How Fortune Refined Sunflower Oil's vernacular content strategy helped it engage with Odisha's locals during Rath Yatra

Fortune Edible Oils and Foods wanted to build awareness among the local communities of Odisha with the celebrations of Rath Yatra — a nine-day festival marked with huge social gatherings and prasad distribution. Using vernacular language and local cultural nuances, Fortune Edible Oils and Foods wanted to tell a relatable story to the Odia-speaking communities, weaved in with its brand Fortune Refined Sunflower Oil.

The pandemic had forced people to celebrate this festival at home and not socialise. The social gatherings at temples were also curbed. Fortune Edible Oils and Foods wanted to spread the message and true meaning of Rath Yatra to bring out the joy of celebrating with your loved ones.

Rath Yatra, like any other festival, is incomplete without food, especially sweets that are unique to the Odia community. During this period, devotees prepare 56 dishes known as Chhappan Bhog, and as legends state, every dish has its own story and myths. Unlike other brands, Fortune Refined Sunflower Oil decided not to talk about how Covid-19 pandemic affected us this year, instead, it went the old route of storytelling and bringing the family to celebrate Rath Yatra at home with close loved ones. The brand collected local folk stories and myths about the most cherished Rath Yatra dishes — Dalma and Chenna Poda — and brought it alive with the local art style used in digital animated format.

To strengthen the cultural context, Fortune chose to go back to the old narration and art style popular in Odisha — Patachitra (a visual depiction in scrolls of illustrations). The brand conceptualised and executed a video that visually depicted the story behind the making of Dalma and Chenna Poda and its inclusion as an offering to the divine deities. The video used a scrolling animation to bring out the old art form alive with modern art techniques and narration techniques with a pinch of awe and cheerfulness.

The video:

Media scheduling and distribution

The video targeted females and males (80:20), 25YO+, belonging to Odisha; having a strong inclination towards cooking and experimenting with new recipes.

Multi-platform approach

 Odisha is still at the nascent stage of internet penetration and our goal was to maximise reach. Keeping in mind the media options, the brand chose Facebook as the primary reach medium accompanied by Instagram and YouTube. Considering the small social media user base, Fortune opted for Zee5, an OTT platform that has a strong Odia content viewership to reach out to our target audience.

Media scheduling

The video was promoted for 10 days across platforms. The video was released on the brand’s social media accounts, and then Zee5 followed with the video as a pre/mid-roll ad on its app, placed along with Odia content.

The result

The campaign was a huge success with total video views surpassing 1.7 million across all platforms. The brand received more than 14K+ clicks to the Fortune Edible Oils and Foods website and its product pages on e-commerce platforms.

On YouTube, Fortune received a view-through rate (VTR) of 50%, which was higher than its usual 35-40%, whereas Facebook had a VTR of 11% that marks a super performance for the platform. On Zee5, the VTR was 82%, which meant viewers watched at least 30 seconds of the video ensuring the brand message was established before people skipped or moved on.

Brand love

YouTube and Facebook together garnered approximately 88% of the video views. On Facebook, the brand received love with 18K likes and 180+ comments and 440+ shares, expressing their love for the divine stories and greetings. The regional and vernacular treatment to the campaign connected well with the Odia-speaking community. People praised the concept, the stories about the divine prasad to Lord Jagannath, and filled the comment section with greetings and wishes.