The Rs 5000 crore branded tea sector in India will soon witness a pitched battle between two major players Tata Tea Ltd and Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL). To sustain its volume leadership, Tata Tea is drawing up a fresh game plan which includes new advertising campaigns, distribution and retail initiatives. On the other hand, HUL with value leadership in this sector is beefing up its marketing strategy to regain its volume leadership. For starters, HUL has kick started an aggressive consumer promotion to popularize its brand Brooke Bond across the country. Clearly, a new storm is brewing in the Indian tea cup.
According to industry analysts, the tug of war has truly begun between two titans HUL and Tata Tea in the branded tea sector. ?At present, Tata Tea is leading the pack by volume while HUL enjoys value leadership in this sector. Both these companies will now slug it out to gain market and mind share,” said an analyst based in Mumbai. On the company’s strategy, Sangeeta Talwar, executive director-marketing, Tata Tea said: “Our core focus is on engaging consumers in an enduring way. We will be presenting our `Jago re’ concept in a new format-with new advertising campaigns. Our volume market share is 21.4% for the period January to March 2008.”
According to Talwar, the company is planning beef up its distribution strategy to reach out to a wider audience this year. ?We will be extending our retail Chai Unchai to other cities after Bangalore. We believe consumer promotions bring short term benefits. Our long-term strategy is to connect with consumers emotionally,? she added.
On the other side of the spectrum, Hindustan Unilever is also getting ready to launch an advertising campaign to announce its nationwide consumer promotion for Brooke Bond. On HUL?s new initiative, George Koshy, marketing manager-tea, HUL said: ?We will be running a special consumer promotion in the next two months. We will be giving away 60 gold cups to our loyal consumers. We would be looking at in-store advertising opportunities to promote our brand.?
In Octerober 2007, Tata Tea rolled out a high-voltage advertising campaign with the tag line Har subah sirf utho math… Jago re. ?We had taken the route of `social awakening’ to drive home the benefits of our brands–for the first time. And it had worked well for us,? said Talwar.