Little Farmers of Kissanpur

Background

Kissan Ketchup was facing a number of different challenges. Firstly, the entire category was shrinking. Secondly, there were an increasing number of cheaper sauces and white labels available. And thirdly, home-made chutneys and pickles were regarded as both fresher and healthier.

The brand story had been based on communicating 'made from 100% real tomatoes' but while its loyal users valued this, non-users were unconvinced.

How could Kissan position itself as completely natural?

Idea

The task was to move the 'from 100% real tomatoes' thought away from being an advertising claim to a consumer belief. Kissan ketchup had to become synonymous with real tomatoes. And for people to become believers they had to experience for themselves the natural ingredients of the bottle. The idea, captured in the line 'Grow what you eat. Eat what you grow,' turned the glass bottle into the campaign medium.

A new tomato-shaped bottle-cap was designed. Inside this was a plastic pouch, which contained a number of tomato seeds. When the cap was inverted, it became a small pot in which the seeds could be planted.

To encourage mothers to get their children involved, a fictitious farmland was created, Kissanpur. (Kissan actually meant 'farmer' and 'pur' was the suffix to most Indian villages meaning 'place'.) If they got their children growing plants, they would get them closer to the natural world than any gadget ever could.

To get children to compete with each other, those who grew the best tomatoes were given the chance to have their photo on the ketchup bottle.

Results

Kissan Ketchup consumption grew 2.5 times over category.

Kissan outscored market leader Maggi and other ketchup brands on 'naturalness' and 'made from best quality tomatoes' in brand tracking research by Millward Brown.

Against a target of 200BPS, the brand witnessed a growth of 230BPS and 290BPS in both value and volumes respectively in the key markets of Punjab, New Delhi and Maharashtra.

And Kissan grew at 14.6% vs the category growth of 4.4%.

The real result was to see 'our little farmers' turn their balconies, parking lots and window sills into mini tomato farms – all thanks to a cheap and simple bottle cap.

Our Thoughts

We like our campaigns to be ‘factory fresh’ at Directory, rarely above six months old. This, however, was launched at the back end of 2013. Surprisingly, though, it has attracted little attention either in the marketing press or at awards shows and that’s why it’s featured here. Because all of us on the editorial team saw it as an idea of exceptional integrity. For starters it supports Unilever CEO Paul Polman’s whole sustainability pitch. But, beyond that, it starts and ends with a product truth and puts the packaging to inspirational new purpose. Brands communicate in what they do, not just in the ads they make, and here Kissan has done something joyous.