Salt is the important spice in the whole world that add taste in life. Salt considered to be king of spices. Salt contains high level of Sodium Chloride. The Sodium Chloride has been using around the globe in number of ways. Domestically, it is used in a many ways such as cleaning substances, preservative material to save food and household method of curing sore throat (Gharary). Sodium chloride also found in many daily household products including shampoos and toothpastes etc.
Food without salt is hard to found. As matter of fact there is a huge population of world which have been victim of High Blood Pressure and Heart Problems. And main reason for that is salt or indirectly sodium chloride which is dangerous for them in silent ways. For the precautionary measures and on doctor’s prescription patients adopted two ways to handle this situation:
- Reduced the salt intake in edibles
- Abandon its usage.
Main purpose of marketing is to identify the needs and serve the needs with products. Low Sodium Salts were launched after immense research, experiments and discussion with medical boards. Lot of international no sodium and low sodium salt brands have been introduced to target this very sector. These Low sodium salt brands contain more potassium chloride and less sodium chloride which gave patients taste of salt but will not harm them by salt’s sodium effect.
In Pakistan at least twenty percent of the population suffer from blood pressure and 30 percent of adults deaths were due to cardiovascular disorders reported by Department of Cardiology. International Society of Nephrology and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations (ISN and IFKF) declare that 1 out of 3 adults over the age of 45 suffers from hypertension in Pakistan. And in a report on hypertension by Pakistan Medical Board (PMB) declares that fifty percent of major city population like Karachi and Lahore suffer from this disease. Statistics of report shows alarming situation for people suffering from hypertension.
To serve this huge segment of consumer pharmaceutical company of Pakistan with the name of “Father & Sons” jumped in to the niche sector of market. Father & Sons is Karachi based company and has history of pharmaceutical operation. As matter of fact, company is pioneer in its products and focused on the core needs of individuals. The products they till launched were on Latent Need of individuals. On October 2009, first Pakistani brand having low sodium was introduced with the name of “Rite Salt”. previously company has launched SUCRAL (for diabetic patients) in earlier year 2009. Rite is the second brand of this company and especially targeted to individuals suffering form hypertension and high blood pressure.
Rite Salt is composed of forty percent sodium chloride and sixty percent potassium chloride 
elements. It is available in two sizes:
- 450 grams ( Plastic Pouch)
- 70 grams (Plastic Bottle)
Product came up in plastic covering pouch with blue theme colour. Rite’s pouch have resistance against the environment (water and heat) in general words it is in air tight packing. Rite has blend of dark blue and sky blue colour with sodium percentage indication on front. Behind are the ingredients with percentages and manufactures address with expiry date. Company is wise to choosing blue colour as it indicates truth, confidence and loyalty. Also Blue colour is more indicative then other on the shelf for display.
Rite is a product of FMCG sector. Salt product comes under habitual buying behavior by consumer and individual do not pay attention to them while selection. Sector is divided into
º Raw salts (Un-grinded)
º Less Sodium salt
º Iodized salt
º Black salt
º Regular salt
º Refined Salt
º Sea salt
ºNo sodium salt
Rite is locates in Less sodium salt by segment. Rite is initially targeted to two segments A and B. Segment A is high blood pressure individuals and segment B is heart problem patients. To have full access to these target audience they have adopted selected retail vehicles to reach them.
In the sector, Rite battle with not only local regular salt brands but also with many international brands having low-sodium. International brands counting LoSalt brand, So low brand, Nu-Salt brand, Hard Salt brand and Cardio Salt brand. The price of Rite Salt is high as compared to regular and other iodize brands. Rite salt is sold at price of Rs 99 for 450 gram and other sold at margin of Rs 17 to 18 that of Rite’s price. Rite used skimming price strategy for brand building and for the quality of the potassium chloride used in it . Potassium chloride is imported from foreign.
Michael Porter has explained three generic strategies for keeping competitive advantage over competitors. Generic strategies Including cost leadership, differentiation and focus. For Branding “Rite” adopted differentiation strategy from Michal Porter Strategy matrix. This strategy is applied overall marketing tools form product to placement. For marketing campaign “Father & Sons” marketing theme is more approached as previous describing tension and stress. But the recent campaign is telling hypertension problems of people. Rite Salt brand positioned with the slogan “keep blood pressure in control’. For advertisement Father & Sons has been using specialty programs to hit the target market of their product. They have been investing in cooking shows and on cooking channels like Masala Tv for promotion. Celebrity endowment is also used by selecting leading chiefs including were Mehboob ,Saadat and Gulzar. Also doctors were put in for recommending to patient suffering from hypertension and blood pressure.
Rite success factor can also be idealized for its huge portion of potential customers. Potential customer include people suffering from high blood pressure and other conditions where high sodium is restricted such osteoporosis, abdomen cancer, asthma and fatness. In spite of all this efforts, nutrition specialist and doctors are more and more recommending low sodium diet even to hale and hearty people. Need for Rite Salt is to have more focused on medium to address theses untapped portion of consumers.
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