BRAND MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENT # 3

NATIONAL FOODS LIMITED: RONAQS CASE

Submitted by:
Warda Zarar & Jasera Arshad

2010

INSTITUTE

OF

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

ISSUE INDITIFICATION:
We have identified the following critical issues with Ronaq that may have been the reason for its failure:

Weak Positioning:
Ronaqs brand positioning theme by which they tried to differentiate form National was Restaurant jaisa zaiqa which in addition to being weak also confused the consumers as there is no particular taste associated with all restaurants.

Umbrella Branding:
National was inscribed very prominently on the packet, giving customers the impression that Ronaq was simply a variant of National. Thus it failed to differentiate ronaq as a separate brand category

Promotion:
Promotions for Ronaq were not up to the mark either. They had a confused advertising campaign with constant repetition of Shan in the ad, it actually served to promote Shan more and in effect became a brand recall for Shan foods in the minds of the customer. The promotions did nothing to sketch a clear and distinct image of Ronaq in the consumers mind except a vague restaurant jaisa taste which didnt make much sense in the first place. National also started giving their own products free with Ronaq which also served to diminish Ronaqs individual brand identity

Cannibalization:
Instead of facilitating Ronaq to stand out as a separate brand Catergory, under the National Umbrella, Ronaq actually started eating up their own range of Spices which cater to a totally different market instead they started using Recipe Masalas instead of the individual Spices to cook their food which result in a cannibalization of Nationals own traditional spices.

Failed to capture the new market:

Even though National aimed to capture the young 15-25 college going and professional women market, but they failed to target them effectively.

ANALYSIS
Wrong Brand Ambassador: They used celebrity Shan in their TVC which actually helped increase brand recall for Shan instead of Ronaq Instead of coming up with a different USP, National tried to capture the Spicy Masala Mix category that Shan was already a Champion of, through their Ronaq brand. Referring to the Flanking Strategy by Al-Ries:

Flanking Strategy:
If Your organization is 4-6 in the market, and you have the resources to pursue your flanking move, sewing up that market segment.

1. A good flanking move must be made into an uncontested area. 2. Tactical surprise ought to be an important element of the plan. 3. The pursuit is as critical as the attack itself

The success of a flanking attack often hinges on your ability to create and maintain a Separate category. Flanking skill requires exceptional foresight. The reason is that in a true flanking attack, there is no established market for the new product or service. Reinforce success, abandon failures.

It is obvious that Shan launched an excellent Flanking attack on National with their Recipe Masala Range, and caught National by surprise with it. Even though National realized that that they too needed to cater to this emerging new market and launched their own recipe Masala Range, by that time Shan had been well established itself as a leader in that category.

Alternatives:
What couldve been done?
The alternatives that they had to choose amongst are: 1. Repositioning of Ronaq 2. Since National Food is more associated with milder taste they should focus on Oriental Recipes with a tinge of National Sauces that way they can even promote their own Sauces and Spices with the Oriental Recipes 3. Categorize their products to position clearly i.e. Restaurant Jaisa Taste is very confusing Instead they could explicitly mention Chinese, Thai, Italian etc. 4. To Sustain Ronaq by focusing more on a specific niche 5. Focus on their core loyal customers which included women above 35 who had been using the traditional National Masalas and increase awareness in them about Recipe Masalas. 6. Target an entirely different market segment like young working men that instead of waiting for a perfect bride who would cook for them they can easily make tasty food for themselves by using Ronaq

DECISION:
What shouldve been done?
Referring to the Offensive Strategy as defined by Al Ries:

Offensive Strategy:
Your organization is # 2 or 3 in the market, and you have the resources to sustain a challenge to the leader.

1. The main consideration is the strength of the leaders position. 2. Find a weakness in the leaders strength and attack at that point. 3. Launch the attack on as narrow a front as possible.

Whats good strategy for the leader is bad Strategy for #2, and vice versa. Where absolute superiority is not attainable, says Clausewitz, you must produce a relative one at the decisive point by making skilled used of what you have. Theres weakness in strength, if you can find it.

Applying the offensive attack, National should have found a weakness in Shans strength which was their Spicy Taste. Attacking Shans Spicy Taste and simultaneously Building upon their own Strength Milder taste launching oriental Chinese which can never be spicy and hence Shan cannot do that.

What can be done now?

Now that theyve already spend 25 million on Ronaq, closing it down would be a bad idea. Instead what they can do is: Since Shan has already launched the Oriental Recipes, what Ronaq could do is that they could focus on the famous Restaurants associated with their unique superior quality taste and start making alliances with them, coming up with a Range of Recipe Masalas like Barbeque Tonite Masala or Arizona Masala with their certified Cooks endorsing the brand which could revive it in a whole new way. Hence, they could relaunch Ronaq in this way, with advertising campaign emphasizing the certified cooks and their association with those restaurants. They could also effectively cater to the Young Women market [15-25years], college going, party loving thriving market by start engaging their customers more on a one-on-one basis with extensive BTL activities: Going to colleges for arranging Competitions like : Who can cook like Barbeque Tonight the fastest?! etc.