La Casera, driven to push for greater in every way – Emma Agu
Emmanuel Agu is the Group Marketing Director of JOTNA Nigeria Limited, a group of companies which comprises The La Casera Company PLC, a leading beverage company; Prima Corporation, a manufacturer of preforms and caps in West Africa; Engee Pet Mfg Co. which produces the most consistent quality or food grade bottle resins; and Gilon Group, a global distributor of raw materials.Since he got in the saddle a JOTNA, Emma has soldiered on in the charge of his responsibility of leading a new Marketing team of the group.
In this interview, he goes down memory lane on the 20-year-old brand, the company, the CSD segment of the Nigerian FMCG industry; and takes a look at the future.
How will you assess the brand positioning of La Casera over the years?
La Casera was launched in November 2001 as the first Apple CSD;also, as the first CSD in a PET Bottle. It was launched to provide on-the-go apple refreshment to the active upward mobile Nigerian pursuing their hustle.Over the last 20 years it has remained true to this; even now with the Fresh Vibes Campaign, it is still about that.
How will you assess competition in its market segment?
The Apple CSD Category is growing with a few other players coming to join the game which is a welcome development because this only goes to show that our insight was spot on.With more players onboard, we as La Casera are only more driven to push for greater in every way.
Who will you say are the major competitors in this market?
For us, we think our competition is any other brand or product that provides top quality refreshment on-the-go and also anything that our target consumers can buy with the same amount of money they would normally spend to get the Apple Refreshment of La Casera. So, we have our work cut out for us but we at La Casera like challenges.
What is your brand’s unique selling points?
La Casera is Great Apple Refreshment that contains 5% Real Apple Juice Concentrate with 100% Real Apple Taste for everyone to enjoy.
What informed La Casera’s recent new look initiative?
In commemoration of our 20th Year Anniversary, we decided to refresh the brand’s look and feel; giving it a new look that better encapsulates the essence of the brand i.e. Energy, Fun & Excitement.
This launch of a new label with the bottle as the Hero affords us the opportunity and creates that Fresh Vibe to positively impact perception and attract the teeming Younger Gen Y, Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
How will you assess target audience response to the latest effort?
The campaign was insight driven as all our campaigns are and it is tracking as was forecasted at the testing phase. So we are in a good space.
What is the brand’s creative philosophy over the years?
The brand has been around for 20 years but what has kept us going is the fact that that we have stayed true to our essence which is to bring Fun, Energy and Excitement to the Lives of our Target Audience; this is the bedrock of all we do.
How has this creative philosophy evolved over the years?
We constantly adapt our essence to accommodate upcoming generations, fresh trends and cultures to stay relevant.We are able to do this because we are constantly listening to our consumers.
As a future-fit brand, what would you say stands La Casera out of the pack?
We are constantly speaking to what our consumers want in very creative, innovative ways and also delivering top quality Apple Refreshment always.
What major brand building initiatives would you say La Casera has carried out to distinguish it as one of the brand heroes of the new normal?
Due to the economic challenges, things have been really hard for people in recent times everywhere in the World but particularly for people in Nigeria. As a brand that has a heart for people, La Casera has only tried to do its own part in trying to help with making things better and giving recognition to people who showed impeccable character in the face of the storms. That was the focus for the initiatives that we championed during the months of the COVID pandemic and throughout 2020 like the La Casera Heroes Campaign and This is Not a Full Stop Campaign; Campaigns; these helped to further endear us to our customers and Nigerians in total.
How has La Casera been responding to the paradigm shift in the age of the new normal?
We are watching, listening and constantly adapting to stay relevant to our consumers. The Consumers are King.
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