Kissan Ketchup faced aggressive competition from both Maggi which dominated minds with media money and at least 20 discount brands that dominated the aisles. Kissan had the luxury of neither. A tomato ketchup is a tomato ketchup is a tomato ketchup and Kissan’s claim of ‘made from 100% tomatoes’ left non-users unconvinced. So how do we differentiate to drive brand preference and engagement.

We wanted consumers to believe that we are ‘made from 100% tomatoes’ through their own experience. We also had to find a way that was cost effective as category growths were at 4.4% so the brand got no investments. Our creative idea came from a tomato. So we created a tomato shaped bottle cap. The cap carried tomato seeds within and when inverted served as a pot to grow the tomatoes. It fit snugly on the bottle and the standout factor on the shelf was dynamic and unique. Our task was brand growth of 6% and consumption increase of 10%.

The tomato cap had 6.17 million mothers bringing Kissan home. They allowed their kids to eat more ketchup - 2.5 times more over category. Kissan witnessed 14.6% growth vs category at 4.4%.

But success was not complete. As the ketchup got polished off, the tomato plants grew and we collected the tomatoes and put them back in our Kissan bottles. We then celebrated our little farmers by putting their faces on our ketchup bottles – a wow for all our mothers. All thanks to a cap which cost just 5 cents (euros).

A little cap that made all the difference

The engaging experience of seeding and growing tomatoes in concrete, urban homes bought alive the natural authenticity of Kissan in an evocative, convincing way. The little farmers were uploaded on Facebook and they shared their produce and made Kissan famous. We had to spend nothing. We found a way to our unique stamp on a tomato such that no one could. And the tomatoes kids grew we collected – put them back into ketchup bottles and celebrated the little farmers on the bottle. Everytime a mother saw our bottle she was reminded of our 100% real tomatoes.