Q] Starting off in Andhra Pradesh, Freedom Oils has grown exponentially and is gaining national prominence. Tell us about your journey?
The progress made by us in commodity branding is immense. We’ve achieved significant consumer confidence and nationwide market share, even being recognised by academic institutions like Harvard and IIM Ahmedabad. Compared to the top edible oil companies, our fundamentals are strong. Our journey began in 2010 in Andhra Pradesh, and we owe a lot of our success to strategic planning. Back then the awareness of sunflower oil was high due to brands like Sundrop, but many existing brands lacked in quality, distribution, and marketing, particularly in Southern markets. We saw an opportunity and built a world-class plant to scale with demand, starting with a refining capacity of 150 tons per day. Today, we’ve expanded to 2000 tons per day, a tenfold increase. Our operations now span NCR, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and sporadically Kolkata. Despite being concentrated in a few states, our brand holds the largest market share in the sunflower segment nationwide.
Q] Given your strategic expansions into various regions, how does your marketing and business strategy differ across these locations?
National brands often struggle in the commodity business due to the need for quick decision-making and close monitoring. State-specific brands hold higher market shares in Southern India. We started in the Telugu States, expanded to Odisha & Karnataka, and recently entered Tamil Nadu. Each state requires significant advertising presence due to its market size. We avoid nationwide launches because of high logistics costs and low margins. Instead, we focus on regional growth. We’re establishing a plant in Telangana to serve Maharashtra, and plan to expand to Kerala in the next two years, with Maharashtra following around 2027. An all-India expansion will depend on future manufacturing capacity in the North. And when it comes to communications, more or less, it remains the same. But what matters to us is the way we address cultural nuances. Our commercials in the Telugu states are different from our commercials in Odisha, but the core message remains the same.
Q] How have you positioned your brand and tailored your communications around it?
We focus on leading the edible oil market, where entry barriers are low and technology is accessible. Success requires a high-quality plant and global sourcing. Due to the volatile nature of edible oil costs, consumers are price-sensitive, and may reduce consumption or switch brands if prices increase. We have positioned our brand in the value-for-money segment, targeting informed consumers who seek quality and affordability in sunflower oil. Our “guilt-free eating” message highlights the health benefits and lower absorption rate of our oil. This has helped us achieve over 60% market share in top markets and over 10% in newer ones. We invest over 100 crores annually in marketing and trade initiatives to maintain visibility and drive sales. TV remains our primary medium of communication, taking 65-70% of our budget. We have also included Connected TVs and internet apps in our marketing plans. Since 2015-16, digital advertising has grown to account for 10% of our budget. In metropolitan and tier 1 cities, we also utilise e-commerce platforms and run outdoor campaigns, targeting residential communities and office spaces. Additionally, we also leverage radio advertising.
Q] You mentioned that the Southern market is very conscious about sunflower oil. What steps are you taking to increase the product’s penetration in other regions?
The name and packaging must be appealing and competitive. We are known for high quality and must maintain that standard. In the edible oil market, we need to focus on penetration and continuously engage consumers by highlighting the value we bring. Gaining market share is challenging because it’s crucial to consider what the competition around is doing. We must find unique ways to differentiate ourselves.
Q] Gemini, edible oils and fats recently launched a tech enabled advertising campaign for Freedom Rice Bran oil. How was this campaign and how is generally your brand’s relationship with Print?
We used print advertising until 2015, but with the rise of digital, we restricted it due to budget concerns. Now, we use print selectively in Metro markets for seasonal or tactical offers. Print ads are trusted, so we innovated by incorporating a technology where scanning the ad with a mobile device plays a video message. This extra investment led to over 500,000 views, making it worthwhile. Such initiatives spark discussions and help us stand out. We were among the early adopters of this technology.
Q] What goals have you set for the future?
Moving forward, the goal is not to have an all-India presence, but to make a substantial impact in the markets we are present in. It’s not about being number one or two in those markets, but possessing a good 15-20% market share. We recently launched our new brand in Tamil Nadu with a different name because I believe that the narrative has to be different for different regions. Once we launch into a new market, we focus on that marketer, and only after achieving some success, we make our way to other states.
