Why is this work relevant for Creative Strategy?

In spice crazy Indonesia, the chili sauce shelf is crowded where every brand boasts of spiciness - the biggest yet most common claim for the category. Every brand, both old and new, tries to outshout the competition with a ‘spiciest sauce’ message. Which is why price and promos have become key drivers of switching brands. As a market leader that was worrying. ABC Pedasuransi (spice insurance) was a bold masterstroke at various levels - it allowed us to break away from the clutter and the competition, with a never before actual tasting experience, and land our superior spice claim

Background

Growth for Sambal ABC was stagnating. The category was filled with clichéd narratives that had commoditized the category. Not a good sign for the leader, ABC Sambal. Research showed that many consumers believed that while all advertising talks about unique spicy tastes, in reality all brands taste similar. Brand tracks showed that ‘spiciness’ and the ‘thrill’ it promises were key to unlocking growth and ownership of this attribute was critical. In blind tests, ABC was repeatedly voted the spiciest. But shouting out that we are the spiciest won’t cut it. ABC needed to disrupt the market boldly if it wanted to win the tongues & minds of spice crazy Indonesians. Brief: Get Indonesians notice ABC and realise that ABC delivers spice like no other brand. Objectives: Grow market share. Create trialists. Build Brand Power by strengthening our claim on key attributes of ‘Sambal I like’, ‘Makes me crave for more’.

The Interpretation of the Challenge (30% of vote)

ABC was a leader in market share but not in mind & heart share. To win, it was to drive up brand differentiation. Brand health studies by Kantar indicated that to drive differentiation, ABC had to own key attributes like ‘Spiciness I like’ ‘Sambal I like’ over other Sambal brands. A task made complicated by aggressive spends and common spice narratives across competition. Spice crazy Indonesians flirting with younger and newer brands because of their novelty and ‘spicy’ messages had to be convinced that we were the spiciest. Especially since in blind taste tests we were voted the spiciest. We had to prove to them that no sauce is as spicy as Sambal ABC. ABC chose to create a powerful act that demonstrated spiciness and delivered it through a clutter-breaking experience. Target market: Young Indonesians for whom no meal was complete without sambal. Competition: Indofood, Sasa, Jawara and other

The Insight / Breakthrough Thinking (30% of vote)

Spice crazy Indonesians were blind to us. In spite of us being voted the spiciest sambal in blind tests. Telling them we were the spiciest would never cut it anymore. Because for Indonesians, the spicier the sambal is, the better it is, we realised that the best approach would be to challenge their pride in being spice lovers. And more importantly, spice proud. And taunt them whether they could even handle our spice. If we positioned our spice as too hot to handle for an Indonesians it would goad them into trying our spice and discover for themselves how spicy we really were.

The Creative Idea (20% of vote)

The disruptive campaign boldy created a spice experience and message like never before, by creating the Sambal ABC World’s Spiciest Noodles, and ABC Pedasuransi, a special Spice Insurance to protect Indonesians from the spice of our chilli sauce. The policy gave hospitalization cover for a week worth IDR150000 from Spice related aftermath. This campaign taunted spice crazy Indonesians by challenging them that our spice was too hot for them to handle it. This was the direct outcome of the strategy to break the clutter in the spice messaging by translating the spiciness of our sambal in an actual tasting experience in a memorable way that would once and for all establish our spiciness.

The Outcome / Results (20% of vote)

25000+ trials 55 Million+ views 1.45 Billion impressions 250+ articles in local & international PR PR 5.8 times ROI 100000 policies created. Market share up from 47.2% before launch to 49.8% during campaign run. 410 bps increase in Penetration. 520 bps increase in Brand Power. (Brand power directly impacts sales and is made of three key components: Difference, Meaningfulness, Salience. ABC scored well on each front while making leaps on our differentiation scores.)