BBF: BEOL has been successfully marketing notable brands like Rupchanda in Bangladesh for decades. How has the brand Rupchanda evolved over time?
Faisal Mahmud: Rupchanda launched back in 1996 with a promising tagline ‘স্বাস্থ্যকর প্রতিটি ফোঁটা’ (Every drop is healthy). From the inception, the brand decided to have a brand essence of “Happy Family Moments”. With this theme in mind, all communications and activities of Rupchanda have been evolving around having a happy time with family with the healthiest oil on the market. Keeping in mind the tagline and brand essence, Rupchanda was the first brand in Bangladesh to launch a PET bottle which was unprecedented at that time. Also, the brand offered quality & healthy edible oil choices to the consumers. From that time, this unique value offering of the brand has made it the number 1 choice for consumers with a long history of persistent product quality.
Later on, to cater to the growing need of the consumers, BEOL launched the poly-pack thinking about the price-savvy consumers. In 2012, Rupchanda revolutionized itself by successfully fortifying Vit-A with the help of UNICEF Bangladesh. That’s how the brand has evolved over the last 29 years and because of all these initiatives, “Rupchanda” has been a synonym of the word “Trust” & “Quality” in Bengali people’s everyday household over the years.
How does Rupchanda innovate in the market and how does this help in developing the brand further?
From the inception of Rupchanda’s journey, the brand has revolutionized the edible oil industry of Bangladesh through its advanced technology and trailblazing promotional activity in all spheres with the idyllic objective of improving the quality of life of its consumers. To prove the claim of the brand’s tagline, BEOL was the first edible oil company to launch PET bottles in Bangladesh, fortifying Vitamin A with the help of UNICEF Bangladesh, and pioneering the introduction of poly pack form of edible oil to cater to the millions of semi-urban and rural populations. All these innovations were done for the wellbeing of the consumer and their family. Over the years, all these initiatives by the brand have made it gain the trust and love of the consumers for its persistent product quality. This countless love from the consumers inspires the brand to always push itself one step further to bring something new for the consumers.
The pandemic has brought in great shifts in the way consumers interact with brands. In what ways has Rupchanda remained at the top-of-mind of its consumers during this time?
This pandemic hour has definitely brought a great shift in interacting with the consumers. Previously, Rupchanda focused on print media, outdoor and activation to interact with the consumers. Rupchanda has concentrated more on Digital Marketing during this situation. For example, to celebrate “Mother’s Day, last year Rupchanda came up with an OVC dedicating to all the mothers. This year, Rupchanda has also sponsored a 5 minutes cooking show called “Ramjan-e-Rupchanda” over the digital platform, a show that aims to teach viewers delectable recipes in just 5 minutes. The show has been highly acclaimed by our audience. This time, the episodes of the cooking show were telecasted directly on Facebook and Prothom Alo FB page/official website. Besides this, Rupchanda is trying to engage with its consumer with more interactive content.
How has BEOL’s traditional and digital commerce changed or shifted during this pandemic, and do you think these shifts are likely to continue?
Definitely, BEOL is having a shift between traditional and digital commerce compared to the pre-pandemic time. But to be honest, the traditional commerce of BEOL has not been affected much as BEOL is operating in the commodity market and this market operates in a different way compared to other industries. But during the last one year, we have seen so many digital platforms grow and approach us for business purposes. We are interested in doing business with these newly developed platforms and exploring more opportunities in the coming days.
How should Bangladeshi FMCGs plan to evolve and penetrate the newer generations of consumers?
Things are changing, and changing fast. Now-a-days we are observing a “generation gap” taking place in 5-6 yrs time frame. Successful FMCG brands of Bangladesh are adapting fast to the changes. Communication & Trade- both the channels are showing changes. We are observing FMCG brands changing or adjusting their value proposition, communication contents, and even communication medium. Newer generations are different, but not unreachable. If we put the effort in hitting the right cord, we can be successful in attracting them to the same extent as our regular TG. Discussions are going on regarding the “digital world”, but I believe that it is all about knowing the TG, designing value for them, communicating, and delivering. The basics will remain the same.
During your extensive career in marketing, what were some of the key and challenging decisions that brought you to where you are today and what advice would you have for the youth who aspire to become successful marketing professionals?
I have only collected some pebbles on the shore of Marketing, so it is tough to mention groundbreaking decisions! However, the move from Telco Industry to work as an FMCG Brand Manager, and choosing to stick with BEOL and witness the evolution of a giant brand like Rupchanda over time – especially during capacity expansion – are two key decisions that have built and impacted me the most.
The Marketing profession requires a great amount of passion since the industry is still taking shape. You should join us only if you feel a deep passion inside and if you are prepared to take multi-tiered challenges. Keep faith in yourself and your abilities and success will be guaranteed. Trust me, I’ve seen so.
