TATA SALT

12th March 1930. Most of us might not even remember the day. It was the first act of organized opposition to British rule When the Mahatma broke salt laws in Dandi at the conclusion of the march on April 6, it sparked large scale acts of civil disobedience against the British Raj salt laws by millions of Indians. Well, if not British Raj, this day might have surely inspired a lot of companies to venture into the most basic of all products. To begin with, I remember our eco faculty talking about price inelasticity of demand - Salt is a cheap but an essential good. As the price of salt increases, people do not tend decrease their consumption of salt. And possibly in the marketing sense of it, salt is one product which is mass product. Across segmentation the “customer needs” are the same. Talking of stats, did you know India is the third largest salt producing country in the world with an average annual production of about 148 lakh tones?
These days, there is a TVC run by NIRMA SHUDH NAMAK. Ahh remember that oversmart kid a few years ago, educating the baniyaa? “Shudh nahi samajhte kya?” A much better TVC this time, with positioning efforts not pretty evident. Lets dwell deeper into the case.
NIRMA- a name which is synonymous with the detergent offering, I still remember an hour long discussion in our branding lectures on why they should have used Multiple Branding strategy instead of Brand Extension. But thats another story. Now that the Brand managers at NIRMA decided to play it safe, they have NIRMA SHUDH NAMAK.
Lets see what they have done here. They have shown the raw vegetables in a salad running away from the bombardment of ordinary namak(I like using this word instead of salt). And when they jump out of the window, they see the same NIRMA girl emerging from the sunlight and the vegetables are happy again.
Come to think of it, a very naive campaign. Thanks to the brand managers at TATA Chem (TATA NAMAK), HUL (Annapurna Namak) etc using a bit of rationality in a low involvement product like salt by launching Line Extensions like TATA Salt Lite or the Annapurna Namak’s brilliant Iodised Positioning, the marketing efforts of NIRMA are very lousy. Why?
a. You don’t have a clear differentiation. Why should a habitual buyer of a TATA Salt go for your salt. TATA Salt also has refined free flow technology. What you are showing is grounded ordinary khara namak.
b. No rational factor – Is it good for my or my family’s health? If not is only daana daana ek samaan the reason for purchasing? Thanks but no thanks!

Also a humble request to the professors of BSchools to not glamorise this case by pointing out that the failure of this product is because of the name. I disagree, lack of value positioning is the key for any failure of this product. When NIRMA might have calculated the market size and thought of venturing into its only edible product, they should have totally got their product and positioning of the product correct.
A request to NIRMA, you created magic with your detergent kitty, one way of possible being an ambitious FMCG basket is by launching a few more SKUs in Food segment. Then the acceptability would also be evident. But for the time being, as my guru Jack Trout and Al Reis plead “DIFFERENTIATE OR DIE”

TATA TEA !!! CAMPAIGN

TATA TEA...JAAGO RE CAMPAIGN !!

Well a few months back, TATA TEA flodded the commercial of JAAGO RE, a catchy bold statement which said "HAR SUBAH UTHO MATT.JAAGO RE!!"
Wow!!So we get this stir in our souls when u see the guy outsmarting the politician who has a cuppa tea with him when he comes to ask for vote!
For a moment you might just feel the itch to do something similar...to a prof who is lousy in campus, to that oversmart nerd who has to know everything on earth...or even the gal-nex door who thinks no end to herself.
Bang then, thats what the ad has to do!Apply the STP funda here, "we" are the segment TATA Tea is targeting- the ones who have the guts to stand up and VOICE our opinions. So you get into the positioning of TATA TEA and u say "Har Subah Sirf Utho Mat, Jaago Re!" So its talks about the awakening of the minds each morning to do something bold.Smart...now for all of us young marketeers, heres how you leverage on ur gaining popularity and build ur brand awareness.

Tata Tea, India’s largest volume tea company announced a new chapter in its evolution by unfolding an innovative positioning and presentation of its largest tea brand – Tata Tea.

Jaago Re, the new campaign, will kick start across the country on October 1, 2007. The new campaign leverages the unique position that tea enjoys in our culture and attempts to migrate tea from being a physical and emotional revitaliser to becoming a catalyst for ‘social awakening’.

Its the doers age today and not the speakers or sulkers! Hence what TATA TEA sends is a msg that we need to VOTE...to voice our opinions...check out the TVC here which is on air and provokes the youth-junta to vote.TATA TEA TVC

This campaign will clearly establish thought leadership for the brand to go along with its market leadership.
The four Tata Tea brands – Tata Tea Premium (largest selling tea brand in India), Tata Tea Gold, Tata Tea Agni and Tata Tea Life – currently are advertised and positioned uniquely. These four brands have now been bought together under one umbrella brand- Tata Tea. This consolidation and unification of the four brands is aimed at communicating to the consumer a single, unified message in terms of emotional connect.

Speaking about the re-staging of the brand, Mr. Percy Siganporia, Managing Director, Tata Tea Limited, said, “ We are charting a course to be India’s foremost tea based beverage company and a key mission towards achieving such leadership is to establish Tata Tea market and thought leadership for branded tea in India. We are building market volume leadership and are tasking achievement of market value leadership. As a category leader Tata Tea believes its youth oriented market and operational focus will emotively connect with issues that drive the heart, mind and soul of India’s emerging social consciousness. Tata Tea will lead category thought and widen the scope of the current universal appeal of tea based beverages.”

Explaining the rationale behind the new campaign, Ms. Sangeeta Talwar, Executive Director - Marketing, Tata Tea Limited, said, “In India tea is much more than just a beverage, it is indeed a way of life. It is so deeply embedded in our psyche, in our roots, and our culture that we cannot imagine life without a cup of steaming hot tea. The new campaign will migrate Tata Tea from being a physically and emotionally revitalizing tea experience to one that will challenge the consumer’s intellect to “awaken” to what is around them. It will motivate people to internalize the tea experience and externalize their social awakening. It is probably the first time that any brand is taking on the mantle of social responsibility in such a manner. The campaign will also provide a poignant platform for connection with the youth.”

The campaign in keeping with the meganess of the strategy also plans to deploy a mega approach to connect with the consumer at all possible touch points. Television will be the lynchpin of the campaign. There will be one main commercial and six short duration commercials. Each of the commercials will touch upon one relevant social issue. As part of the campaign Tata Tea brand has also tied up with the Jaago India foundation. The foundation and Tata Tea have launched a website that each month will cover a socially relevant issue. The site will provide all the required information on the issue, will allow consumers to interact and provide solutions. To generate interest and create empathy the site will feature four short film on the topic of the month. Other than television and the website the campaign will also use radio, press, shop level visibility and the new outdoor medium of malls and multiplexes to drive home the message of Jaago Re. Many of the communication tools being planned at the malls and multiplexes will be used for the first time in the country.