Branding African Salad to Profit.…….Lessons in Marketing
Have you ever tasted the African salad also known as abacha in local parlance? It is a delicacy that is savoured in homes across the social strata — peasants to royal palaces — in south east Nigeria. This delicacy made of cassava flakes, is a sought-after snack, a festive dessert or eaten as a whole or major meal , depending on the intention of the household.
This abacha when prepared with various ingredients is a balanced diet with essential vitamins and nutrients that nourish the skin and general well being.
The ingredients include: cassava flakes, dried fish, stock fish, crayfish, palm oil, pepper, onions, sliced oil bean seed,garden eggs, garden egg leaves, ehuru seeds, potash, achara and utazi (both leafy vegetables), akidi and nkpokoro (different species of beans)
Most homes prepare abacha based on their budgets.
Aside from making it a home delight, there are caterers who have elevated the sale of abacha to a commercial level. Mama Oby is one of them. They pitch to handle the serving of abacha at big events, such as church bazaars, coronations, festivals, ofalla festivals , town hall meetings, political party campaign rallies to mention but a few. But mama oby’s abacha tastes very uniquely such that it became number one among the kings, princes and palaces. How she makes her recipe, is her trade secret. She elevated her recipe beyond the ordinary. Her fame grew across the town. “If you have not tasted mama oby’s abacha, you are missing a lot.”
When she started her trade, she was like any other. But gradually, as she refined her processes, her abacha became first among equals. She started applying the marketing principles .
There as many definitions of the marketing concept as there are scholars, practitioners and authors. But for this piece the definition by Steven G Hillstad and Eric N Berkowitz as quoted by Moyo Ajaikigbe in Nigeria’s marketing memoir by Mike Awoyinfa and Dimgba Igwe will suffice.
“Marketing is the process of understanding customers wants and needs, and then to whatever extent possible designing appropriate programmes and services, to meet those needs, in a timely, cost effective and competitive fashion.”
She obeyed the principle of looking for a point of difference between her brand of abacha and others in every respect. Her breakthrough came the day she was contracted to serve abacha at the coronation of her village. The king had invited other kings from far and near . Mama Oby served them abacha which gave them extraordinary satisfaction. The kings and very important dignitaries started asking who prepared the abacha specially garnished with stock fish, dried fish and fried beef . From that day on, mama Oby entered the royal train as king after king contracted her for all their festive activities. She discovered that her customers were able to pay her more money than her usual sales to all and sundry.
The royals pay her more for good quality, distinctiveness and value for money. Further more, mama oby discovered new ways that will make her abacha to stand out compared with other caterers. She delivers her abacha brilliantly or what a practitioner called executional excellence. She demystifies marketing by finding out what the people want and giving it to them with style and relish. Ordinarily marketing or branding starts with finding out what people want. Then communicating and projecting the right image to distribution, how much to sell it. Mama Oby, understands that the real purpose of marketing is to see a perfect match between the product and consumer needs. She achieved this the moment she started rendering her service and product to kings. She discovered that her abacha has immense stature in the hearts of her consumers. She therefore increased her price, charging exclusive from the kings.
In deed, marketing is all about the product, what about it , who buys it ,where and how much it can be offered for it. Mama oby’s brand gained wide acceptance among the royal highnesses, who literally become advertisers as they spread her fame. They communicate the culinery prowess. Mama Oby’s African salad is elevated to the food fit for kings. And if branding is all about a bundle of promises associated with the product , then mama Oby’s brand communicates culinery excellence, and distinctiveness, courteous service, hunger stopper and good value for money. Among the royals, the moment abacha is mentioned , the corresponding question on top of the mind is mama Oby’s: ” better than any other”. She determines what her potential consumers needs, through consumer insight . For the royal highnesses , whose insatiable desire is to delight their guests. What they want is usually in their subconscious but mama Oby has the knack to deliver her recipe in a way that blows their minds. She has won accolades as best maker of african salad, they ascribe all those qualities to her brand
Over the years,she had set her objectives.and coordinates implementation of activities that reinforce her brand as top of the mind of her abacha consumers. She nurtures her brand like a mother nurtures her baby to adult hood.she ensures the touch of culinery excellence, courteous service deivery, hunger satisfying and good value for money are brand promises that will not let consumers down. Since her contracting price for kings is N8000 per plate, it was normal among the royalty, if it is mama Oby’s, just go ahead and pay.
Thus she had shown that marketing of a brand is all about the product, price, place, promotion processes of delivery of the product and the people who manage these processes. It is the same basic principle: what matters is her ability to adapt it to the environment. She succeeded in working on the psychology of kings and the message is that if you serve mama Oby’s abacha, then you should not dump it on the guests, it must be done with panache.
Thus from little beginning, she has elevated her abacha from being an all comers demand to becoming abacha only fit for kings. She has defined her target group and become more focused such that her activities revolve round making abacha for kings. She always thinks of how to make her abacha innovative and positioning it such that the competition — other caterers–see her brand as the kings brand. She modeled her abacha after royalities, understands the psychologies of kings, their media habits, shopping habits and their mood.
From all these the marketing lessons stand out: the customer is king and remains king, quality is an uncompromising goddess that must be worshipped, logistics must show signs of prestige and eyes must be on the competition.
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