Reasons to buy / Promotions – particularly supermarket-based FMCG brand promotional campaigns – are too often functional and unimaginative, based on discounts and standard point-of-sale materials. As Grey Ecuador’s Pipo Morano astutely points out, this campaign creates an experience around the promotion, gamifying the experience of buying and cooking rice. And rice is a staple product. In Ecuador, people consume 59kg per capita per year of the stuff. So unlike premium or luxury goods that one might consider buying less frequently – high-end wine or chocolate, for example – it’s more of a challenge to get people excited about it. As the market leader, Arroz Super Extra has the challenge of sustaining growth and maintaining its relevance; with this engaging proposition, Arroz Super Extra gets people to look at its product differently, quite literally.
Against the grain / It’s fun to see a food brand do anything but talk about product benefits like taste and quality. Even if Arroz Super Extra is Ecuador’s number one brand, how much can it really differentiate its product from other rice brands? By eschewing food ad tropes and instead focusing on delivering a fun experience for its customers, the brand banks on the lure of prizes and experiences to earn media attention. The humorous tone of the TV ads also feels unexpected for the category: rather than food-porn style images of steaming piles of rice or earnest origin stories about the brand and its production processes, we get genuine comedy and mischief. For another example of a brand turning its packaging into a treasure hunt, check out Rescue of the ‘S’ by Peruvian beer brand Tres Cruces.
