East Africa Volume 5

MARKET The Fresha brand is a household name in Kenya. The main products under the brand include Fresh Milk, Long Life Milk, Yoghurt, Fermented milk popularly called “Maziwa lala”, Butter, Ghee and now Bottled Purified Drinking Water. Initially, Fresha targeted mothers with young children in the LSM (Living Standard Measure) 3 - 7 income groups, who drank tea and resided in urban / peri-urban areas. Over time the brand evolved to capture all income groups from LSM3 to LSM 17 across Kenya. Today Fresha is found in the lowest income homes that have no refrigerators to the wealthiest that have fridges and deep freezers. Each product caters to specific needs of the consumers. For example, those in the dry outlying parts of Kenya now have access to fresh milk following the introduction of Fresha Maisha Long Life Milk. The launch of Fresha Maisha Long Life Milk has enabled the brand to penetrate the regional markets where fresh milk is hard to find and where available has a short shelf life. Fresha’s turnover has continuously grown from 800,000 Kenya shillings in 2004 to over 7 billion Kenya shillings in 2016. During this time the brand has captured a market share of 34% in the competitive Nairobi market. The brand has a unique point of difference, that of Fresha milk being one of the freshest brand on the supermarket shelf. Fresha is 100% real farm fresh farm milk without any additives and reaches the market in less than ten hours from milking. Fresha has plans to expand its market share by 40% in the next 5 years, offering larger product range with the same freshness that has become synonymous with the name. To ensure this, Fresha continues to lead in packaging innovation and other areas such as butterfat levels. (The competition offers a 2.8% - 3.0% butter fat level and Fresha at 3.5%) The launch of Fresha Maisha Long Life Milk and 90 days Fresha Extended Shelf Life (ESL) Milk has played an integral role in the expansion allowing the brand to reach every part of the country and within the East Africa region. ACHIEVEMENTS After being launched in Nairobi a very competitive market, Fresha has achieved a market share of 34% within the last 10 years and the brand continues to grow its national market share. Today Fresha is a “must stock” brand at dukas, kiosks, convenience stores and supermarkets. In 2012, Fresha processing plant achieved ISO 22000:2005 certification, which underlined their commitment to provide quality brands to the consumer through world class production facilities. In 2014, Fresha’s stand at the Nairobi International Trade Fair won the prestigious “Most Striking Display” and “Best on Interpretation of the Trade Fair Theme” awards. In 2016, Fresha achieved Superbrand status, reaffirming that Fresha is a brand to reckon with. Fresha has also won: Company of the Year Award (COYA) and National Ushirika Day best Managed Company of the year and the Best Cooperative Society in Kenya. Fresha revolutionised the milk industry in Kenya by widely offering the pouch packaging in a market that was dominated by only one type of packaging. This brought a turnaround of milk packaging in Kenya and today, up to 60% of the market uses the packaging that was made accessible by Fresha. Additionally, 90% of the market offers 3.5% butterfat milk thanks to Fresha introducing the concept in their products. Most milk processors used to avoid using real full colour cows images on their packaging. Fresha changed that, the Friesian and Aryshire cow in full colour are a main aspect of its packaging design. They believe that people should know the superior cows their milk comes from. The brand name was derived from mixing of the words Friesian and Aryshire hence the name ‘Fresha’. This double edged brand name summarised the milk type and the freshness of Fresha milk. Fresha has a unique achievement of being one of the few brands internationally that targeted the lower income groups at launch and immediately penetrated the upper income groups with ease. In most marketing scenarios, the brand that is launched and targeted to the upper income groups trickles down to the lower income groups, in Fresha’s case, the trickle was the other way around. HISTORY Fresha was set up as a dairy cooperative society, prior to 2004, the society operated as a supplier of milk to milk processing companies. The Society today consists of 15,000 shareholders, who are mainly small scale dairy farmers in Githunguri Sub- county. In 2004, the board of directors decided to add value to the members’ milk by introducing branding and modern packaging for the final consumer of milk. Initially the brand was offered as a value pack to the lower end of the market 52