insight
How do you grow a brand when you’re already the market leader? You grow the category. It’s just that simple, right? Well, not exactly.
Fava beans are a staple in most Middle Eastern households and California Garden is the market leader with over 60% market share and an awareness level of 89%. The beans are used in a popular dish called ‘Foul’ which is primarily considered a breakfast food. Families in the Middle East typically enjoy Foul only on weekends due to the long preparation time required and when they have time to sit as a family for breakfast.
California Garden developed an award winning canned ready-to-serve version of Foul which only requires heating. But Initiative needed to change the perception of people that the dish is relegated only to weekends and convince them to eat it more frequently.
So how can the market leader, California Garden, grow sales? The answer was in changing an age-old perception and turning Foul into the latest trend in town.
Strategy
Foul has all of the benefits of other beans and grains, but the agency had to unearth the one thing that made it special. So, they put on their lab coats and EUREKA! Initiative discovered Foul was the only natural source of L Dopa, an amino acid that accelerates the production of human growth hormone. In other words, the fountain of youth was sitting right in our very own kitchen.
The strategy was there: Break the story and watch California Garden Foul sales soar!
Once consumers were convinced that fava beans were the next big SUPER FOOD, the category would grow and California Garden would benefit from consumers incorporating more foul into their everyday diets. Other super foods had already taken off in the region such as Kale and Quinoa, as Middle Easterners have become more health conscious and fitness oriented. And Initiative needed to do the same for fava beans.
It couldn’t talk to consumers as a brand, they’d only think California Garden was trying to sell them product. So the agency made a bold decision, the breaking Super Foul story would be unbranded!
Execution
It partnered with Yahoo!, the region’s leading consumer portal with 55MM+ users throughout the Middle East and Africa and used their influencers to develop native content that would intrigue and educate consumers about the benefits of fava beans and why nutritionists were touting it as the next big super food.
The content was a mix of 96 informational pieces ranging from articles, galleries, infographics and videos from credentialed dieticians and nutritionists. Initiative released the content in three strategic phases – ‘Healthy Growth and Super Foods’, ‘Healthy Growth and Being Proactive’, and Healthy Growth and Prevention.’ Athletes were drawn to the content related to performance and muscle growth. Women enjoyed the content related to beauty and improved skin tone. And parents were keen to read content related to child development.
Suddenly, the market was opened to three new segments and broke out of the ‘weekend family breakfast’ only consumption pattern. Soon, foul became the super food that captivated everyone, every day.
Results
The native content strategy worked! A pre and post campaign research indicates:
- California Garden sales grew by 10%
- Brand awareness increased from 89% to 91%
- Consumption of fava beans more than once a week increased by 20% among respondents
- 100% of respondents understood that fava beans are rich in essential vitamins
- Respondents understanding that fava beans are rich in minerals increased by 171%
- The perception that fava beans are a ‘wholesome nutritious food’ increased by 66%, ‘good source of energy’ by 63% and ‘enhance the healthy growth of the whole family’ increased by 41%
- The content received more than 10MM page views from over 1MM unique users
… All of this in just six months! California Garden Foul – the new super food!