Flavour Quest

The Business Challenge The largest Malt market in Africa and 3rd in the world? That is Nigeria. The Malt brand that had historically led the park? That “was” Maltina. But like most head honchos, threats abound. As such, leading up to 2019 since 2016, the brand had seen a year--+ The on-year decline in market share, and while recovered, was stagnating. As such, we needed to unlock growth. Over indexing among 25 to 34-year-olds who were a relatively small segment of the population, while competing for malt brands to whom Maltina was losing market share at the time, had more penetration levels among 18 to 24-year-olds. Something was wrong. However, that was less than half of the story. You see, in Nigeria like most African countries, 18 to 24-year-olds (Life Maximizers) form a significant part of the population. For context, the median age in Nigeria is 18.1 years old (World Meters, 2021). Hence, the more share of their throats you had, the better shot you had at growth. Nonetheless, the malt category at large was barely scratching the surface compared to adjacent categories such as CSDs (Feezy drinks). Older generations (35-year-olds and above) had Malt, particularly Maltina, during their younger days and had grown up with it, but they were now “old-school”. As such, Malt was seen as too “serious” and boring by the Life Maximizers, whose “throats” we needed for growth. For context, provision stores and informal convenience accounted for 70% of sales, dwarfing restaurants, clubs, and other on-trades spots of the more lively Life Maximizers. It all summed up to this, the malt category, personified by its leader - Martina, had lost its mojo, we simply needed to jazz things up The Objective Marketing Objectives Increase volume growth by 10% by the end of the fiscal year Raise the index of Maltina among Life maximizers by 10% by the end of the fiscal year Brand Objective Create a youthful affinity for the brand Dial-up excitement within the category Grow salience for the brand in the youth segment The Strategy With our target audience surgically defined, young Nigerians (18 -24-year-old) who were on the cusp of adulthood and independence. Wary of the responsibilities and pressures that come with adulthood, but poised not to lose the joy of experiencing all there was to explore. We called them - “Young Explorers”. The plan was to put Maltina, a brand that was previously not on their wavelength, at the center of their exploration (across multiple consumption occasions). In doing this, however, we created new variants (Pineapple and Vanilla flavors) to appeal to the explorative tendencies of the “young explorers” The Idea Own The Flavour This was an idea that suggested the variety of experiences that was out there for the “young explorers” to enjoy, while functionally placing the new flavors of Maltina as the center of consumption occasions for the TG. Execution. Leading with an impactful OOH and Digital Strategy, we leveraged the power of influencer marketing to drive engagement with this new crop of consumers PARTNERSHIPS (Meal Pairing): We partnered with the big mega stores (Shoprite & Spar), over 60 Key Account restaurants and the biggest e-commerce platform in Nigeria (Jum– the Life Maximizers … the Flavour Geng … ⮚ To Achieve Broad Reach: we deployed OOH (LEDs, Lampoles & Massive Billboards) & engaging Radio Communication (ROS, Hypes & In-Store Radio) to quickly drive mental availability with the volume target ⮚ To Achieve Targeted Reach: we dialed up engagement on Digital & Mobile with engaging content from our influencers and UGC from consumers We supported with TV and PR Amplification to drive Top of Mind and sustenance of the campaign. CONSUMER & TRADE ENGAGEMENTS: TASTEPIRATION: We got our TA to create their own unique flavor experience with an engaging micro-site tagged ‘TASTEPIRATION’. Consumers were able to create personalized art expressions from their taste experience and share them with friends on FB, IG & Twitter. Over 2,000 unique art expressions have been created so far. We took the ‘TASTEPIRATION’ experience off-line by rolling out a Flavour Tour with our Influencers in December to drive more engagement and trial. Our Influencers got to experiment with the new flavors creating exciting cocktail recipes for consumers to enjoy. ia) to sample and engaged consumers by getting them to pair Maltina flavors with their orders. This allowed us to broaden our consumption in meal occasions and reach the core target. SHOPPER ACTIVATIONS: We engaged Shoppers in the trade with exciting Rig activations in 17 markets across the country … driving sales and sampling with impactful visibility in market. PR Amplification: We engaged over 30+ micro-influencers to Own their flavors and share their stories to drive the conversations on-line. We executed the ‘OwnTheFlavour’ Rap Challenge on Radio to engage consumers in the North … giving them a platform of expression. We partnered with the biggest Hotel in Lagos – Eko Hotel & Suites to give Consumers a flavored Christmas experience … Sampling and engaging them at our Flavour bar and with fun experiences. Results The results so far have been very impressive… Volumes: We delivered +118khl in less than 4 months… (+36% above target) … Delivering a sales uplift of 30% on the total brand…. Consumers Reached: We engaged and sampled over 700,000 consumers across channels Activations: we executed +100 activations (in Key Accounts, Modern Trade, In Market, Consumer Events, etc) MEDIA: OOH: Deployed +518 OOH executions on – LED, Lampoles & Static Billboards Radio: Deployed 5,069 Spots on Radio with an audience reach of +33.28m through – ROS, Hypes, In-Store Radio engagement, and sponsored programs. TV: Deployed +620 Spots on Cable, Sponsored programs, In-Cinema Ad Spots, Squeeze backs & on CNN Digital: Deployed engaging posts, videos, and User Generated Content across FB, IG, Twitter & YouTube …. Delivering +57m Impressions, 16m Unique Reach, 1.4m Engagement (with +17k Reactions) across all platforms combined. PR Amplification: Reached +58.4m (Paid – 25.3m + Earned – 33.1m) through Print, Blog Posts, UGC from micro-influencers on SoME. Business Results: At the end of Q4 2020, Maltina’s Brand Power score had increased by +2.8% vs Q4 2019, with an increase in Salience, Meaningful, and TOMA…while Difference remained stable. The launch of the variants has also triggered incremental volume growth on the Maltina Classic … with Maltina delivering overall volume growth of +17% (the highest growth recorded on the brand in a decade). We ended the year with Maltina Variants delivering 6% of the total brand volumes and changed the narrative in the Malt category … Consumers now see Malt as cool and youthful….We’ve Got the Flavour….