AVANT GARDENER

Mama Sita is known for its array of delicious products, all evoking Filipino home-cooked or fiesta meals. Beyond being a pioneer in the industry and producing consistently good products, there’s a reason they are top of mind in this category: good marketing.

This isn’t a sponsored post. Though I’ve worked with the brand mentioned in the past, that was a long time ago and we haven’t had any professional contact since. That said, I admire their marketing acumen in terms of popularizing Filipino sauces and ingredients, as well as their advocacy to preserve Filipino culinary traditions and its commitment to agricultural research.

The reason I decided to write about Mama Sita’s marketing in this column begins with a box of rice. Now, boxed rice isn’t a thing in the Philippines. We like our rice in sacks and bags, so that we can measure the grain ourselves, from single servings (there are rice cookers for one now) to kilos for a whole party. What we do have in boxes, however, is almost desserts. These mix and bake/cook breads and pastries like pancakes and brownies ensure a near-consistent product every time. Mama Sita combined both to come up with Mama Sita’s Heirloom Rice Champorado Porriage Kit, a pre-portioned serving of rice, cacao, and sugar that comes in a box, ready to cook. 

Now, there are other instant champorados in the market, arguably easier to make, since all the ingredients are already mixed together, and all that needs to be done is to add water and heat. 

But let’s go back to this specific box of champorado. It isn’t instant per se, because it contains the same ingredients used to make champorado from scratch: rice, tablea, and sugar. What makes it stand out is the experience one has making the dish. 

First, there’s the packaging: a brown cardboard box adorned with a simple, classically designed black white sticker that mentions what the product is; the Mama Sita logo the only thing in color. It implies traditional, homemade, classy, and comforting.

Next, there’s provenance. Each kit comes with a small piece of paper that tells the customer that the rice is a variety called Minaangan sourced from Banaue, Hingnon, and Hungduan “IN THE TERRACED MOUNTAIN SLOPES OF IFUGAO (capitalizations theirs)” and that the cacao is “100 percent natural” from Mindanao. It also includes tasting and nutritional notes for the rice, part of which reads: “Its earthy, somewhat nutty flavor has a pleasant bite.” It doesn’t say where the sugar is sourced, however. It would have been nice if that was stated as well.

There’s also preparation. The kit lets one  literally make champorado from scratch, and the pre-portioned ingredients removes the need to measure and the worry of having extra ingredients lying around after. I liked that it came with sugar and that it was packed separately, allowing the eater to measure sweetness themselves (though I’ve been proven more than once that it’s the perfect measurement). Newbie cooks will get a sense of satisfaction at having made something while expert cooks will be happy that there’s not much to clean up. 

Last, but not least, it’s delicious. It’s hard to mess up rice and chocolate, and I feel that that’s what Mama Sita is banking on. Plus, rice, tablea, and sugar are three ingredients that don’t spoil easily, which is why they’re the only ingredients listed on the box. 

In short, this is a product that’s easy to make, lasts long, is delicious, has cultural and nostalgic pull, and whose ingredients come, one assumes, from the towns that produced them and not through the faceless middlemen that make up most of our food system. 

It’s a great product (I can never say no to champorado, so I might be a little bit biased about this) and great marketing. It highlights local heirloom ingredients and supports local producers and conveys this tastefully (I can’t stress this enough) through its packaging, design, and copy. If you’re making it for yourself, even the cooking is part of the experience. 

The Philippines has a lot of delicious, nutritious and interesting products that support local farms and produce. However, a lack of marketing, packaging, and copywriting knowhow can keep a great product from finding a wide audience. These elements are just as important as product research and development, since they’re the first things customers will see and essentially is the ambassador of your product. One has to study the design and copy associated with their ideal client and include that in their product experience. 

It’s why this box of rice succeeds: It caters to the buyer who values culture and sustainability. Your product may have a different clientele, and it’s important that your package design and copy reflect that.