Grow Your Business

In the Philippines, two main factors continued to reign supreme in the consciousness of Filipino consumers - affordability and nutrition.

US-headquartered Kraft Foods keeps these two factors in mind in launching, marketing and selling their products in the Philippines. Kraft Foods is the maker of  Eden cheese and Cheez Whiz brands, Toblerone and Cadbury chocolates, Oreo and Tiger Energy Biscuits and Tang Juice drinks, among others.

Recognizing that the Philippines is a key driver of the company growth in the Asia Pacific region, Shawn Warren, Kraft Foods vice president for marketing, Asia Pacific, told journalists that the company has used ways to be more responsive to the needs and preferences of the Filipinos consumers.

"From our learning and listening, what we've heard is that affordability is very important. How do we deliver our brand that consumers love in more affordable sizes that recognize that times are tough?..We launched Tiger Energy biscuits at less than P4 a pack. That's why we launch Cheez Whiz in sachets, that are around P5 and that's why you see Eden now sold in 'sulit pack' that are under P10," Warren added.

The sachet pack is peculiar to the Philippine market, he noted, but added that this retail technique is now being used by Kraft Foods in Indonesia.

Nutrition value is also foremost on the mind of Filipino consumers, Warren said, adding that more and more people want to have more options and more choices to improve the health and nutrition of their family.

A bonus or the third factor is fun in the products that consumers buy. "The last one I would say is,  it's all about fun. It's all about a great day...and we are proud that as a company we make sure that our products have fun," Warren noted.

In terms of marketing, the Kraft Foods executive also revealed that the company always makes sure that it knows who its target market is, enabling it to calibrate its marketing and promotional efforts to this particular segment.

"I would say there are three key things for a strong marketing in the Philippines. First it has to be led by consumer insights and I say we've really made investments that increased our knowledge by consumer insights and we make sure we know what the right insights are to tap into [and] to grow our business. So that's fundamental -- understanding our consumer is the most important part of what of we do. Second...we make sure that we can translate that understanding into fantastic market and fantastic innovation," Warren said.

He mentioned various events and activities that promote Kraft Foods products. These include the Thank You day by Toblerone and the Oreo bungee jumping time for kids, among others.

The third technique is increasing in investments in advertising, according to Warren. Beyond brand awareness, Warren shared that like most brands in the world, Kraft Foods’ advertising strategy has evolved.

He mentioned internet and digital marketing as an area where the company is putting more and more resources and focus. "It used to be that our advertising was concentrated on TV but we really had a change in mindset. We've moved from a world with TV only plan to really have a much more integrated marketing approach. In 2007, we didn't do any digital marketing program. This year, as I take a look at what we're doing, we're doing very, very strong integrated campaign -- using the internet, social network and everything. We believe that moving from this old approach of the TV only to be a much more integrated marketing of consumers is the way the future looks. Let's face it, we are not watching TV as much as we used to five to 10 years ago and I think we realized that the behavior of our consumers are shifting and we need to be relevant. We need to be sure that we evolve in a way that we talk to our customers," Warren said.