Stories of Togetherness

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Insight 

Tea is BIG, in India. Over 4,000 brands vie for consumer attention, alongside a huge unbranded market which is almost equal in size. Tea has become a commodity and brands struggle to build equity and loyalty. 

Red label caters to the consuming middle class in India. For years it positioned itself as a tasty drink with health benefits and succeeded at reaching a market share at 6.6 %. 

However, with a numbers of players multiplying and intensifying competition, product feature based advertising was simply not standing out. It mattered more as to what brand was on discount or promotion to swing consumer choice. 

Red Label had always owned the high ground on robustness of flavour – whether it was through sourcing from the best tea gardens to “curing” tea leaves at the right temperature, the Red Label taste is irresistible.  

Building on taste (the brand insight), the brand positioned itself on the “taste that brought people together”. Red Label is a great cup of tea, which breaks down walls of prejudice, no matter how divergent the viewpoints are and brings people together.  

Mindshare's challenge was to bring the proposition “the taste that brings people together” alive, so as to build equity and bring in new consumers. 

Strategy 

In the small towns and villages of North India, power cuts are frequent. As a result, radio and television vie with each other as the popular entertainment choice especially among the target group.  

The housewives, (core target audience) switched on the radio during the day when she was busy doing her household chores. As radio was spewing only Bollywood music, it became a ‘snacking medium’ with no ‘appointment viewing’. 

Speaking to consumers revealed they wanted different content. They fondly recalled the days when radio used to be the primary storytelling medium. From patriotism to contemporary culture– it carried the voice of the nation to every nook and corner of the country. The hunger for emotional yet sensible content (especially on radio) remained unfulfilled.  

The agency's communication strategy was simple – Bring back storytelling to radio by replacing the brand radio jingle with brand stories.  

Mindshare created content - “The Red Label Stories of Togetherness” which replaced the traditional brand advertising jingles and spots. This content was the only advertising that the brand aired on radio.  

Execution 

India’s Ryan Seacrest – Neelesh Misra - wrote heartwarming stories which would bring the brand philosophy alive. The stories spoke about every day incidents where walls of discord came crashing down. “Kahaniyan Apnepan Ki” or Stories of Togetherness was conceived. 

The stories fought stereotypes, prejudices and created national consciousness. They connected so well with the consumers that the consumers specially started tuning into the medium instead of tuning out of the medium during ad breaks. 

The campaign disrupted the advertising format of radio – moving from jingles to stories and got the listeners to pay higher attention to the medium. 

Twelve exclusively-for-brand stories written by Neelesh Misra, India’s most acclaimed storyteller on radio, were aired in lieu of brand commercials. Approximately 80 hours of airtime was converted to stories over five weeks across five stations. 

The campaign reached more than 8.2 lac gross impressions. Radio listeners were glued. They ‘binged’ on the stories and looked forward to even the repeats.  

For the first time ever perhaps radio became more than just music. The stories left such an indelible mark that they recounted the stories to the Research Interviewers who had gone for a post campaign research. 

Results 

Brand health of Red Label measured by Millward Brown India showed that the brand gained on conviction by 24% and unaided brand awareness grew by 11% in a highly cluttered tea market. 

Red Label differentiation score (‘Offer something that other brands do not’) went up by 13% (Source: Millward Brown, India) 

Red label’s association with word ‘Apnapan’ (Togetherness) grew from 17% to 24%. (Source: Factive Research, India) 

At the end of the campaign more than 50% of radio listeners recalled at least one brand story and many remembered at least two or three. (Source: Factive Research, India). An indication of how sticky and relatable the content was and how clearly it registered with the consumer. 

Market share during campaign period rose by 12% (Source: Millward Brown, India).

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Brand:
Brooke Bond Red Label
Brand Owner:
Unilever
Categories:
Drinks (non-alcoholic)
Food
Region:
India
date:
March - May 2015
Agency:
Mindshare
Media Channel:
Radio
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