Tea is the most consumed hot beverage in India. With a 98% penetration of the market, it is rare to find a household in the country that does not stock tea. Tea is preferred for a host of functional and sensorial benefits such as taste, aroma, refreshment and rejuvenation. And while most brands in the category communicate these generic attribute/benefits to lure the consumers, Tata tea had chosen a different path. In 2006, Tata tea decided to change the codes of category and adopted a strategy that served as a catalyst for social awareness, these attributes were given a higher order benefit – Don’t just wake up, awaken! Ever since, every campaign of Tata Tea has been based on a social issues and awakening. With the chant of Jaago Re!(Don’t just wake up, awaken!) the brand become extremely popular amongst consumers and could find an unique place in their hearts. Over the years Tata Ta has based its communication on various social issues – corruption, education, traffic rules etc.
In Tata Tea’s latest campaign, as the nation was getting ready to face the general election 2014, it took the onus of awakening the nation to yet another important issue that confronts almost half the population - women’s empowerment.
It was observed that, ironically, the world’s largest democracy had the lowest representation of women in Parliament, though women contributed to 49% of the population. In addition, overall women participation in the in elections in terms of voting percentage was not encouraging.
So fighting for women’s causes becomes that much harder if women are not able to legislate on those issues. Since representation involves politicians and electoral politics, the challenge was to ensure that politicians support the cause of women’s empowerment and to encourage women to fully participate in the 2014 elections.