Storm the Norm

by Anisha Motwani

  Business results followed when in 2007–8, Tata Tea as a company overtook Hindustan Unilever in volume market share. This was a historic moment for the company. In 2011–12, Tata Global Beverages overtook Hindustan Unilever to become the No. 1 tea company in the country.

  And there has been no looking back, with every campaign, Jaago Re and the Tata Tea equity have only become stronger and all brands continue to be leaders in their own right—surging forward towards profitable growth.

  2014: Racing ahead

  On 21 March 2014, ahead of the 2014 general elections, Tata Global Beverages and the Tata group unveiled a first of its kind women’s manifesto, aggregating issues raised by more than a million women from across India. Who would have thought that a tea brand could pull this off?

  The times are indeed changing but Tata Tea is geared up more than ever to embrace that change. And looking back, the dots paint a reassuring picture—that being a challenger is in the very DNA of Tata Tea. For the company, the only constant is change!

  Post Note: Tata Tea does have a marketing team now and has recruited some of the brightest minds in marketing. What has not changed is its desire to challenge and do things differently

  WHAT INDIA’S BEST MARKETERS DO DIFFERENTLY

  This is the story of a brand born against the backdrop of a young India brimming with confidence, eager for success and riches. It is story of a brand that has created a new segment in a hotly contested space by playing the game differently. In an orbit-shifting strategy, Sprite redefined and systematically displaced competition to emerge as category leader.

  1998 could have been any other year. But in hindsight, it was one of the most momentous years in independent India’s history.

  This was the year when, demanding change, India elected Atal Bihari Vajpayee as prime minister, who then went on to become the first non-Congress prime minister to complete a five-year term. Announcing its rise as an emerging global power, India conducted its second nuclear test, standing up to the world.

  This was the year when new icons were born, symbolizing the youth’s admiration for confidence, success and riches. Sachin Tendulkar was anointed a youth icon for years to come when he single-handedly beat Australia with back-to-back hundreds in Sharjah. The stupendous success of the candyfloss college romance Kuch Kuch Hota Hai transformed Shahrukh Khan into ‘King’ Khan—teen matinee idol and media darling.

  This was the year when the ‘Cola wars’ were at their peak with the two cola competitors locked in intense battle for the rapidly growing sparkling-beverages market. By signing on two of the biggest celebrities—Sachin Tendulkar and Shahrukh Khan— Pepsi became the numero uno youth brand with the launch of its iconic ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’ campaign.

  This was also the year when Sprite—a clear lime sparkling-beverage brand from the global Coca Cola portfolio—was launched in Goa in December.

  David takes on Goliath

  Post economic liberalization in 1991, the sparkling-beverages category was abuzz with the return of Coca Cola India in 1993 and its takeover of the Parle brands. This was close on the heels of PepsiCo setting up operations in India in 1989. With these two global giants in the fray, sparkling beverage was no longer just about a sip of refreshment, it was an entry into a world of wide-eyed dreams, Americana and glamour. And India entered into this world with much gusto, leading to explosive growth in the 1990s. The market was dominated by the faster-growing colas—Pepsi, Coca Cola and Thums Up—which accounted for almost two-thirds of the total pie. The flavoured-beverages segment—comprising lime drinks like 7UP and Limca and orange drinks like Fanta and Mirinda—formed the balance of the pie and grew slower than the category.

  As is the case even today, the youth were the most attractive demographic segment for this category, by virtue of sheer size and consumption potential. While every brand talked to youth, the colas held the greatest appeal—thanks to high-energy communication, celebrity endorsements, heavy investments across media and distribution.

  Since Sprite was a lime sparkling beverage, the natural instinct was to pit it against the rival lime brand. But the company realized that it would always remain a niche brand if it did so. If it wanted to become a large brand, it would have to win the hearts of the youth—the most lucrative segment of the market. In other words, it would need to take on the colas and more specifically the rival cola brand—head on.

  As we will realize later in the journey, this decision was pivotal. This strategic bet of positioning Sprite against it’s competitor changed the cola game forever. Proof that if the purpose is set right, the path follows.

  Rome wasn’t built in a day

  Cola Cola Ltd knew that coming up with a few good campaigns would not be enough to dislodge competition. It needed to create a powerful brand identity for Sprite that would serve as the launching pad for all their marketing efforts in the future.

  The colas were talking to the youth as well and had carved out unique spaces for themselves. Coca Cola stood for ‘innocent’ fun, encouraging the youth to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. Thums Up addressed the ‘hero’, asking the youth to bring out the daredevil in them. The rival cola brand urged the youth to have a great time by living in the moment. Thus there was a need to identify a distinct persona for Sprite—one that resonated more with the youth than that of the dominant cola brands.

  Coca Cola Ltd conducted exhaustive ethnographic studies with college-going youth across major cities in the country, to enter into the minds of twenty-year olds in India. The studies observed how they lived, how they talked, what they loved and what they feared.

  Universally, across regions and economic strata, the youth expressed an inherent desire to be their true selves. They wanted to explore life further, but were restricted in some way or the other. They wanted to carve their own path but were under pressure to conform to societal norms. Coca Cola Ltd realized that every youth brand across categories was telling the youth what they ought to be, but not to be what they actually were!

  The company leveraged this powerful insight to create the brand essence for Sprite. Sprite as a brand would simply ask the youth to trust their own instincts and make their own choices. It would be an ‘explorer’ brand, encouraging the youth to discover themselves and the world. It would never preach or tell the youth what to do, but merely act as a mirror to who they really were.

  Hyperbole punctured: 1998–2001

  The opening up of the Indian economy saw a host of global brands entering India. As the disposable income of consumers grew, so did their aspirations. Feeding into this frenzy, brands across categories, from candy to soaps and cars, created fantasy worlds with tall claims and glamorous advertising—literally taking the consumer for a ride.

  Sprite knew that it was up against formidable brands and that it had to change the rules of the game in order to win against the glitz of the cola brands. It needed to create a dent in the sparkling category and stand out with a differentiated proposition. It was in this context that Sprite chose to play a challenger brand, not just against colas but against everything they stood for—thus was born the anti-cola.

  The first communication campaign revealed the secret of Lisa Ray’s beautiful skin—bathing in a tub full of Sprite! Taking a dig at the way celebrities endorsed brands, Sprite asked youth not to trust everything they saw. The iconic campaign: ‘Sprite bujhaye only pyaas, baaki all bakwaas’— which is recalled by consumers even today—helped establish Sprite as a brand meant to puncture the hyperbole and be seen as a ‘no-nonsense’ alternative for the youth. Little did the brand realize how central this proposition was to be for all its future campaigns.

  Studies had shown that while teens were inherently aware the world of hype was fake, many of them suffering from a lack of confidence, often became pretentious themselves and relied more on style rather than substance to impress their peers. In the years that followed, Sprite continued to take on the world of pretence, hype, over-exaggeration and false promise. At the sam
e time, it slowly but steadily pushed its footprint across the southern and eastern states.

  The results were phenomenal. Within the first year of launch, the spontaneous and total awareness levels crossed those of all the other flavoured brands and were only below the colas. Sprite saw a staggering 44 per cent growth in volumes till 2002, overtaking the competition’s sparkling drinks in the process. Sprite had arrived in style—creating a new presence in the market place with a distinctive, confident, unpretentious and straightforward point of view.

  The coming together of brand persona and functional attributes: 2003–2007

  While a distinctive personality was defined for Sprite, it was still to be linked with an equally strong functional differentiator. Unlike the black opaque colas or other flavoured drinks, Sprite was clear, transparent and had a crisp, refreshing taste. ‘Clear’ also fit in naturally with the Sprite persona—honest, straight talking, unpretentious. But the brand realized that ‘clear’ had a far deeper meaning attached to it.

  With greater exposure to media and information, teens in India were inundated with choice like never before. Every day they were confronted with new situations where they were inclined to follow outdated, tried and tested methods, and failed to achieve the desired results. How does one get youth to think differently, to be smarter?

  Clarity of thought not only cuts through thirst but also liberates you and allows you to have a clear-cut perspective. Sprite demonstrated its clarity of thinking and wit by presenting a modern twist to the age-old way of doing things from popular fables in India—coming up with smart, unpretentious solutions for any task at hand. Simply put— ‘Clear hai!’

  Armed with a cut-through refreshing product formulation and perception as a healthier option, Sprite was strategically set up to recruit consumers from the largest beverage opportunity—tap water. This was followed by the largest distribution drive focused on affordable glass bottles targeting rural India. On top of this, Sprite leveraged the telecom buzz to create its first national promotion to popularize PET bottles in urban markets. ‘Sprite kholega to bolega’ was a first-of-its-kind digital innovation on a mega scale—a whopping 5.3 million participants chose Sprite to top up their talk time, setting it up as a cool brand of the future while expanding PET distribution. By 2005, Sprite, growing at 11 per cent while the category declined by 16 per cent, had become the second largest brand in the Coca Cola India portfolio.

  In 2006, Sprite signed on a celebrity—Sania Mirza, the first mainstream female sport star in India. How could Sprite, which had always been against celebrities and tall claims, sign on one itself? ‘Heresy, hypocrisy!’, shouted everyone. Of course, that was before they saw how Sprite used the ‘celebrity’ in their communication campaign. Taking a dig at advertising that literally worships the very ground celebrities walk on, Sprite got Sania to reveal the secret behind her success—Sprite, what else! This was again, of course, tongue-in-cheek, before Sania bust such pretences by revealing that she only drank Sprite to quench her thirst—nothing more, nothing less.

  This came at a time when the competition, first realizing the threat posed by Sprite, pumped even more money into glitzy, celebrity-laden campaigns and promotions. The gloves were off and it was time for war. In line with its fundamental proposition of being an honest, straight-talking brand, Sprite decided to take the competition head on by openly mocking it for its outrageously pompous and glamorous communication.

  Sprite was becoming the talk of the town! It had now built a formidable presence, almost doubling its national footprint, and with a 34 per cent growth in this period, it had become the No. 3 player in the sparkling category.

  Becoming a youth icon: 2008–13

  By now consumers already saw Sprite as a youth brand built on cut-through refreshment credentials and high levels of likeability. It was time to change gears and take things to the next level—becoming the youth icon by displacing its rival cola brand competitor from pole position.

  Exhaustive ethnographic studies had shown that teens were a much more ‘confident-in-my-skin’ generation and were exploring and crafting their own identity—without the aid of any crutches. They believed in ‘walk the talk’ and not just ‘talk the talk’, i.e., straight talking rather than putting up an ‘act’ to achieve their goals. There was an undercurrent of annoyance if they were branded empty followers of a made up image.

  Taking a cue from this insight, Sprite’s campaign built a clear contrast between the guy who succumbed to a convoluted way of doing things, and the Sprite protagonist who was always his true self and got straight to the point. The iconic articulation was: ‘Seedhi baat, no bakwaas’—using youth lingo that connected famously with the target audience.

  As the nation’s No. 1 passion, cricket, succumbed to Indian Premier League (IPL) fever, Sprite brought its credo to life with none other than the likes of King Khan and team KKR. In line with its geographical expansion, a massive on-ground consumer engagement was created in 2009—Sprite Gully Cricket epitomized street cricket. The competition which went nationwide in 2010 reached 110 cities and satellite towns and registered 45,000 teams. Each game was watched by thousands as the local heroes were egged on with free samples of Sprite.

  By 2009, creating 60 per cent brand recall across rural markets to match its expanding rural distribution, Sprite had finally ousted its nearest rival and emerged as the No. 2 drink in the sparkling-beverages market in India.

  Having finally knocked the competition off its perch across all parameters, Sprite had achieved the objectives set at the time of launch. It had gone from being the hunter to being the hunted, with the competition pooling all its brands against Sprite to regain its lost position. So where does Sprite go from here?

  Clearly, Sprite had to start looking beyond its biggest competitor so far and set its vision higher. It would need to continue embodying the youth ideal by capturing insights from their life better than anyone else. Rather than pit itself against the category, Sprite is now benchmarking its efforts against iconic youth brands like Axe and MTV. Thus the new vision for Sprite is to become an iconic brand for the youth—one that leaves an impression on their lives beyond the product.

  Teens communicated that they aspired to be masters in life management. Everyday existence required constant negotiation with their environment— gone were the days of confrontations and rebelliousness. This generation knew that it had to be street smart and not just intelligent.

  This was a perfect evolution for Sprite—here was a brand that embodied smart thinking to navigate the ‘heat of the moment’ moments. It started to create a brand personality in harmony with the aspirations of the nation’s youth. Simultaneously, in rural India, Sprite undertook the largest sampling programme to continue recruiting new consumers. Gamification of the consumer engagement was designed to play up the ‘water-plus’ credentials of Sprite, leaving behind an unequivocal cut-through refreshment experience. Focusing the sampling programme to rural villages, combined with expanding the distribution network, ensured that Sprite became the most widely distributed brand in the country.

  On the back of this two-pronged approach, by the end of 2013, Sprite finally became India’s numero uno sparking-beverages brand—both in terms of hearts as well as revenues.

  The consumer: the brand ambassador

  In a category that focused primarily on emotional imagery, Sprite outperformed its rivals without piggybacking on a celebrity or heavy investments in brand building. The brand was able to outmanoeuvre and outwit competition by leveraging cultural and societal insights from the teenager’s life, reflecting who he truly was rather than preaching to him.

  While Sprite’s communication has evolved over time, its brand essence, personality and tonality have stayed consistent. Rather than using a celebrity, the Sprite ambassador has always been the teenager himself—confident, smart and spontaneous.

  ‘And miles to go before I sleep…’

  The landscape in 2015 is completely unlike the one
in 1998 when Sprite was launched. Sachin Tendulkar has retired, Shahrukh Khan is more Khan than king, the competition is no longer the king of cool with AAP leading a social activist wave across the country. In the midst of all this, Sprite has grown from a scrappy new entrant to the leader of the sparkling-beverages market, on its way to becoming an iconic brand for the youth of tomorrow.

  Sprite’s journey

  HOW A CHALLENGER BRAND BECAME THE MOST TRUSTED PRIVATE SECTOR BANK BRAND

  Tracing back to the year 1980, 91 per cent of the banking sector was under government control. Although private sector banks and foreign banks coexisted with the nationalized banks, their activities were limited through entry restrictions and strict branch-licensing policies.

  In 1993, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued banking licenses to ten players including UTI Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. These new players, along with the entrenched foreign banks, ushered in a new era in Indian banking through their investments in technology, processes and customer service.

  Legacy

  Operating under the borrowed name of UTI (Unit Trust of India) at the time of its formation, Axis Bank capitalized on the UTI lineage. Over the years, there was a need for the brand to stand on its own and thus came the change in its brand identity. In 2007, UTI Bank was rechristened Axis Bank.

  However, by that time, its competitors had already acquired an edge in brand recognition and recall, leaving Axis Bank to play catch up.

  In 2009, under a new management, everything within the Bank was introspected under a new lens. There was pressing need to move on to a more consumer-centric approach and to review existing processes. The task at hand was clear—to create a differentiated ‘Axis’ brand, not just in banking, but in the entire banking and financial services category.