Market to consumers.

Owning
Tea is the most versatile beverage ever their own estates gave the
discovered by man – a kind of one-drink-for-all- company complete control
reasons-all-seasons. Tea warms when it is cold; over their operations. The
cools when it is hot; cheers when depressed; second thing they did was
calms when excited; awakens when sleepy – and to inject effervescence
available at every street corner. In short, tea is into their packaging. In
therapy-in-a-cup. a single stroke, they
It is savoured equally at roadside stalls as in dispensed with the sedate
corporate boardrooms, in a silver tea service as cardboard box and
in a clay cup. Tea drinking is hardwired into the introduced an attractive
Indian DNA. Over 400 billion cups of this poly pack.
brilliant beverage are consumed each year in Innovations such as
India pushing annual per capita consumption to these earned Tata Tea
over 700 grams. Tea only trails water as the several consumer and
beverage-of-choice with the highest share-of- marketing awards – and a
throat in the country. place in the homes and
India is the largest producer of tea in the hearts of people.
world with the branded tea market pegged at The AMGF Mera Brand
some 450 million kilos valued at over Rs. 4000 award and the Reader’s
crore (US$ 833.30 million) (Source: Tea Board). Digest Trusted Brand
After a period of stagnation India's tea
production grew 2% in the 2009/10
financial year to touch 1000 million kilos.
Correspondingly, its exports also grew from
200 million kilos to 203 million kilos in the
same year (Source: Tea Board).

Achievements
As recently as the early 1980s, tea
was a commodity tightly
controlled by a handful of
brands. Remarkably, the
companies that owned these
brands rarely, if ever, grew the Platinum In The Economic Times Most Trusted Brands
teas they marketed. award in Survey in the same year, Tata Tea was ranked
The advent of the Tata’s in the 2006 and 20th – the only tea brand which figured in the
branded tea business in 1985 ushered the Most top 50. The latest accolade is its 25th rank in
in sweeping changes in an industry Preferred India’s Top 50 Most Valuable Brands released by
hidebound by decades of tradition. As a stand Brand of Tea Brand Finance.
alone brand, Tata Tea played a crucial role in in India in the While winning at competitive forums was
transforming the Indian tea market – from a CNBC sponsored good for the mind, winning in the market place
staid, boring melange of players to a young and Consumer Awards in 2007, were conferred on was a stunning achievement for the soul.
vibrant business. the company. Tata Tea was also rated the Second In a June 2007 study, Tata Tea outperformed
The first thing Tata Tea did was to change the Most Preferred Beverage Brand in India in the competitors, achieving a volume share of
way tea was purchased from planters and sold Brand Equity Survey of 2008. 19.20% (Source: ACNielsen). For a company less
than 25 years old besting rivals 200 years in the
business was truly commendable.

History
The Tata Tea ancestry goes back to the 1880s
when James Finlay Plc., a Glasgow-based
company, owned and run by the Muir family,
developed tea plantations in Assam and the
Dooars. For the next three quarters of a
century Finlay controlled large swathes of
properties and grew some of the finest qualities
of tea in the world. In 1964, James Finlay off-
loaded part of their equity to the Tata’s and
renamed the company Tata Finlay. The
ownership passed to the Tata’s in 1983 and the
company name was once again changed. Tata Tea
Limited – then a full-fledged plantation
enterprise – was born.
Tea is often a victim of the vicissitudes of the
commodity market. To insulate itself and
leverage its home tea plantation advantage the
company took a decision to shift focus from
commodity sales to branded tea. Tata Tea, the

176 SUPERBRANDS
brand, was Premium moved the
introduced in 1987 brand to another
changing forever the platform: it sold a dream
course of the through its tagline Taste
industry. Kamyabi Ka (the taste of
At the turn of the success) epitomised by its
century, Tata Tea high-achieving brand
acquired the UK- icons, Sania Mirza and
based Tetley – the Sunidhi Chauhan. The
world’s second thought is simple: effort
largest tea brand makes everything
and a company possible.
three times its own However, the brand’s
size. Overnight, Tata most recent campaign –
Tea was catapulted and possibly the high
onto the world point in its evolution, so
stage and joined a far – was the high decibel
handful of powerful Jaago Re (awaken)
international campaign. This
beverage brands. By outstanding creative
integrating its effort sought to elevate
strengths with those the role of tea from
of Tetley, Tata Tea now has an influential the success story by enabling the company to being just a wake-up drink to a medium of
presence in matured markets of the US, the UK, communicate a single, unified message to awakening – Har Subah Sirf Utho Mat, Jaago Re
Canada, Australia and Europe. consumers. (each morning don’t just awaken your body,
Tata Tea has also recently signed a joint awaken your soul). The campaign received both
Product venture agreement with the Zhejiang Tea Import critical acclaim as well as positive consumer
In 24 years since launch, Tata Tea has powered & Export (ZTIE) Company in China for feedback. Launched just before the general
itself into people’s lives – across metros and manufacturing and marketing green tea elections of 2009 the campaign achieved the
hamlets, in equal measure. Every fifth cup drunk polyphenols, other green tea extracts, cold and dual purpose of imparting a socially relevant
in India is a Tata blend. The brand straddles the hot water soluble instant tea, liquid tea message as well as the fine association with
Indian firmament like a colossus, placing in each concentrates and several value-added tea the product.
socio-economic segment, one brand that beverage products. This call for ‘awakening’ has also been
controls the market. extended to the field of soccer with Tata Tea
Its flagship brand, Tata Tea Premium, proudly Promotion Jaago Re Soccer Stars (awaken, you soccer
labelled as the world’s number one tea, is the Through the years Tata Tea has communicated players). This initiative is a unique programme
country’s largest packet tea brand. It single- its promotional messages using high impact designed to identify grassroots talent in soccer
handedly accounts for an all- and select them for further
India value share of 10.20% training, under FC Arsenal
and dominates India’s North, coaches in India and London.
East and West geographies
(Source: Nielsen). Brand Values
As the markets grew people Tata Tea is a remarkable case
in the higher SEC sought an study of brand development
upgraded version of Tata Tea in a market fragmented by
Premium. The company 200-year old brands on the
launched Tata Tea Gold in 2003 one hand, and a plethora of
filling this emerging need-gap. loose tea blends and small,
Today, Tata Tea Gold is not just local tea packers on the other.
the company’s image driver it Its success is largely attributed
is also the only successful to a daring in challenging
launch in the packaged tea norms and bringing energy to
market in more than a decade. an industry, which even if it
The price conscious was selling a beverage to
economy segment is the battle awaken the body, simply
ground for the fiercest wars in appeared tired and fatigued.
the tea market. Littered with No one has put it better
scores of regional and local than George Orwell who said,
brands, Tata has a telling “Anyone who has used that
presence here. Its Tata Tea Agni comforting phrase ‘a nice cup
has proved to be a star of tea’ invariably means tea
performer, eroding the market from India.”
shares of established brands and taking on payoff lines and jingles. Over the years, its He could well have been talking about
strong regional players on their own turf. The advertising has made evolutionary shifts in its Tata Tea.
brands’ winning formula is an innovative blend brand positioning, moving from a functional
consisting of 10% high-quality extra strong leaf promise in the Asli Taazgi (real freshness) [Link]
tea coupled with stylised superior quality campaign to Asli Taazgi , Asli Maaza (real
packaging, unmatched in this segment. freshness, real pleasure) which laddered Taazgi
The health and wellness, value-add segment is to a higher benefit. But irrespective of its
Things you didn’t know about
the latest market to emerge in India. Here, Tata evolving strategy, the one element that has Tata Tea
Tea Life, introduced in 2007 and the fourth never changed in nearly 25 years of advertising
variant in the Tata Tea family, offers a regular is its young, fresh, modern and energetic image. Every month people in India drink over 2100
every day tea enhanced with the natural This has been constantly renewed by young and million cups of Tata Tea
goodness of Brahmi, Tulsi, Ginger, Cardamom effervescent brand ambassadors of their times, One in six cups of tea drunk in India is a Tata
and Mint. such as Amjad Khan in the 1980s and Juhi blend
Chawla and Sonali Bendre in later years.
Recent Developments One of the more memorable commercials Tata Tea has the largest tea plantation base in
March 2009 was a defining moment for Tata Tea. was for Tata Tea Gold with the tagline Naa India, employing over 50,000 people
For the first time, this young brand jumped to Kahoge to Pachtaoge (say no – and regret). It
Tata Tea was one of the first Indian brands to
the top of the table cornering a combined value featured four young friends one of whom
use the Taazgi (freshness) platform in the foods
market share of 15.70% (Source: Nielsen). The refused the offer of tea – only to find
category
recent consolidation of Tata Tea Premium, Tata himself unhappily left out of the pleasure
Tea Gold, Tata Tea Agni and Tata Tea Life, under the others derived. 50 million households buy Tata Tea each year
the Tata Tea umbrella brand has contributed to The advertising campaign for Tata Tea

SUPERBRANDS 177