The Obos’ Blueberry Magic

Peek Freans launched a limited edition ‘Blueberry Magic’ variant of their Rio biscuit in October, featuring the fun-loving ‘Obos’ –animated characters who traipse around doing silly things in order to get their hands on Rio biscuits.

Pakistan’s packaged biscuit industry is estimated at Rs 100 billion and is led by Peek Freans. In the cream biscuits segment Rio is the biggest player with close competition from LU’s Prince, Milco Lu, Oreo and Bisconni’s Rite biscuits. Peek Freans have been keeping their cream biscuit brand – Rio – growing with an exciting limited edition variant launch every year. Recently, brands like Innovative Biscuits, MayFair and Whistlez have also entered the market.

“The World of Obos in particular has been a very successful promotion platform for Rio so far, and the Blueberry Magic TVC (sixth in the series) has received a great response from its target market – six to 12 year olds who crave, breathe and live mischievous fun,” says Muhammad Asad Saeed, Category Manager, EBM. He adds “the strategy was to build excitement and brand love while also gaining incremental growth for the brand.”

To achieve this objective, the storytelling had to generate awareness and trial of the new variant through an ingredient-centric story built around mischief and fun. As per the company’s research, magic came out as an apt and engaging expression to describe mischievous fun. Through this campaign, Rio wants to continue to establish the Obos by bringing out their unique personalities while integrating the product launch in a seamless manner.

The TVC is supported by all other media – print, billboards, social media, and POS branding. The campaign and associated communications also endorse the brand’s positioning – an exciting and fun treat for kids.

Rio Blueberry Magic has been launched in the Rs 5 ticky-pack version, Rs 10 snack-pack version, and the Rs 20 half-roll SKUs. Considering the product has recently hit shelves and the response so far in terms of the product, repeat purchase, packaging, and communication has been promising and the brand team believe the campaign has achieved its objective of generating awareness and trial. This was a good time to launch the limited edition variant as the pandemic has resulted in increased demand across the entire food and snacking category, unlike other categories which have seen a decline in sales due to lockdowns.