Why is this work relevant for Direct?

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 disruptive regional cultural 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 the ‘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.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

The campaign’s anchor insight was that “Most states are associated with ‘negative stereotypes’ which reflect an outsider’s perspective. But, there’s always the ‘insider’s perspective’ which shows the positive truth behind the stereotypes.” We connected the “positive truth” to the regional tea attribute to form the ANCHOR IDEA, "India’s Tea, Essence of Your Region (Desh ki Chai, Aapke Pradesh Ka Swaad)." We rendered this into regional avatars: ‘Punchy Powerful Taste’ for Uttar Pradesh, took on the ‘power-hungry’ stereotype and showed them put power to good use. ‘Rich Taste” for Delhi, took on the ‘wealth-obsessed’ stereotype and showed their rich-heartedness. “Strong Taste” for Haryana, took on the ‘submissive women’ stereotype and showed their strength of perseverence. “Large-grained tea” for Punjab, took on the “larger than life” stereotype and showed their ‘larger than life’ humanity. ‘Strong Taste’ for Orissa, took on the ‘timid’ stereotype and showed their strength demonstrated during challenging times.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

To make a hyperlocal strategy work, it’s imperative to stay anchored in the ‘empathetic view of an insider’ and not the ‘sympathetic view of an outsider.’ To ensure this, we empanelled localites, cultural commentators, sociologists and influencers from each region. We learnt that the ‘love for local’ sentiment was brewing in small pockets and the time was ripe to take this to the masses. However, being a local favourite is no easy task in a country as diverse as India. Each state is culturally so different from the other, a national brand deploying a regional strategy carried an inherent risk of the brand fracturing its identity. THE CHALLENGE was to develop a strategy, an idea, that struck balanced hyper-local messaging, brand stature and a consistent brand voice. While we would ‘regionalise’ the message, it had to be done in the voice of the ‘stature’ brand that consumers respected.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Tata Tea Premium’s hyperlocal campaign consists of a customized media & marketing mix for each state, while retaining a cohesiveness and unified brand voice. Each hyperlocal campaign was launched in its market through a regionally-relevant mix of touchpoints including On-ground activations, press, radio etc. An important aspect of execution for this campaign was packaging and in-market Point of Sale elements. The platform idea of ‘Desh ki Chai, Aap ke Region ka Swaad’ was executed in its regional avatar through customised packs. They all were visually cohesive, yet distinct in their borrowing of regional iconography. For television and social media, a different video asset was created for each state to announce the hyperlocal play. Each video asset launch was treated like a theatrical release preceded by a ‘Coming Soon’ poster to create curiosity and drive anticipation. The disruption was comprehensive and not just at the level of a single ad.

List the results (30% 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 about the cultural insight that inspired the work

The cornerstone of the strategy was the most interesting interplay between the national and regional identities in 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 prevalent sentiment from ‘India pride’ to ‘Regional Pride.’ A cultural observation helped in this regard; it was about how people from different states in India perceive each other. No matter the state, there’s always a long list of stereotypical perceptions we have 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.”