Brac Chicken Case
Brac Chicken Case
Brac Chicken Case
Prepared for
Mr. Sheikh Morshed Jahan
Associate Professor
Business Strategy (W501)
Prepared By
Tasmeem Farizma Mihika (RH 33)
Section A, BBA 21st Batch
BRAC Chicken managed the quality of its The products included masala nuggets,
chicken along each step of the supply chain. kid's nuggets, regular nuggets, drumsticks,
The poultry was under regular supervision of wings, burger patties, sausage, kebab, cutlet
the vets, particularly during the use of and chicken tandoori. These were packaged
vaccines, medicine, antibiotics, etc. At the in 250- 300 gm packets and distributed
end of the processing chain, BRAC Chicken initially to the retail supermarkets and
sold high quality chicken, achieving HACCP general stores in the urban areas. The
('Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point'; products were priced higher compared to
a systematic approach to ensuring food those of Rich and Golden Harvest. The
safety) certification. In the process, BRAC affluent middle class and upper class moms
Chicken also tried to minimize any mostly bought such products to be used as
production activities that may harm the alternatives for snack or tiffin. The sole
environment. focus on processed chicken had been
proven to be a boon and a curse for the
enterprise at the same time. Though
Debut of the frozen foods line specialization and scaling had been in focus
for the company, there were sufficient
With population increasing at a rapid pace in absence of a backup plan when it comes to
cities of Bangladesh especially the capital, external disasters like the avian influenza or
the citizens becoming increasingly busy bird flu.
with young adults, couples and with the
BRAC Chicken: Branding its way out towards sustainability
represented the leading segment, In the value chain for frozen chicken market,
accounting for more than 41% of the overall products were directly transferred from
market in terms of value. Europe accounted poultry firms to dressing facility for further
for 37.6% of the global frozen food market processing. Once processed, the dressed
value. For Bangladesh plausible lucrative chickens were packaged and stored in
export destinations were USA, Canada, chilled warehouse; subsequently moving to
Australia, Middle-East and Europe. (See end point for sales. (See Exhibit 2)
Exhibit 1)
focusing on intensive marketing and The core message of the brand was
branding in tradition as well as digital communicated through each and every
media. Different school campaigns, TVCs, marketing campaign it launched. The CSR
interactive social media page had enabled activities of RICH like the road safety
the brand to acquire the maximum presence campaigns or their sponsorships in sports
and market share. The efficiency in the were what set them apart in the traditional
distribution network had made the brand and digital media.
available in the superstore shelf. Being the
first of the bunch had given this brand
enough time to capture a huge portion of the Aftab Frozen Foods
customers with their high quality, yet value
Aftab Bahumukhi Farms Ltd. launched its
for money product range.
own brand of processed and further
processed products under the brand name
RICH of Aftab. ABFL had more than 22(Twenty
two) different processed products. These
A leading food brand in Bangladesh, RICH products were sold in two different
promised the finest Halal food that there is categories. There were general category for
since 2007. all consumers and customized category. At
that time the customized products were
sold only to KFC. Aftabs products were
Whichever time of the day, be it breakfast,
priced to capture the higher income
lunch or an evening snacks, RICHs wide
customers. Though the company was
range of delicious halal foods will surely get
looking forward to cover all income levels,
you happy and satisfied every time.
quality maintenance was the main objective
of this company. Aftab enjoyed almost 25%
With the mission to be the market leader market share. For a substantial period of
through nationwide with sound network and around 6(six) years it had been extending its
innovative product portfolio and product lines in the market but enough
continuously improving quality of products penetration level had not yet been achieved.
and life style and prime focus on Halal food, Mainly due to lack of branding and overall
Rich offered a basket of 200 varieties of marketing efforts. Though Aftabs products
products for its customers. There were were considered high quality and the
breakfast options like RICH meatballs and company had modern procedures and
Roti Parathas or the freshly made RICH machineries, there was no well-planned
sausage sandwich, or the evening delicacies marketing and promotional efforts.
like RICH nuggets, cheesy sausages or
Kievs. There were the traditional options as
well like those of RICH Samosa, Cheese n Kazi Farms Kitchen
Potato or Fish Fingers.
Kazi Food Industries Ltd. brought out Kazi
Farms Kitchen branded frozen food (ready
Whatever your mood, we have the right food to cook) and ready to eat products that were
for you! Unannounced guests? Simply heat palatable and delicious in 1996. Their over
up some of RICHs frozen food and within 100 products were priced very affordably to
less than a minute you have yummy, target a wider market as they went for price
scrumptious snacks. You can even take a competition.
packed meal of RICH foods along with you
for the long drives.
BRAC Chicken: Branding its way out towards sustainability
Kazi Farms Kitchen offers you a set of four welcomed by the community. The media
brand promises for the purpose of keeping was full of praise about the virtues of frozen
you and your family safe and healthy as well, processed chicken.
such as: No Preservatives, No Tasting Salt,
No Antibiotic Residue and Vegetable Fed
Then came their advertisement. Suddenly
Chickens.
across billboards in the city and in
newspaper front pages there were children
The products were made available in all the stating with sour faces that they hated
supermarkets as well their own franchise khichuri, tehari, semai (our own cuisine) and
stores all around Bangladesh. They had a other children with smiles saying they loved
similar approach to marketing as that of the BRAC chicken There was a corresponding
market leader Golden Harvest. TVC with it communicating the same
message in AV. (See Exhibit 4)
CP
The idea behind the campaign was targeting
Other major player is the multinational food the consumers by influencing their
processing giant, CP, short for Charoen preferences. As the child usually runs
Pokphand Foods. The company is Thailand through the supermarket aisles to pick these
based and rules roost in Pacific Rims things from the shelfs, BRAC Chicken
poultry industry. By the policy CP believed through it would be a brilliant idea to focus
less in advertisement. They have very on them. The brand wanted to provide their
recently completed the first phase of their customers with scrumptious meal
test marketing in the major cities of alternatives to the same old traditional ones
Bangladesh. Test marketing was done by which were faster and easier to eat.
partnering with existing restaurants with
two or three products mainly chicken balls,
This particular ad however, was an outrage
chicken sticks / fingers, chicken
by its own virtue.
sheekkabab. These products were aimed
towards the younger generation who were
willing to pay premium price for good taste What do you mean children hate khichuri?
and high quality. They used an exclusively Its one of the things we Bangalees
branded kiosk inside the restaurants having associate ourselves with
frying facility in front of the customers. The
franchise shops were the key marketing
The blogosphere went mad. And when BRAC
efforts which are spread throughout the
started withdrawing the ad and replaced
metropolitan making them available at the
them with only the latter part, it did not stop.
doorsteps of the consumers.
An online newspaper took a potshot at them
and called up nutritionists who said frozen
Did Everyone Love BRAC Chicken? chicken was absolute rubbish. In blogs,
angry reactions to the ad mostly ended up in
After the launch of BRAC Chicken, the brand heated discussions about how NGOs and
was much appreciated by the consumer civil society folk are making money selling
market due to the high esteem of BRAC poverty,
social enterprises and their success in
reducing poverty through their projects. The
This fiasco was the outcome of one the
media was abuzz with it. Their objective to
most occurring lost in translation
provide high quality nutritious food was
BRAC Chicken: Branding its way out towards sustainability
A news reporter described the situation as, this industry which is directly associated
Look at it this way. Lets pick the most with food and health of the consumers, a
common soap commercial. Im absolutely negative brand image can pull the brand
certain the big Bollywood star with glowing further downwards in terms of market share
skin does not use the 30-taka soap I buy as well as brand equity.
every month. But shes nice to look at, and
not challenging established social notions.
The market was becoming more and more
competitive. The players had their branding
Child experts and nutritionists condemned game strong and with such similar product
the campaign slogan on the billboards ranges and pricing strategies, that was what
across Dhaka and in the advertisements in impacted the sales the most. The brand was
several leading newspapers as it despised a recent entrance in the market and had
the very food 'Khichuri' recommended to much scope of expansion. The initial
prevent malnutrition in Bangladesh. penetration was satisfactory with steady
growth. All of that would mean nothing if the
brand could not come through the darkness
"The campaign is a threat to local food,"
that was lurking on top of it. It was high time
president of Bangladesh Pediatric
that the management came up with
Association
something to recover and move BRAC
Chicken further towards achieving the goals
Their argument was that 'Khichuri' was a of becoming a driving force in the poultry
balanced food. Chicken fry was not that industry growth if Bangladesh.
balanced and was very much linked to
obesity," referring to the advertisement,
showing happy children biting into a chicken The Question Mark
drumstick. A massive group of the socialists
even suggested that this was an effect of Marketing has always been a subtle art, and
it is an art that businessmen carry off well.
westernization, or the conscious effort to
westernize the society. BRAC chicken was moving on in the right
track before the smallest of error is now
questioning the acceptance of the brand in
The After Math peoples minds. As time is passing by,
Sumaiya makes up her mind. She is now
"As soon as we realized that the message filled with strong belief and confidence.
was being misinterpreted, we decided to pull They have been serving the people for a long
down the billboards time now. A small mishap may damage the
image, but it is not unrecoverable. Will BRAC
chicken be able to pave its way back into the
The brand was in deep waters. On one side,
market c? Even if it does, how is it going to
the massive outbreak by the people and
compete with the market giants and
constant hatred towards the brand was too
upcoming players in the market? The
intense to handle. Even after the initial
question remains as she gets up and starts
impact would wear off, this would have a
walking towards the conference room.
long term impact on the brand image. And in
BRAC Chicken: Branding its way out towards sustainability
Exhibits
Teaching Notes
Learning objectives of the case:
The case has been prepared to be used as a teaching case for students learning business and
marketing. There is ample scope for the use of the theories and numerous frameworks that have
been taught as a part of the course to be applied practically by the students.
Potential Audience
The potential audience for the case are the students learning business with focus in marketing.
It is mainly aimed towards undergraduate and graduate level students in order to enable them
to make practical application of their theoretical knowledge in a real life scenario.
Teaching Strategies
The case allows the reader to take upon the role of a senior brand manager and strategize the
brands marketing to recover the damage and come up with a plan to make it sustainable. The
case analysis should contain the market analysis, SWOT analysis of the brand as well as
discussing the surface problems and the core issue. The solution should be of 2 parts: The
immediate plan of action and the long term plan for the brand to be viable.
References
Market Insight: Bangladesh Frozen Food Sector, Light Castle Analytical Wing, (July 14, 2015),
http://www.lightcastlebd.com/blog/2015/07/market-insight-bangladesh-frozen-food-sector
Processed chicken market to heat up, Sohel Parvez, The Daily Star, (March 16, 2015), <
http://www.thedailystar.net/business/processed-chicken-market-heat-71871>
Social Business- The BRAC Chicken Issue, Shegufta Hasnine, e-bangladesh,com, (September
25, 2012), http://www.ebangladesh.com/3805