Known for its regional and hyperlocal marketing, Tata Tea Premium has launched a new Lohri campaign #VaddiKhushiyaanDeTappe in association with Punjabi actor Shehnaaz Gill. The TVC has resonated with netizens garnering over 7.4 lakh views on the brand’s YouTube channel.
The auspicious festival of Lohri is celebrated with much pomp by the people of Haryana and Punjab, especially from the Hindu and Sikh community. The festival that marks the end of winter, is a celebration of warmth, good harvest and new beginnings.
The latest initiative by Tata Tea Premium allows users to enjoy artificial intelligence (AI) driven hyper-personalization delivered in the Tappa format (Punjabi folk songs). Prominent in Punjab, Tappas are folk poetry sung by people at communal gatherings to celebrate happy events and milestones. Lohri is one key festival that provides Punjabis an opportunity to celebrate auspicious milestones with loved ones through Tappas.
The brand has designed a microsite (Tatateatappe.com) that allows consumers to create and share their own personalized music video ‘Tappa’, sung & performed by Punjab’s actor Shehnaaz Gill. Tata Tea Premium has also released a new TVC, featuring Gill.
Speaking exclusively to Storyboard18, Puneet Das, president – packaged beverages (India and South Asia), Tata Consumer Products says, Tata Tea Premium’s main objective with its campaigns is to engage with consumers emotionally by being a part of their lives.
“In the past we have leveraged technology like Metaverse to provide an immersive experience during ‘Holi’. For this Lohri campaign, we have drawn insight from an integral cultural tradition of Punjab – the Tappas which are lyrical folk songs played to celebrate auspicious events and festivals. Through this initiative, users can enjoy AI driven hyper-personalized Tappas made in their own name, celebrating an occasion of their choice that can be seamlessly shared with their loved ones,” he notes.
To amplify the campaign the company has lined up a 360 degree mix of limited edition packs, digital , print innovation on the day of Lohri , TV and outdoors. Further supplemented by an engagement leg consisting of on-ground and influencer activation.
Personalisation and being hyperlocal
Das emphasises the need to have personalized campaigns in a digital first world. According to him, since consumers today have access to content from several channels and across touchpoints, providing distinctive experiences has become more important than ever to break away from the clutter.
“Today’s customers also expect you to connect with them meaningfully, hence providing customized campaigns based on their preferences can help in driving engagement and building an emotional connect. So, there’s no denying that personalised campaigning makes for highly engaged consumers, increased brand loyalty, and deeper emotive connect,” he adds.
Tata Tea Premium has been focusing on creating hyperlocal and state specific campaigns and experiences to connect deeply with its regional consumers. The brand’s efforts in this area goes beyond just dubbing their ads in regional languages.
“We have been driving thought leadership in our key states with region specific curated marketing mix which includes customized packaging, state-specific insight led communication, blends that cater to regional preferences and leveraging localized marketing mediums. The brand understands that each state has its own distinct identity, value system, cultural norms and societal truths, and its own idiosyncrasies, habits, behavioural truth. Hence to dominate the market, we focused on key states and to that effect rolled out a hyperlocal marketing mix and communication strategy,” Das explains.
The brand’s hyperlocal strategy started a few years back with its largest market Uttar Pradesh followed by Delhi. The regional campaign has also been made in states like Haryana, Punjab, West Bengal, Maharashtra, AP and Odisha.
Being digitally focused
The company says that the brand’s media strategy is also becoming digital first as its TG evolves and spends more time online.
“We leverage digital to reach out and engage with consumers at a regional level. While we will continue to use traditional media, our media mix on digital continues to grow and remains ahead of the category,” Das concludes.