Going strong

BY IMPACT Staff

By Saloni Dutta

Tata Global Beverages Limited (TGBL) recently appointed Kareena Kapoor as the brand ambassador for Tetley Green Tea. Vikram Grover, Vice President, Marketing, India & South Asia, TGBL, talks about the company’s current marketing strategy, the successful Jaago Re campaign and the tradition of helping customers move from brands priced at one level to brands priced at a higher level since the company began functioning 25 years ago

Q] What has been key to the growth of the Tata Global Beverages brand over the years? What are the fundamental principles of your marketing strategy?

The Tata Global Beverages branded business in India, largely focused on tea, started 25 years ago. There was a small packaged tea market in comparison to a very large loose tea market when Tata Tea entered the scene. Instead of targeting people who were already buying packaged tea, we tried to address loose tea consumers. Also, packaged tea at that time was sold in cartons, but we put our tea in polypacks, to drive the perception that tea in polypacks is fresher than tea in cartons. It took off dramatically. The lesson here is that one should differentiate and lead, and not follow. We led the upgradation of consumers from loose tea to packaged tea. We also used a 360-degree media mix – the premise was that fresh tea which went inside packages retained freshness; so the packaging actually lived the brand’s proposition. We created advertising which talked about freshness.

Sometime in the late 90s, we launched Agni but were struggling to make money with it. It was called only Agni at launch, and there was no value-add of the Tata Tea name. We then started calling it Tata Tea Agni, and the brand succeeded. The Tata Tea master brand’s journey had begun. Later, our Jaago Re campaign was completely different in the tea category, leaping off the Tata brand in a unique manner.

Our advertising spends would be significantly lower than other FMCG companies, as we have the Tata brand equity, and we get synergies out of being a master brand. If you look at our share of voice, it is significantly lower than some of our big competitors, but we are more successful; we have created campaigns that actually work harder than other campaigns in this industry.

Q] You have signed on Kareena Kapoor as brand ambassador for Tetley Green Tea. How does the association help the brand’s growth?

The green tea market in India is quite small, especially once you move out of big cities. Consumer insights tell us that people drink green tea to detoxify. We have converted this message of detoxification into a catchy line, which is ‘Inside walaah Snaan’ and we have signed Kareena as she follows a healthy lifestyle and has got the right connect. We will leverage the association with her to convey our brand proposition ‘internal cleansing’ to a large number of people.

Q] What role does television play in your marketing communication?

The primary campaign for the Tata Tea brand is Jaago Re, which gets the largest chunk of investment. The role of television essentially is to inspire consumers with the cause attached to each of our brands, such as the woman voter empowerment campaign under Jaago Re. The second role is to create functional differentiation between the master brand and the portfolio.

Q] How do you leverage digital as a medium in your marketing mix?

Digital is very big in our scheme of things. There is no medium better than digital, because it enables us to have a continuing conversation with consumers. With Jaago Re, we have an intensely engaging message, given the category that we are in. Therefore, we invest disproportionately in digital. We did the billion votes campaign in 2007, wherein the social awakening message was inspired and seeded through television, and digital was used as the ‘walk the talk’ medium. People could go to our website and register as voters. Now we are doing the Power of 49 campaign with the same functionality, to enable women to get information which will empower them to vote.

Q] With the upcoming elections, are there any plans for ATL and BTL activities for Jaago Re?

We believe that the general elections of 2014 bring a big opportunity for women to establish themselves as a strong voter base, so that the political class and establishment listen to them. Therefore we are inspiring women to awaken and realize the Power of 49 with the Power of 49 TVC under Jaago Re. As we approach the polls, we will message women that they need to be an informed voter base. Secondly, we are going to encourage women to go out and vote. We will engage in a number of partnerships which will enable us to deliver on these objectives.

Q] Are your own brands competing with one another? What is your marketing approach for each of your brands?

We have brands that address very different segments of the market, and this company has very cleverly created an up-trade ladder with a portfolio logic. So as consumers become more affluent, it is important that the brand offers them something that caters to their new status in life. So there is no competition between brands.

Q] How does the brand approach Tier II and Tier III markets?

The tea opportunity in this country is very large. The Tier II and Tier III towns are changing rapidly, and that is where the groundswell of aspiration is probably the highest. The challenge in Tier II and Tier III towns is to constantly evolve your distribution strategy to assure that you are selling an assortment of products most relevant in those towns.

Q] What is your view of the competition in the tea category?

We are in a very fortunate position in the tea category, being value and volume leaders in the market; though our market-share overall in tea is about 10%-12%. That is the biggest opportunity we have. As marketers, we are not focused on competition but on that big opportunity, which is a very large number of disaggregated players present across the country.

Q]What are the opportunities that you see in the market and the challenges you face currently in India?

The Indian opportunity is that of premiumization, where people are moving from brands priced at one level to brands priced at a higher level. This is a unique opportunity open to marketers of our generation and we need to think out of the box and find ways to stretch our brands to actually tap into that opportunity. In the tea markets, it is a difficult opportunity to tap because tea consumers become habituated to particular brands. Premiumization is also a significant challenge, as is conversion of consumers from loose tea to packaged tea. The size of the loose tea market is actually going down year after year. The other challenge is to tap the whole health and wellness opportunity and tea lends itself quite well to this, green tea is synonymous with wellness and that is why we have invested in it. Another opportunity is actually of making tea ‘younger’. As India progresses, we don’t want young people to be weaned away from tea, which is why with Jaago Re, we try to make our brand relevant to the youth.

Q] Where do you see the beverage market in India five years from now?

For the tea market specifically, a couple of things are going to shape the market and determine where it is five years from now - premiumization, constant change in society and the need to create brands that cater to younger consumers, as also the ability of the category to ride the trend of health and wellness with relevant products.

Feedback: saloni.dutta@exchange4media.com

Tags : CMO Interview