Dominance: Factors working for Orijin brand
Orijin bitters drink is a cash cow for Guinness Nigeria. Leveraging consumer market research, the owners of the brand in 2013 filled a gap in the drink market with Orijin product. Immediately after introduction, the product in different variants was accepted by consumers and since then it has dominated the bitters alcoholic beverage market. This position is likely to continue in the nearest future.
In just two years of entering the market, the herbal drink has won several awards including emerging as the best brand in Advertisers Association of Nigeria, ADVAN awards for 2015. This award confirms Orijin as the best performing brand in the last one year and that didn’t come as a surprise to many analysts.
Since its introduction, Orijin has more than 50 percent of the market for non-beer bottled drinks with similar alcohol strength, Bloomberg quotes Nielsen Nigeria, a data tracker. Guinness equally acknowledges that the brand has been a huge success for the company.
Factor working for it
First is thorough consumer research. Guinness Nigeria which is part of Diageo family was able to identify a gap in the alcoholic drink market and consumer preference through a well conducted research. If not, what else would trigger such immediate preference for the two variants of Orijin – black bitter taste and herbal flavoured bottled drink. The later was distinguished in its category and the former made great inroad in the market in the midst of other competing products such as Alomo Bitters, Kerewa, Ogidiga, Ibile, Baby Oku, Yoyo, Sappiro Lemon Ginseng, Kogbebe, Koboko, Osomo, Dadubule, Durosoke, Pasa Bitters and many others that ruled the market.
High-quality branding is another factor that underlined the success of Orijin. Orijin was able to find a big space in the market as it was packaged for all classes of the market. John Ajayi, the publisher of Marketing Edge told BusinessDay in an interview that “the coming of Orijin in to the Nigerian market is something that is great. Before the product, we had different variants of bitters and some of them were poorly branded. And some of them did not have credible and authentic connection with majority of bitter consumers. But the brand owners of Orijin conducted research to identity the brand need of the consumer to create a product. In marketing, a brand can choose marketing strategy good for it either below the line or above the line. As a marketing person, you must be able to identify the element in the mix that would work well for your brand promotion”, he said.
Another analyst said “The critical driver of the sales of Orijin is easily attributable to positioning. Many people who feel other low products are too pedestrian have been taking flight to the new Guinness brand just to stand out from the crowd.
Compared to others, Orijin is also premium priced, a major attraction for those that want to be different”.
Reputation/Name of manufacturer is another strong factor brand owners of Orijin leveraged for its marketing and consumer acceptance. While it was somewhat difficult to ascertain the faces behind the other similar herbal drinks in the market, Guinness threw its brand weight behind Orijin. As a trusted multinational company, consumers bought in to the product and the brand owners.
In addition to good distribution of the product from the onset, making it available to consumers nationwide, the company mounted good promotion campaigns and activations to create the necessary awareness. Against the speculated practice of Guinness Nigeria adopting or borrowing advertisement campaigns from UK for Nigerian audience, this time, it went local, pushing advertisement campaigns even in pidgin English to really communicate to the people and this resonated. “If e no bi Orjin, it cannot be original”.
The former marketing director of the company Austin Ufomba said during the unveiling of the product that Guinness has a “wide network of distributions and partners who will ensure that every of our discerning consumers are able to enjoy this drink anytime they want to. In the last two years, Guinness Nigeria Plc has launched quality brands which include Dubic Extra Lager, SNAPP Apple flavoured drink and Alvaro. Our consistency testifies to the fact that innovation is part of our DNA.”
Guinness Nigeria management said the introduction of the product in to the Nigerian market was part of its quest to continuously satisfy its numerous consumers across the Nigerian market. Orijin is an alcoholic blend with the flavours of African herbs and fruits, combined to give a refreshing bitter-sweet taste.
“Orijin is a drink that appeals to the modern African who wants to enjoy the best while still holding on to their African roots. In line with Guinness Nigeria’s tradition of continuously delivering great brands to meet our consumers’ varying tastes, Orijin is a quality brand that will not only bring excitement to consumers but also give them the opportunity to connect with their heritage”
Guinness promised that Orijin has come with a difference and is here to stay in the Nigerian alcoholic beverage market but analysts believe that this claim is possible if it is further supported by research and efficient marketing push as competition is not sleeping.
Daniel Obi