Saurav Ganguly, the price of Kolkata, was a former Indian test cricket captain who was responsible for building Indian cricket from the abyss of 2000 to what it is today. The post is not about cricket but about the cooking oil he endorsed, his mild heart attack, and social media trolling.
It is unfortunate that our idol had a heart attack, and as we had prayed, he recovered quickly after Angioplasty. The moment news broke out about his heart attack, people remembered the product/brand he endorsed. The Fortune brand refined rice bran oil marketed by Adani Wilmar, advertised by agency Ogilvy and Mather claims the oil to be heart healthy. Why did he get a heart attack despite being a sportsperson at the highest level and at the young age of 48?

At one level, it is unfair to target Saurav Ganguly or the brand Fortune for his present health status. Brand only claims that the oil is good for the heart and never claims that no matter what you do, you will never get a heart attack. Saurav, on his part, despite following a healthy lifestyle, had to get a heart attack. I promote coconut oil for cooking and hair, but I am bald, and I am not necessarily the healthiest. So, coconut oil or the brand Cocoguru is not responsible for it. But for that, we need to think fairly, which doesn’t happen in the emotional world of advertising.

Should Saurav Ganguly promote the product/brand?
Saurav Ganguly has worked hard as a professional cricketer to achieve the success he has and rise to be a nationally adored celebrity. He has also borne the cost of being a celebrity. It is only wise that he uses his reach to commercially encash his popularity. But people are only questioning his responsibility in choosing the products he has endorsed. I believe he must personally use it. I have done some basic research and liked it before endorsing it to others. I know Harsha Bhogle, for one, does the due diligence before endorsing a brand. A few cricketers like Hashim Amla don’t sport the Castle Lager logo on their shirts, though it is their national sponsor as it is a liquor brand. With financial commitments, it is easy to endorse brands that pay the most. Sportsmen are also under pressure to make money fast as they have limited time, which appeals mostly to their playing days when they are playing well.

Should the brand select Saurav Ganguly for the campaign?
The campaign is about being healthy even after crossing 40 years of age, and Ganguly is the correct choice for it as he is an icon for all people across the country who are of that generation. But the brand’s advertising agency must have worked with Ganguly to find out if he really is a user of the product and duct and whether the product really promotes heart health. For any long-term relationship to work, the deal must work fairly both ways.

Risk of having a personality endorse a brand
Nobody would have anticipated Ganguly suffering from a heart attack, so the brand must be excused for not covering this risk. There have been backlashes in the past for celebrities taking political positions like Amir Khan, Deepika Padukone, Swara Bhasker etc and users have boycotted the products they have endorsed. Celebrities are humans, after all, and have the right to opinion and expression, but it runs the risk of their followers liking it or not. Using celebrities gives brands immediate benefits of reach and liking, but it also carries its risks.

Is there any logic, head or heart in promoting refined oils as healthy?
The low cost of refined oil gives its marketers a wide mass market for consumption and hence the marketing budget to spend, enticing the users to switch to it. Refined oils may be devoid of impurities like free fatty acids, bad odour, extra colour, solid particles and moisture. But why did the oil have impurities in the first place? Because they were inferior-grade oils that were made acceptable through refining. Crude, raw, filtered, cold-pressed oils are extracted from superior-grade oil seeds and ready for consumption as they are without having to undergo refining. But they are expensive because such oil seeds are expensive. Crude oils are healthy, but their manufacturers don’t have the marketing muscle to promote them to the masses. Masses can’t afford it, either. Masses usually succumb to dubious claims by advertisers, especially if they come from celebrities.

Why is your coconut oil yellow in colour? It is not clear white, so not pure

People say this out of their experience and perception about coconut oil. They are not to be blamed because they have seen that oil from good quality copra is white and that from lower quality copra is yellow. Our coconut oil is yellow not because of poorer quality copra but because of a different process. With improvements in oil extraction technology and consumer demand for packaged coconut oil, the coconut oil colour also may undergo a change. Though clear transparent white colour looks better, for want of better quality of coconut oil, the colour may have to suffer.
Manufacturing process of clear white colour coconut oil

Copra with 7-8% moisture is crushed in a rotary machine where lower heat is generated through friction, the oil is then kept in a barrel to allow settling of sediments to take out clear white coconut oil. This is the traditional method of coconut oil extraction and at small scale still followed in villages.

The problems here are

• Copra is high on moisture and resulting oil will get rancid fast
• Filtering through sedimentation takes a minimum of 7 days.

A superior method where above problems are solved is to dry copra to 3% moisture, extract oil from copra through expeller and filter oil online through filter press immediately.

But the resulting oil turns slightly yellow because of

1. Copra drying by application of hot air at 80 degrees
2. Higher friction and heat during oil extraction in expeller

It has better aroma and longer shelf life.

We go a step further that is the roast the copra pieces after drying but before oil extraction. This further enhances the aroma and shelf life but oil becomes more yellow in colour. There is not loss of any nutrients as it is popularly believed, it is still great for cooking. The great aroma is not because of any perfumes added but what comes out of copra through roasting. Increased shelf life is not because of any preservatives or chemicals but because of complete moisture removal from copra.

Effect of roasting can be understood by comparing the taste of ground nuts or cashew nuts before and after roasting. We eat rice, wheat and vegetables after cooking/heating not without.

There may be many traditionalists who say the contrary is true. White colour oil is better than yellow colour oil. We, respect their view and understand why they hold to their view. That is why we have cold press coconut oil also. As a brand, we believe roasted coconut oil is better.

We looked into the common objections by retailers to salesman. The toughest objection to crack is when retailer doesn’t respond. He just shakes his head and moves on. Or before you say anything, he says that he has stock and is not interested to buy. Here, we will look into how to handle this.

Objective in this situation is to not sell but to strike a conversation, build a connection, showcase the product and then see if anything can be worked out later.

“Sir, I understand that you are not interested in buying our products at this point. That is fine but I just want to showcase our products. We are doing a lot of marketing activities, our products are getting popular among consumers and there are good chances that you may get a few enquiries. The information I share with you may help you to understand your customer needs better and when you want to buy, we will be more than happy to supply to you.”

Introduce about you the salesman, name, native, past experience, when he joined the present company. Seek the shop keepers support in giving advices, references, consumer preferences etc. Share/exchange business cards.

At this point when the retailer is not under pressure to buy, and when the salesman is knowledgeable, simple and capable of understanding retailer’s concerns, he will open up. Then, products can be introduced, prices can be shared, supply mechanism, frequency can be discussed.

No matter, how disinterested the retailer will be. There is always a chance that he will face issue with present supplier in terms of quality, pricing, supply and terms. If we are able to build a relationship with him, we will be the first alternative that will come to his mind. Knowing that he has a solid alternative in us, he will start pressurising the present supplier for better deals.

A way to strike a conversation would be to keenly observe the shop. All retailers like to publicly display their say political affiliations, favourite God/Godess, owner’s car, their values, likings. One can talk about it. Each shop has its own strengths like cleanliness of the store, reputation in the locality, heritage, variety of items available, competitive pricing, size of business. Salesman can observe and appreciate the retailer and talk more about it. Also, they can discuss among their common contacts.

Eventually, probe more about the nature of business, how the retailer has grown the business, family connections, native place, his interests etc. Then, get into the demand for coconut oil in his shop. What do consumers ask for quality, price, brand etc What does he like about his present supplier, would he use it at his home?

All along the way, the salesman must be attentive, never look at his cell phone, read between the lines, be patient when the retailer is doing something else, keep eye contact, nod, stay in the topic. Never lie whenever he talks about himself, company, products, competitors, market. Keep all the information handy for ready presentation. Another point that is mentioned separately is “don’t attempt to sell”.

Before leaving, inform the retailer that the distributor or sales van would visit him for enquiring. Also, salesman would visit him say next week same day. Ask him if he needs any more information that he has to work on before coming next time.