The quintessential Indian grandmother tells consumers what they ought to drink and why in late entrant Tata Coffee Grand’s launch campaign
Tata Global Beverages recently entered the instant coffee market with the launch of Tata Coffee Grand. The company has backed up the launch with a high decibel multi-media campaign. The protagonist is an Indian grandmother dressed in traditional south Indian attire. However, she appears in the garb of a hip-hop artiste, complete with contemporary accessories and sunglasses. The spirited granny takes on a bunch of youngsters as she raps about ‘coffee, the way it should be’.
With the new product, Tata Coffee is eyeing the Rs 1,300 crore instant coffee market in India dominated by Hindustan Unilever’s Bru and Nestle’s Nescafe. “Strategically we have strong competition,” says Sushant Dash, regional president, India, Tata Global Beverages. “There are players that have been entrenched in the market for long. To compete against them, it was not good enough for us to be a me-too brand. To make an impact, we had to break the category norms through our product offering, packaging and communication.”
The brief to the creative agency, Mullen Lintas, was to come up with a differentiated brand and communication strategy, encompassing the product’s packaging, imagery etc. So instead of the regular browns and greens Tata Coffee Grand stands out in its blue packaging. Similarly, the television commercial (TVC) highlights the spirited and quirky side of an older generation, rather than talking directly to a younger audience.
Dash says, “Being a late entrant in the market, we needed to talk about the product, highlight the strong heritage and plantation expertise that we offer and others do not. And as we spoke to young people, we could not sound boring. At the same time, we needed an authoritative figure to talk about our product. Who better than a granny to do all this.”
He adds that the one person who enjoys maximum credibility in a family or the society at large is the grandmother. She comes with a lot of experience and wisdom. At the same time she can be wicked in her own way. She is highly opinionated and can become animated if she does not agree with someone else’s point of view. Young at heart, the granny represents wit and humour in equal measure. And, if required, she can be up to any challenge.
The company launched the Tata Grand Coffee with a 360 degree virtual reality tour where drinkers could experience the entire product journey. Also, instead of launching the brand through traditional channels, the company introduced the product online as part of an exclusive tie-up with Amazon. “In the next six to seven months our sole purpose will be to create awareness and motivate people to re-evaluate what they are drinking,” says Dash. While picking the granny as a central character, the decision swung in favour of a South Indian character because South is the coffee heartland of India. The creative heads threw in rap to add that extra ‘swagger’ to the granny’s character.
“The brief to us was simple,” says Shriram Iyer, national creative director, Mullen Lintas, “to create disruptive and differentiated communication, just like the product. Coffee, being a staple beverage in the South of India with Tamil Nadu being the unofficial expert of the beverage, we have taken the highest authority of coffee from Tamil Nadu as the ambassador for the brand.”
What makes Tata Coffee Grand a disruptive product? The company sources the coffee beans from its own plantations and the coffee has decoction crystals in it. “In terms of the execution, the key challenge for us was getting the casting of the granny right: We needed someone who, while retaining her authoritative stance, could also add oodles of ‘coolness’ to the film,” says Iyer.
Industry estimates put the budget for the campaign at Rs 20 crore. Digital media will be an integral part of the campaign. The company is using digital media to create intrigue around the protagonist. It has planned a few short films exclusively for the digital media where the granny will be seen walking into real situations unannounced and slapping people around her if she is not happy with their choice of drink. Dash likens these films to topical advertisements by Amul, which are an entertaining take on contemporary issues. Similarly, the Tata Coffee granny’s take on real-life situations will be worldly-wise.
Brand: Tata Coffee Grand
Budget: Rs 20 crore
Agency: Mullen Lintas
source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Management> Features> Advertising / Sangeeta Tanwar / January 11th, 2016
