La Casera and Gala: Brand war or romance
By Elizabeth Olagunju
How about a throwback to St Valentine’s day. Today may not be Thursday, but who says we can only have throwbacks on Thursdays anyway?
St Valentine’s Day is a day to express love to partners, family, and friends in a special way. It is the season brands can’t wait to catch in on to promote their products through various marketing strategies and offerings to boost sales. This year’s Valentine’s Day was no exception, as brands and individuals went to great lengths to commemorate the occasion.
The day was, however, not without some drama.
One of the exciting aspects of festivals and celebrations is the ads created by brands and creative agencies. It is always thrilling and exciting to see different brand handlers trying to outdo one another in creativity and public appeal/engagement. Valentine’s Day was no exception, as various brands came to town with creative Valentine’s Day ads for their public.
Just like the saying that all is fair in love and war, when La Casera Company Plc, maker of La Casera Apple and other refreshing beverages, and Gala sausage roll, the leader in the sausage roll category in Nigeria, released their Valentine’s Day ad to their consumers on their social media handles, a discerning observer could see that something was in the offing and this could either be a war or romance.
La Casera released its colorful Valentine’s day ad: a graphic image in colorful yellow which is part of the brand’s identity with a chilled bottle of La Casera drink at the middle and a crown on its head with the copy, “WE RULE THE STREETS.”
As if picking up the gauntlet, Gala sausage roll also followed with the release of its Valentine’s ad with a colorful graphic in red which is a part of its, brand identity, and the Gala sausage roll at the middle, also with a crown on its head, and the copy “you “RULE” THE STREETS WE OWN THE STREETS.”
This is quite funny as both brands do not operate in the same market, but it is no surprise to us as both brands do have a history. Last year, at about 9:54 am on Valentine’s Day, a Twitter account linked to The LaCasera Company posted an interesting tweet in commemoration of lovers’ day. Without mentioning Gala by name, the tweet hinted at a long-standing but unspoken “romantic” situation between the two brands. It also said that LaCasera wanted to publicly shoot its shots at “G-Babe” because it didn’t want to spend Valentine’s Day alone “Dear G-Babe, you are such a snack. I’ve heard the whispers that we look good together. The perfect match that goes hand in hand. I must confess, I bubble on the inside whenever I see you, which is every time considering we are always together come rain come shine. We would be the cutest couple ever and be on everyone’s lips. So… here’s me shooting my shot. Fancy being a couple?”
This was quite an interesting post with a genius marketing strategy underneath, however, Gala sausage roll played hard to get when it tweeted “GALA SAUSAGE ROLL DISSOCIATES ITSELF FROM THIS COMMUNICATION”.
The interplay is undoubtedly another marketing stunt used by both brands to attract the attention of consumers and increase awareness. This is because hours after, Lacasera and Gala sausage roll both released collaborated graphics with both products next to each other and the copy “LET LOVE RULE HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY”
The massage is: “as we mark lovers’ day, we have no need for war, love conquers all”. This is quite a strategic collaboration by both brands, to drive engagements and awareness, it furthers buttress the need for love, in essence, we all need each other, no one buys Gala without a chilled Lacasera drink to step it down!
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