Cuppa Tea

What we see and what we observe are two entirely different things. Sitting with my friend having a cup of chai tea latte at starbucks... having a friendly chat about the drink in hand... got me thinking about the different brands and different varieties of tea available in India... and how the companies target their customer base. To pick a name, I choose Unilever, whose products are pretty much used in every household in the country (not an exaggerated statement…). They have a range of tea products in their portfolio amongst others and I am not sure how many of you paid attention to how they market their products, but its pretty interesting.

To give a brief introduction about the company, they operate in FMCG sector. The company tries to appeal to the working class of the society, selling products categorised as basic necessities. The idea associated with product marketing, branding and advertisement is to fill in the gaps of evolving standard  of lifestyle with products whose usage will add to the users comfort and satisfaction. (There are several other aspects but I’m going to limit my word count)

Lets take the following labels,

Brook Bond 3 Roses
Brook Bond Taaza
Brook Bond Sehatmand
Brook Bond Taj Mahal
Red Label Tea

While there are different tea brands operating under the same company, (in my opinion) it seems the management team controlling each of the division is different and they seem to have chosen the target market accordingly. Like wise;

Brook Bond 3 Roses has the tag line, ‘Playful banter, a little mischief, serious conversation… They always emphasised on the romantic nature of relationship. The advertising commercial stretching back to the past 10 years throughout the country including on a regional level has always included film actors and advertisement actors working in a couple scenario directly targeting the house hold couples. The strategy not only limits to the commercial. The red colour used in the box for the rose doesn’t seem to look like the actual colour of a rose. (It’s more like a triggering red!)

Brook Bond Taaza: Taaza means freshness (My Hindi is a bit rusty). The customary nature of most Indian adults includes having a cup of tea or coffee in the morning. The marketing strategy of using the term taaza and a commercial implying the freshness from nature is quite a sensibly appealing ad (though it’s a cliché). The face of the product has always been a young female with a pretty, lively face, appealing to both men and women. (Past Example – Bollywood actress Preity Zinta)

Brook Bond Sehatmand is unique! They target a more health conscious market, focusing on RDA standard of intake of nutrition as their key selling point. From the perspective of selling tea, this is the first company to emphasis the nutritional contents in the beverage which predominantly has been appealing towards freshness and taste (at least to my knowledge...)

Brook Bond Taj Mahal, Sirf chai nahi yeh hai Taj ! Perhaps the most branded tea product working on the majestic nature of Taj Mahal, and using ambassadors like Ustad Zakir Hussain, the tabla maestro and since 2006, Saif Ali Khan (Royalty!). They were the first to include tea bags and now they use the quality terms to pitch in their product value ‘smell’ ‘see’ ‘savour’(Seriously! Wah Taj).

Red Label on the other hand uses a more valuable moment scenario to appeal on a context that has totally no relation with tea as such but it reminds to the point cherishing something with tea alongside. Its heritage is its presence, so most people know the brand name for most of their life, and the subsequent generation follows the product usage on the simplest principle of having accustomed to its usage over the years. While this helps in building a standard line they seem to cherish the theme more than they cherish the moment while having the theme.

If it were up to me, I would have added more but then my drink got over by the time I came this far… and as rightly said by my friend, “Dude! Its tea…just finish yours”

Just for the record, I don’t work in advertisement, its just a screen name! neither do I posses an extended experience or understanding of living in India.