We don’t try to stay ahead of marketing trends, but stay with consumers: Mukesh Ghuraiya

Modi Naturals Ltd is a consumer goods company operating in the wellness and food category. In an exclusive interview with Adgully, Mukesh Ghuraiya, Chief Marketing Officer, Modi Naturals Ltd, shares valuable insights on the core values and essence of the Modi Naturals brand, their differentiation strategy for the flagship brand Oleev in a competitive market, leveraging digital marketing channels effectively, ensuring successful new product development, crafting go-to-market strategies, understanding consumer insights, team management, and the metrics driving their marketing decisions.

Ghuraiya emphasises on the importance of staying close to their consumers to drive marketing decisions and shares his approach for future growth by aligning with consumer preferences rather than following marketing trends blindly. Excerpts:

Brand Marketing

How do you define the core values and essence of the Modi Naturals brand, and how do you ensure consistency in communicating them across different marketing channels?

Oleev (edible oil) is the flagship brand of Modi Naturals. Oleev is uniquely positioned as a healthy oil, with the goodness of olive oil, that caters to the consumers who are health-conscious and are willing to improve their life by opting for healthier alternatives. Our communication strategy, be it TV advertising, print ads, social media posts or influencer marketing, are married to the brand positioning to ensure that our communication is consistent across different marketing channels.

In a highly competitive market, how do you differentiate Oleev from its competitors and create a unique brand identity?

Uniquely differentiated product, honest pricing, and strong brand positioning help us stand out in a highly competitive market of edible oils in India.

Digital Marketing

How do you leverage digital marketing channels to reach and engage with the target audience effectively? Can you share a successful digital marketing campaign you led?

Digital marketing is the key pillar of our marketing strategy. We use various platforms and assets to engage with our TG in the digital ecosystem, be it influencer marketing, social media, platform advertising, programmatic campaigns across OTT or even connected TVs. In the last couple of years we have been focusing on video as a key brand asset and have been leveraging it across various platforms. Also, we keep a healthy focus on top-of-the-funnel marketing to continue to recruit new users for the brand as we scale and expand.

With the rise of social media, how do you manage the brand’s online reputation and handle potential crises?

Social media is indeed a very important platform for all our brands. We engage and practice social listening. We have an ORM team to take care of that and have set processes for escalation and ensure quick response time. However, as a brand its also important for us to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to ORM. 

New Product Development

How do you identify potential product opportunities and assess their market viability before launching them?

Identifying and launching a new product category is an extremely non-linear journey with multiple variables. What is the TAM?, Is the product differentiated?, Is the brand ready for extension?, etc. Every product launch will go through a thorough market and competition scan using primary and secondary research, followed by intensive R&D, trend analysis, feasibility study, proposition, and positioning strategies. In every category generally there is a scope for two-three players to exist, so we are at times happy to be a strong No. 2 or No. 3 player in the category also. We will only launch new product once we are able to identify ‘where to play’ and ‘how to win’.

What strategies do you use to ensure that new products align with the overall brand image and resonate with consumers?

Each of our brands has an umbrella value proposition space. When we evaluate a new product, it must meet the existing value prop space of the brand. It’s non-negotiable for us. This helps us to easily decide if the product is a fit or not. Once aligned, it also becomes easy for us to launch into the market as it appeals to the same set of existing audience of the brand.

Go-To-Market Strategy

Could you explain your approach to crafting a go-to-market strategy for new product launches or entering new markets?

We follow the “test market” approach while launching new products in the market. It helps us to get customer satisfaction feedback on the product, which, in turn, also helps us gain key insights about various consumer preferences and improvement areas before we launch the product nationally. For example, this summer, we did the test market for our new Instant drink mix brand JYNX; we have got extremely encouraging reviews about the product and some honest areas of improvement, which we will rectify before launching it nationally next year.

How do you collaborate with other departments, such as sales and production, to ensure a seamless and successful product launch?

For a successful product launch, it is important that all the internal teams collaborate effectively. Clearly defined roles and responsibilities, timely and regular communication and collaborative goal setting are a few steps we follow to ensure smooth product launches in our organisation. 

Consumer Insights

How do you gather consumer insights to understand their needs, preferences, and pain points?

Talking to the consumers directly is by far the biggest source of insights for us. We try to keep our eyes and ears very close to our consumers to understand their needs and pain points.

How have you used consumer insights to drive successful marketing campaigns or product improvements in the past?

The consumer insight behind the latest brand campaign of Oleev, ‘Start Today, for a Better Tomorrow’, was the growing health-consciousness among the consumers and we wanted to position our product as a healthier choice.

In India, people are increasingly becoming health-conscious and aware of the importance of making healthy lifestyle choices. With rising concerns about lifestyle diseases and the impact of diet on overall well-being, consumers are seeking healthier food options. 

Leadership and Team Management

How do you inspire and motivate your marketing team to deliver their best performance?

Motivation is not a one-time effort, but an ongoing process. I motivate my team to deliver their best performance by ensuring clear goal setting, effective leadership, a positive work environment, and providing opportunities for growth and recognition.

By consistently implementing these strategies, I try to inspire and motivate my team to deliver their best performance and foster a high-performing and satisfied team.

Metrics and Performance Evaluation 

What key performance indicators (KPIs) do you use to measure the success of marketing campaigns and overall marketing efforts?

It is important to note that the choice of KPIs varies depending on the specific goals of the marketing campaign. We run both performance marketing campaigns as well as brand campaigns and the KPIs can vary from page visits, video views, engagement, or reach. Aligning the selected KPIs with respective objectives is essential to measure the success of marketing efforts accurately.

How do you analyse the data from these metrics and use it to make data-driven marketing decisions?

We regularly monitor and analyse these KPIs to get valuable insights to make data-driven marketing decisions, optimize marketing strategies and achieve better results.

Future Marketing Trends

How do you stay ahead of marketing trends and ensure that Modi Naturals is prepared for the future of marketing?

To be honest, we do not try to stay ahead of marketing trends or follow any technology trends that may be the buzz word at the moment. We like to stay with our consumers and understand them better in terms of their pain points, life goals and media consumption behaviour.

What emerging marketing channels or strategies do you see as having great potential for the company’s growth?

If our consumers are still watching OTT channels, I will not try to go to Metaverse just because it’s the latest marketing tool. So, simply following our consumers helps us reach them at the right time and the right place.