December 12, 2022

Two Complementary Products, One Goal: Joint Market Activation Yields results in Ghana

Animal Production Related

Staple Crops

Ghana

For the 2SCALE program, providing Base of the Pyramid (BoP) consumers with access to affordable, nutritious food remains a key priority. To build awareness on the availability of affordable and nutritious food products, market activations are part of the strategic approaches 2SCALE incorporates to build awareness and ensure that quality and nutritious products reach BoP consumers. More often than not, these activations are done for single products. However, in Ghana, the BoP Marketing specialist recently decided to kill two birds with one stone by running a joint market activation for two complementary products: rice and chicken. An inclusive rice processing company, Tamanaa Company jointly advertised and promoted its products together with an inclusive poultry processing company, Rockland Farms.

The two companies are the Business Champions in the Tamanaa and Rockland Farms partnerships respectively.

The beginning of a lasting relationship between Tamanaa and Rockland Farms

In September 2022, a four-day marketing campaign was planned in which the two partners split the cost and space to display and sell their products. This market activation was held at the -Poku Trading Car Park- in Kumasi, Ghana. While Kumasi is in close proximity to the processing plant of Rockland Farms, Tamanaa-based in Tamale- saw this as a perfect chance to broaden the reach of the authorized dealer in Kumasi. Not only did this approach aim at co-sharing the costs incurred during individual marketing activations, it also provided a perfect opportunity for the two businesses to leverage/ tap into each other's customer base.

Consumers could purchase rice, chicken, or both during the joint activation. Over 5,000 fliers were printed and shared to members of the public by the two Business Champions.

For the Managing Director of Rockland Farms, Ms. Edith Wheatland, this joint market activation enabled her to achieve a goal she had set but had setbacks due to the costs of acquiring permits. She narrates:

I have always wanted to do a market activation at Poku Trading, but the cost of the permit didn’t make business sense to me. Getting the opportunity to achieve the same result at a lower cost is a good thing, and I look forward to more market activation collaborations with the Rockland brand.

While the two Business Champions have made strides to promote their products in the past, the joint activation resulted in tremendous sales made. Over 230 pieces of grilled chicken and 30 pieces of frozen chicken and gizzards were sold by Rockland Farms. For Tamanaa, 12,750 kilograms of parboiled rice ànd 1,575 kilograms of Brown rice were sold!

Such strides led to the creation of a lasting relationship between the two brands and the need to build even more networks as narrated by Mr. Shaibu Braimah, the Managing Director at Tamanaa:

Consumers in Kumasi are quite familiar with the Rockland brand, whereas most people have never heard of Tamanaa. The sales were overwhelming, and it has fuelled our desire to expand our shops in Kumasi, where people are beginning to appreciate more of the local rice, particularly brown rice. Through the flyers that were shared, I have received calls from people who want to sell Tamanaa rice in their shops, and I am currently considering partnering with two of them.

Digitizing operations to reach more consumers

In addition to directing customers to where they can get each of the products within Kumasi, an online sales application named Ghanafie foods https://ghanafiefoods.com/- was launched. This application was developed to make it easy for customers to place orders online, and have them delivered instantly via courier. Via the application, one can purchase both or either product while in the comfort of their home!

For Ms. Agnes Anyawen, 2SCALE BoP marketing specialist in Ghana, the success of this approach was a win-win for all parties.

This joint activation was a huge success as we were able to kill two birds with one stone. During my interactions with consumers, they commended the project for pushing the agenda for the consumption of Made in Ghana food products. Some customers were full of praise on the quality and branding of the local rice and chicken. I would recommend that other BoP marketing specialists replicate the same in other countries.

She says.

While the coming together of these two brands was a success during the four days, it also led to awareness creation among local BoP consumers in Kumasi and surrounding locations on the availability of nutritious, locally produced, and affordable rice and chicken brands. This led to the growth of customer insights and particularly those at the Base of the Pyramid which is a key step in understanding their diverse preferences and matching their expectations.

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