Why is this work relevant for Creative Strategy?

The story of India is the story of diverse Indias within. Everything from traditions to language, from dialects to festivals change across regions. Similarly, ‘tea’ is the dominant hot beverage in India, but taste preferences for this ‘cuppa’, vary across regions. The formula for national brands has forever been ‘one size fits all’ and this case illustrates how Tata Tea Premium challenged convention to reclaim hearts and cups of local people through a hyper-localization strategy. This is the story of how a ‘national hero’ maintained ‘brand stature’ and yet transformed into a ‘local favourite’ by evoking ‘regional pride.’

Background

Tata Tea Premium (TTP), one of the leading tea brands in the country was facing stiff competition from regional tea players. The brand was at a price premium and competition was aggressively leveraging their ‘price gap’ advantage. Hence, Penetration and Market Shares started softening as the source of growth for the TTP. In order to justify its premium, retain its regional loyal base and continue driving upgrades - the brand had to evolve from being just another national brand to also being a ‘local favourite’. OBJECTIVES: REKINDLE BRAND LOVE TO JUSTIFY PREMIUM AT A REGIONAL LEVEL IN THE KEY MARKETS. 1. GET REGIONAL MIND MEASURES BACK ON GROWTH PATH - In the 5 key states of UP, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Odissa. - Leverage product promise of ‘blends crafted to suit regional palate’ 2. GET REGIONAL MARKET SHARES BACK ON GROWTH PATH - In the same 5 states.

The Interpretation of the Challenge (30% of vote)

Being a local favourite is no easy task in a country as diverse as India. Hindi is the dominant language, but is spoken in 48 dialects across regions. Tea is the preferred hot beverage, but every state boasts its own palate and taste preferences. Each state in India is culturally so different from the other, a national brand deploying a regional strategy carried an inherent risk of the brand ending up with a fractured identity. THE CHALLENGE was to develop a strategy that struck a balance between hyper-localising the brand message, leveraging brand stature and retaining consistent brand voice. To begin solving for this, we leveraged the brand’s long-established regional ‘product’ expertise. With consumer needs always at the forefront, the brand had for long been crafting different blends to suit different regional taste palates. The time was right to disrupt the market by leveraging this product truth in each state.

The Insight / Breakthrough Thinking (30% of vote)

The cornerstone of the strategy was the most interesting interplay between the national and regional identities in the Indian society. While Indianness holds all Indians together, it’s the unique regional identities which helps retain cultural individuality. There was an opportunity here to disruptively shift the conversation from ‘India pride’ to ‘Regional Pride.’ A cultural observation helped in this regard; an observation of how people from different states in India perceive each other. No matter the state, there’s always a long list of stereotypical perceptions we hold of other regions. These stereotypes are seldom are ever positive or accurate in capturing the true essence of a society as experienced by its residents. The anchor insight we unearthed thereon was that “most states are associated with certain ‘negative stereotypes’ which are generally an outsider’s perspective about that region. But, there’s always the ‘insider’s perspective’ which shows the positive truth behind the stereotypes.”

The Creative Idea (20% of vote)

Having unearthed the insight, we then connected the “positive insider truth” to the regional tea attribute/qualifier to arrive at the ANCHOR IDEA, "India’s Tea, The Essence of Your Region (Desh ki Chai, Aapke Pradesh Ka Swaad)." We then rendered this anchor idea into region-specific avatar by qualifying each one’s “Essence.” For Uttar Pradesh, it was ‘Punchy Powerful Taste’ taking on the ‘power-hungry’ stereotype and showed how they put power to good use. For Delhi, it was ‘Rich Taste” taking on the ‘wealth-obsessed’ stereotype and showed their rich-heartedness. For Haryana, it was “Strong Taste” taking on the stereotype of ‘weak, submissive women’ and showed their strength of commitment to goals. For Punjab, it was “Large-grained tea” taking on the “larger than life” stereotype and showed their ‘larger than life’ humanity. For Orissa, it was ‘Strong Taste’ taking on the ‘timid’ stereotype and showed the strength they demonstrate during times of distress.

The Outcome / Results (20% of vote)

The campaign significantly improved Mind Measures and successfully rekindled Brand Love. In line with objectives, it also got the business back on robust growth path. Delhi and UP campaigns created a significant impact as they ran for more months, whereas Haryana and Punjab campaigns showed positive impact until they were paused due to Covid 19. These campaigns have recently been resumed again and initial response in market indicate positive results. Delhi: TOM increased by 25% and INSIST score increased by 67%, SHARE OF MIND jumped by 28%. MARKET SHARE jumped by 9% and 13% jump in PENETRATION. UP: TOM increased by 64%, INSIST score increased by 18%, SHARE OF MIND jumped by 29%. MARKET SHARE jumped by 5% and PENETRATION by 11%. MAFRKET SHARE in Punjab and Haryana too improved by 14% and 2% respectively. *Odissa campaign was recently launched and initial reads are awaited. Source: Kantar World Panel, Nielsen

Please tell us how disruption in your market place inspired the work

In a country as diverse as India, singular ideas and ‘umbrella campaigns’ norm for national brands is reductive and has more to lose than gain in today’s cultural context. THIS WAS THE NORM WE WANTED TO DISRUPT. - When reducing rich diverse cultural nuances to a common denominator, they run the risk of missing out on distinct diverse nuances and the greater power of regional insights and ideas. To make a hyperlocal strategy work, it’s also imperative to stay anchored in ‘empathetic view of an insider’ and not ‘sympathetic view of an outsider.’ - To develop authentic hyperlocal ideas, one is compelled walk many miles in the shoes of localites to experience a region the way they do. - TO ENSURE MEANINGFUL DISRUPTION through deep resonance and relevance, we had to unlearn everything we know about ‘India the country’ and learn everything there is to about ‘the diverse Indias within’.