Can you recall memories of those Rola-Cola candies from the 90s, the famous candies from the Indian brand Parle? And then all of a sudden these candies disappeared from the market. It’s an exciting story of the brand which relaunches the “Rola-Cola” candies once again in 2019. This case study is a perfect example of how companies can leverage their Social Media presence to bridge gaps between customers’ desires and what companies strategies.
How had it begun?
On 13th Feb 2019, a random twitter user tweeted to Parle (@ParleFamily), requesting the company to bring the 90s popular candy “Rola-cola” back.
He didn’t receive any revert from the company.
The user very next day once again tweeted the very next day in a bit challenging tone this time.
On the fifth day, Parle-G reverted the user and asked if the company receives at least 10K tweets; it might launch the product once again.
Dear PARLE. Bring this back pic.twitter.com/Oo792U3EJM
— Siddharth (@ssaig) February 13, 2019
…and from there the tweet went viral, and within a few days, it received 10K Tweets.
When Parle received 10K Retweets
On 12th Mar, Parle acknowledged that it had received 10,000 retweets.
All we asked for was 10k retweets but we got a whole lotta love along with it. Thank you for the #BringBackRolaCola movement and its success. More updates coming soon! pic.twitter.com/vlb1OuTcBZ
— Parle Products (@ParleFamily) March 12, 2019
Pre- relaunch Social Media Strategies
In September 2019, the company started a new campaign with a new Hashtag #RolaColaIsComingBack. To woo engagement online, it asked the 10K people who had retweeted the tweet, to share screenshots of the retweet to get a surprise from the company.
In another initiative of the company, it created a fictional story around the product depicting where the Rola-Cola had been to all these years since 2006, and later how the homesick brand decided to return India in 2019.
Rola Columbus- Surfing the tide in the Maldives, walking like an Egyptian with the mummies, skiing in the Alps, scoring a goal in Spain, Rol-a-Cola was the life of the party everywhere it went. Homesick Rol-a-Cola’s vacation is now over.
— Parle Products (@ParleFamily) October 1, 2019
ARE YOU READY??#RolaColaIsComingBack pic.twitter.com/emYHGQHvkN
The company also used employee advocacy; some of Parle’s employees had used their social media presence over LinkedIn & other platforms to create the buzz.
In one another tweet, the company was seen asking Twitterati who had participated in 10k retweets, to share the screenshot of their retweet in order to receive a surprise from Parle.
Remember the tweetathon to #BringBackRolaCola? We have special gifts for everyone who Retweeted. Here are the steps you need to follow:
— Parle Products (@ParleFamily) September 4, 2019
1:DM us a screenshot of your retweet for 10K RTs
2:Add your contact & address details to the DM
3:Wait for an exciting gift hamper to reach you pic.twitter.com/RNqVDpvqkw
Takeaways-
Parle spends about 14% of its marketing budget of Digital Marketing, its further plans to increase it up to 16%, revealed Parle’s – Sr. Category Head Marketing – Krishnarao S Buddha in an interview with Exchange 4 Media.
This case has shown us how effective Social-listening has helped the Parle to revive the brand which was discontinued from Indian markets 13 years back on the ground of decreasing popularity. Whereas the company now eyes to make revenue from the same product of over 100 Crores rupees from the Indian market alone.