Label Rebranding as a Niche Strategy

By Raheem Akingbolu

In a competitive market, where rival brands strive to win customers’ loyalty, rebranding has remained a constant tool for positioning. Among other benefits, refreshing its look and feel gives the brand fresh energy and affords brand owners the opportunity to attract new customers. It is believed that rebranding offers the stimulation brands need for growth in an ever-evolving market.

For the 20 years old La Casera brand, this is a usual part. At the beginning, the brand took the market with a storm as a pacesetter with an uncommon flavour and unusual but appealing package. Since the unwritten practice in any market is that ‘if your product is accepted in the market, emergence of rivals is inevitable’ the honeymoon was short-lived for the brand but it weathered the storm.

From RGB to PET…

Despite the existing challenging business environment, which had forced many manufacturers and competitors underground, La Casera entered in 2001 against all odds. After painstaking research and market surveys, the promoters of the brand hit the market with new innovations with quality service delivery that instantly arrested the interest of Nigerians driving them to accept the product.

As a niche strategy, the brand innovated around its packaging, introducing an on-the-go packaging also known as PET to rival Returnable glass bottle and it became the winning tool. With it, the promoters didn’t only give consumers a new feel, they democratised the carbonated drink market.

By attaining such a feat, La Casera thus redefined the CSD marketing space in Nigeria as the first carbonated soft drink to be in PET bottles. The irony of it all was that the company innovated against big multinationals in the country and against their comparative advantage. Then, the comparative advantage of the majority of big multinational CSD manufacturers in Nigeria was the returnable glass bottles.

According to findings in the company, it was discovered early that competing in the space with returnable glass bottles would be a tall dream, hence the need to come up with an innovation that would not involve a significant capital outlay. Through the approach, the manufacturers of the brand were able to tackle the challenges that usually come with the production cost of glass bottles, the logistics, stocking, product distribution, as well as the hygiene and the cumbersome nature of dealing with rubber crates and bottles.

Of course, the big players didn’t take them seriously at the beginning considering the fact that so many brands that came earlier into this market were eased off as glass capacity was amongst the major barriers to entry into the carbonated soft drinks business. By the time they (the existing brand owners) would wake up to the reality, the La Casera novel idea had been embraced in the market. The rest, as they say, is history.

Empowerment of trade partners

Perhaps the winner in all these is not the brand that has consistently sustained its brand equity but the trade partners and retailers, whose lives have been transformed for the better, over the years.

Speaking on the trade relationship approach of the company, the Group Marketing Director, JOTNA Nigeria Limited, a member of the JOTNA Group and The La Casera Company, Emmanuel Agu, said it has built an effective business relationship with its trade partners, assisting them to make profits whilst also rewarding their efforts.

“Over the years, The La Casera company has held several editions of the dealers’ conference, through which the management rewards dealers with delivery vans, cars, overseas trips, while others have won prizes like laptops, computers, and motorcycles. In the area of Corporate Social Responsibility, which is part of our goals to connect with consumers and add value to the environment in which we operate, the company has been in the frontline of supporting innovations and developmental projects. The company has also utilized this platform to reach out to the less privileged and the needy in the society.

Meanwhile, in its concerted efforts to ensure that Nigerians enjoy the best of its product, the company has won for itself several awards such as, African Directing Marketing Award as Finest soft drink manufacturer of the year 2007; MAN award as first runner up for the “Best Kept Industrial Premises in Lagos in October 2011, second to Nigeria Breweries; NIS & SON product certification in 2008 & 2010; Appreciation from KRONES as “Best Asset Care & Efficiency” customer; Constant “Improvement rating” achieved every year since 2005 by International consultants for technical and quality process audit.
Setting the pace for other global brands…

After several attempts made to cow the brand through known marketing strategies failed, promoters of rival brands resorted to a brute marketing approach to demarket the brand. As part of the tactics to sway the public, it was rumoured that La Casera contained bleaching chemicals. Expectedly, this gave the handlers of the brand some sleepless nights, especially with the release of a certain video in which it was demonstrated that the drink could be applied to loosen screws. Before they could put their strategies together, competing brands had leveraged on the campaign to gain some patrons of La Casera.

But the brand became the ultimate winner by subtle engagements of stakeholders and factory tours to let the public into their manufacturing process. Today, La Casera has not only won, it towers over detractors.

Left with no other option, both local and global players in the carbonated soft drink market quickly readjusted and followed the path created by the brand. This explains why almost all products in the market have now adopted PET bottles.

According to The Group Marketing Director “The brand is succeeding in the market place because the company is constantly speaking to what consumers want in very creative, innovative ways whilst never failing to deliver top quality Apple Refreshment for everyone to enjoy”.

With the refreshed label, which the promoters of the brand have just unveiled for its flagship brand, La Casera Apple Drink, the company has simply fulfilled a simple rebranding goal: to keep it current. Experts have established over the years that design trends play a major role in how potential or current customers perceive a company and all it has to offer.

As always, La Casera continues to ensure that its look is ahead of the curve,which show its customers that it pays attention to the trends within the carbonated drinks industry.

Speaking on what informed the rebranding, Agu admitted that the exercise became necessary to extend the frontier of the brand. “The CSD category in Nigeria as in most countries of the world is very dynamic; to stay relevant to the young and vibrant target audience, brands must stay fresh, alive and innovative.”