FOCUS: BRAND STRATEGY MISFIRES | AUDIENCE: STEWARDS OF PLATEAUED BRANDS
BY: SHOBHA PONNAPPA | BRAND BREAKTHROUGH STRATEGIST | 45 YEARS | 125+ CLIENTS
I helped a spice mix brand see that showcasing its range in a webinar wasn’t enough for recipe-hungry consumers.
The spice mix brand had relied for decades on its heritage appeal and extensive product line. Its leadership believed that reminding the market of this breadth would rekindle consumer interest. They decided to showcase the entire range through a polished webinar presentation that looked modern, colourful, and highly professional. The slides dazzled internally, winning nods of approval from executives who felt the company had successfully reintroduced itself.
The problem emerged when the same webinar was shared with distributors, influencers, and early consumer testers. They found the deck uninspiring and abstract. Instead of feeling excited about the products, they felt detached, unable to imagine how the spice mixes could simplify or elevate their daily cooking. The deck was a catalogue of items … but not a story about usage.
As I studied the reactions, I saw that the brand had fallen into the trap of being product-centric instead of consumer-centric. Internally, leaders were proud of the range, seeing variety as proof of strength. Externally, consumers were not impressed by “how many” but wanted to know “how useful.” The mismatch between internal pride and external expectation caused the misfire.
I realised that the real opportunity was to anchor the range in lived consumer contexts. Home cooks today care about quick weekday meals, wellness-driven swaps, sustainable packaging choices, and creative fusions of flavours. These contexts were absent in the webinar, leaving the brand sounding dated, despite the glossy visuals.
My breakthrough idea was to reframe the deck from being about ‘what we have’ to being about ‘how you cook.’ I transformed the spice mix brand’s story from a product showcase into a recipe-enabler narrative. This meant presenting every product through the lens of a dish, occasion, or cooking trend that made sense to the consumer.
Instead of a slide that said “Range of Curry Powders,” the new approach showed “From Monday Night Quick Curry to Weekend Family Feast.” Instead of “Fusion Blends,” the new story was “How to Impress Guests with a 10-minute Indo-Mex Wrap.” By grounding every product in actual use, the deck suddenly felt alive, relevant, and practical.
The strategy was not to discard the range but to contextualise it in consumer language. Each product was mapped to real cooking moments, and the story was retold as “recipes you can make, problems you can solve, flavours you can explore.” This immediately shifted the focus from internal pride to external resonance.
The revised webinar became a tool not just for distributors and influencers, but also for consumer-facing content. Influencers began using the slides to create their own recipes, distributors saw a clearer sales pitch, and consumers felt the brand was speaking directly to their kitchens, not just about its warehouse shelves.
Here are 10 strategic ideas developed (and several executed) to support the new brand direction:
Quick Dinner Reels: Short-form video recipes showing how spice mixes transform 15-minute weekday dinners.
Wellness Swap Blog Series: Articles demonstrating how traditional masalas can replace high-sodium flavourings with healthier results.
Fusion Friday Posts: Social content where influencers create quirky but doable global mashups using the spice mixes.
Recipe Carousel Ads: Interactive Instagram and Facebook ads letting users swipe through dishes linked to specific products.
Pinterest Cooking Boards: Visual boards categorised as “Fast Meals,” “Healthy Swaps,” and “Fusion Fun,” driving recipe inspiration.
Sustainability Stories: Content showing how the brand’s eco-packaging aligns with consumer values around responsible consumption.
Seasonal Campaigns: Contextual recipes tied to festivals and events, each highlighting a specific spice blend in action.
Interactive Webinars: Follow-up cooking sessions with chefs and nutritionists using the spice mixes live with audience Q&A.
User-Generated Recipe Contests: Encouraging consumers to share their personal recipes with branded spice mixes, amplified online.
Cooking Challenge Series: Weekly challenges on social media (“Cook a 5-ingredient dish in under 20 minutes”) using brand products.
Webinar attendance grew by 42% for the revised sessions.
Social media recipe engagement tripled compared to product posts.
Influencer collaborations increased from 8 to 24, generating over 1 million impressions.
Retailer uptake of new product packaging rose by 27%.
CONFIDENTIALITY CAVEAT: This case study represents a confidential engagement. For privacy, specific brand identifiers, campaign names, and project phases have been withheld. It has been shared with permission while preserving client discretion.
If you’re an investor seeking momentum for your portfolio brands, this Case Study Post I wrote could interest you: “How a Mindfulness Platform Disconnected from Followers’ Minds.“
And if you’re a solo expert looking to sharpen traction, this Case Study Post I worked on may resonate: “When a Vegan Expert Piled on Exotic Foods, Not Easy Meals.“
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