Eggvertising: Unbundling opportunities for Advertisers..

Though this article is done with its round of Blog-attention almost 2 months back, I could not resist myself in putting it up here too.

By tapping a very specific attribute of Consumer Behavior, a company has invented a whole new concept of Advertising for Marketers and Convenience for Consumers.

Attribute? Consumers’ apprehensions and their scrutinizing of the Eggs pre-purchase, entailing time engagement with the eggs; This results in high visibility of the eggs, which can be considered to be a marketable touch point and hence, can be leveraged to advertise!
Well, in simple terms, eggs are to be used as another Advertising MediumHow? When? Why?Where? .. are still not formalized, since there is not much of a mature market for it yet. But yes, what is appreciable is the ideation, innovative thinking and workability of the entire concept.


Encouraged by a huge market of 50 billion eggs sales per year in USA, Bred Parker, the creator of EggFusion and the brains behind the creation came up with this new concept of printing the expiry date and a traceability code as part of the traceability management system. Along with these details for the consumer, also comes an opportunity for companies to become visible to the consumer, thereby opening a whole new avenue for the marketers.

Taking advantage of the fact that the eggs attract high visibility and the time spent per egg is more since the consumer checks the eggs properly has encouraged EggFusion to promote Eggs as a media vehicle. Thus, emerged the concept of “Eggvertising”!

With so much cluttering in the Advertising world and uncountable touch points for the consumers, how does “Eggvertising” position itself as a unique profitable proposition?
If one closely follows the entire life cycle of the product, there are specific attributes of this media vehicle:
  • Short life of messages and so pertinent to events that are time sensitive and need to generate a pulse in the market
  • Ideal for short-term effective virals which need not be sustained for a long period of time
  • For a specific target segment, which is regular at the grocery shops and regular egg eaters
  • Directed towards the buyers of the grocery – the woman of the house, who would in turn act as the influencer or decider in buying the advertised products/services!
  • Ideally timed for breakfast meals - one of the few times the entire family is together, entailing high visibility and a possible trigger point for discussion
  • Multiple engagements with the same brand, with every egg carrying the message/brand – thus ensuring a good recall value
Thus, there is a gamut of advertisers who would be willing to invest in such an opportunity, commonly referred to as “Eggvertising”!

What pushed the creative of eggfusion?
According to a report in Fox News, Ninety-nine percent of eggs are never touched by humans.
This alludes to the fact that a large proportion of eggs is wasted, and some streamlining of the production process and in turn, the supply chain is imperative. Eggfusion considered this point and introduced a laser-etching technology that placed tamperproof marks directly into the eggshell as it passed through the packaging process.

Lessons for the Indian sub-continent
Though this might not be the best time to talk about “Poultry” and “Eggs” with the entire continent gripped with the dangerous Bird-Flu, on second thoughts, I believe this in an opportune time for the producers and the marketers to reinforce the quality of their produce and garner trust of the consumers.
A streamlined production process, with certified production and expiration dates is something that every Indian consumer would look forward to. Though this does not obviate the apprehensions of the consumer, a visible effort by the manufacturer is definitely creditable.

According to Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, India - with the annual production of 33 billion eggs, is the world’s fifth largest egg producing country and the annual growth rate is almost 8-10%.
Picture these Stats -
Annual per capita Consumption_____________________________: 33 eggs
World Average_____________________________________________:124 eggs
Recommended by National Committee on Human Nutrition______:180 eggs

Thus, requirements would be close to 180 billion eggs in 2010, in contrast with the estimated production of only 46.2 billion eggs. Thus, there is a huge business opportunity in this market, waiting to be tapped (For more details, please refer to the report).

FAO recommends a vertical integration of the entire production process and sustainable infrastructure to meet the increasing demand in India.
“It needs to be supported by providing infrastructure for meat processing, packaging, preservation and marketing with value addition of products and maintaining a cold chain till the product reaches the consumer.”
Since there is a need to improve processing, preservation and marketing of eggs and poultry products, what better time could it be than to invite EggFusion to incorporate its ideas with Indian manufacturers?

Looking ahead, as this media vehicle takes shape, there is scope for a lot of innovation in this line
  • face paintings, manufacturers, FMCGs, coupled ads (3-4 eggs together conveying a message),
  • Social advertising
  • collectible bundled offers (a specific number of characters to be collected, to complete a full set and be eligible for prizes)
  • Secondary discounts, wherein discount is offered on exchange of previous used shells
  • Egg fairs and event marketing
  • Community development of egg-itarians


  • Many more ideas can be pumped into this, post-conceptualization.

    A major bottleneck in this initiative is the Indian culture and the eating habits. A vast majority of the Indian population is strict vegetarian and do not eat eggs. How to change this habit and how to convince people to become egg-itarians triggers a completely different debate altogether!

    As of now, let me stick to the ideation per se and not the execution.
    Kudos to this egg-static idea! Definitely, a great example of out-of-the-box thinking, or should it be called …out-of-the-shell thinking? ;-)

    [Original tip from Adjab]

    Comments

    Anonymous said…
    As a marketer, i think the idea of finding anyway to intrude on people's lives appalling. Where is the conversation??
    Anonymous said…
    Hey Puru,
    Buddy here, I know you will check this more than my mails, came to your site after a long time and surely i can see a drastic difference in your artilces (of course in a positive sense). Keep it up , will surely post in any comments and you sure have me as a regular here now :) !!!

    NATUUUUUU :-)
    Lord Inquisitor said…
    I do not like adverts on any eggs I am using and would prefer the increased shell strength instead of making the shell thinner. The shells are thin enough with 20% average eggs bought having cracks in them. The laser etched section will be more prone to breaking and increases the risk of bacterial infection.

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