Why is this work relevant for PR?

The packaged juices category in India has been a longstanding duopoly with two big established players cornering nearly 90% market share. Both are so deeply entrenched in Indian juice consuming households that all challenger brands were inconsequential. B Natural, one of the many such challengers, had been struggling for nearly 4 years to win consumers as well as market share. Hence, the objective for the brand was to break the duopoly by enhancing preference and consideration for B Natural – not through big, traditional mass media spends, but by framing the conversation through setting an example for consumers to follow.

Background

B Natural was only in a nascent stage in a category growing rapidly, but still only at 7% penetration. The brand’s immediate challenge was to win share from the competition. The fact that until this campaign broke, there was no clear differentiator to adopt B Natural as their daily ritual for fruit nutrition or switch from consumers’ most often used brand. This meant there was a need to build strong equity. Equity building is tough with limited budgets. B Natural had to capture consumers’ imagination by forcing them to look at us differently – a significant re-appraisal not just of how consumers viewed B Natural, but the packaged juices category itself. A clear-cut task was set out for B Natural – to become the most talked about brand, and also its impact on the Indian fruit circular economy.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

B Natural made a public declaration about moving its entire fruit beverage portfolio to Not From Concentrate. B Natural did so by exhorting consumers to QUESTION THEIR JUICE CHOICES. Once reasonable doubt was created, consumers were offered a timely solution by leveraging B Natural’s secret weapon - a product and packaging innovation that gave India its first range of fruit beverages that was NOT FROM CONCENTRATE (NFC) - informing consumers that B Natural is the right choice for them. This was done by building hype and gradually lifting the curtain on the launch announcement inviting people to “Make India Concentrate Free”. Media stories picked up B Natural’s differentiated outdoor messaging on prime time news ahead of the launch. Furthermore, brand ambassador Shilpa Shetty launched the product at a consumer-friendly and accessible location along with the brand’s spokespersons, lending further credibility to the product range being launched.

Describe the strategy (30% of vote)

In the consumer’s mind, a perception had been created that all packaged juices are made directly from fruit pulp. However, the truth was that many of them were not made from fruit pulp, but from concentrate. While the fruit pulp concentration process is typically cost-effective, prolonged thermal treatment - in the process of creating concentrate from fruit pulp - may result in the loss of nutrition and essential antioxidants. Consumers didn’t know this. And that was the opportunity - the decision to not just influence WHAT consumers chose, but also HOW they chose their juice.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

PR was used to create buzz about India’s first only NFC juice range both online and offline, while messaging at retail stores drove conversions at the point of purchase. News coverage by leading channels like ET Now and Republic picked up the buzz, fuelling further conversations. Active integrations were created with Star Plus in the top-rated TV show of the country where the protagonists stressed the importance of NFC & B Natural as the right choice, reinforced by RJs from across cities through links and testimonials from the ground on the day of the launch event. Billboards at prime locations and front page newspaper ads across key markets urged consumers to participate in the launch event to unveil B Natural’s NFC range to consumers by Indian farmers, and QR codes on packs directed consumers to B Natural’s website for more information on NFC juices.

List the results (30% of vote) – must include at least two of the following tiers:

The campaign generated over 230+ media exposures worth INR 42 million, with 100% PR coverage capturing the desired brand messaging. Over 70% branded headlines and product/brand image in the PR stories, leading to effective brand recall. Disposition towards B Natural’s NFC juices and beverages significantly improved - 94% of the audience in the Delhi-NCR region, the category’s biggest market and the market leader’s stronghold, said they would consider B Natural in the future, with 57% claiming that they would definitely choose B Natural. In just the 8 days the campaign ran, it reached 45 million people, with 2 million online conversations and over 500 mentions per day. Following the event and ensuing coverage, B Natural’s market share reached a high of 8.2%, making it the clear 3rd player in the category, as the awareness-to-trial ratio increased from 19% to 23% and the retention ratio increased from 43% to 46%.