Dalda's kitchen connect

In its latest campaign, Dalda is stressing that it's now a refined oil brand and no longer just a vanaspati offering

Dalda, once a household name in India’s kitchens, is reinventing itself to keep pace with the changing consumer preferences and stay on the minds of buyers who are increasingly looking for healthy options. In its latest campaign, “India ke kitchens badal rahe hain”, Dalda is showcasing its range of refined sunflower and soyabean oils, which are deemed as healthier variants. The campaign comprising two television commercials (TVCs) gives us a peek into kitchens that are witness to not only changing food habits but also mindsets. One TVC shows a woman preparing a non-vegetarian dish for her daughter-in-law. 

The elder woman is a vegetarian, so the implicit message in the ad is that it’s no longer a case of a wife or daughter-in-law performing kitchen duties. In the second TVC, a teenage boy takes cooking lessons from his mother. Again, the scene reflects that kitchens are no longer the domain of the woman of the house but that men are sharing the tasks too.

“With our two new commercials we attempt to focus on new and real bonding stories from the kitchens of India. It highlights the fact that consumers in the kitchen are evolving each day and in turn, Dalda too, is evolving with them,” says Milind Acharya, marketing head, Bunge India.

The TVCs resonate with the idea of how kitchens are evolving by showcasing these spaces as not just meant for cooking, but as platforms where household values are imparted and enhanced.

The woman of the household plays a pivotal role in bringing about this change and infusing a new value system that encourages children to embrace cooking, irrespective of their gender. adds Acharya. “It also brings alive how kitchens in the Indian households are becoming a meeting point of different generations, thought processes as well as food choices,” he says.

The campaign has been conceptualised and created by Leo Burnett India. The brief from the client was to communicate that Dalda is now a refined oil brand and no longer merely a vanaspati (vegetable oil) brand.

Talking about the creative insights behind the campaign, Rajdeepak Das, chief creative officer, Leo Burnett, South Asia, says, “Over the years, Indian consumers have been evolving, and Dalda has been evolving with them. This new focus on modernity brought with it a whole host of insights about the new Indian kitchens which led Dalda to focus on refined oils. The new communication for Dalda celebrates this change, not only the new format — refined oils — but also women who are the harbingers of change.”

According to Ken Research’s India Edible Oil Market Report Outlook to 2019, the edible oil market is expected to be worth Rs 2,080 billion by 2019. Soyabean is one of the biggest segments within refined oils. It is predominantly used in north and east India. The major players in the category include Cargill, Adani Wilmar, Ruchi Soya and Agrotech Foods. Dalda is a heritage brand and is well established as a leading player in the vanaspati category. However, over the last decade or so, refined oils have emerged as a fast growing category.

“One of the key challenges that the campaign aims to address is to delineate the brand Dalda’s strong imagery as vanaspati oil and to create a distinct brand positioning for Dalda Oils,” says Acharya.