How Tata Tea Premium’s Jaago Re campaign champions social causes

Tata Tea is Tata Consumer Products' (previously Tata Global Beverages Limited) flagship tea brand. Over a period, the portfolio expanded to include Tata Tea Gold (2003), Tata Tea Agni (2005), and Tata Tea Life (2007).

Sushant Dash, the then President, Beverages – India & Middle East, Tata Consumer Products, explained that as each brand was introduced to the market, it required its own investment in terms of media, etc.

In 2003, Tata Tea was rebranded as Tata Tea Premium. In 2006, the brand decided to expand beyond the tea category, which required them to consolidate their media spends. Hence, they wanted to check how they could optimise what they were spending on the tea portfolio.

Dash said that those days the soft drink market was vibrant and brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi were very aggressive in terms of distribution and media. Hence, Tata Tea wanted to appeal more to the youth.

That was also the time when a lot of smaller regional players were entering the market.

Lowe Lintas had come on board in 2003 when Tata Tea launched Tata Tea Gold. Lowe Lintas did a campaign for Tata Tea Gold with the tagline ‘Na Kahoge Toh Pachtaoge,’ (If you say 'No', you will repent)

The brand’s objective was to promote Tata Tea Premium as the mother brand, hence the emotional connect that would be established with the consumer would be for the premium brand.

Dash also stated that the individual variants, be it Premium, Gold, Agni, Light, were to have transactional ads if and when required. That was how they would consolidate their media monies. That was the brief.

Amer Jaleel, former group CCO (Chief Creative Officer) and Chairman, Mullen Lowe Lintas Group, in a conversation with Storyboard18, recalled how tea was considered ‘Purane Zamane Ka Drink’ (drink of the olden days). Hence, the challenge was how to make Tata Tea cool.

But soon it was felt that the strategy was wrong, and they began exploring the tea culture in India and how they could make it work.

Dash recalled his conversations with Jaleel and R. Balki, former Group Chairman, Lowe Lintas, where the question was how they could appeal to multiple segments in a country like India? “They were grappling with one emotional message, which would make the consumer think, ‘Yeh mera Tata Tea hai’.” What is that one hook that can appeal to a Tata Tea Gold consumer in South Delhi and South Bombay v/s a Tata Tea Agni consumer in rural Uttar Pradesh, Bihar etc?

Dash said that as they began to brainstorm, they realised that there was some angst among the youth, and this was not restricted to a particular segment. Plus, that was the period when social media was just entering the picture.

Jaleel also recalled how tea has been a part of many people’s growing up years, and how over cups of tea, the youth discussed what was wrong with the country and society, and how they wanted to change the world.

Tea was also the first beverage people had when they woke up in the morning to energise themselves. Jaleel added, “We felt that energising is not the right hook for the youth because the youth are already full of energy. Then we realised that tea actually wakes you up. From ‘wake’ to ‘awaken’ was a creative leap.”

And that is how the idea of attaching a social cause in the promotion of a brand was born. That is how ‘Jaago Re’ was born. Dash said that both he and his bosses said, “Fantastic idea.” And, Lowe Lintas won the account.

Final act

However, Dash, as Jaleel recollected, added, “The product is not integrated into the final script. Once you fix it, then we'll go ahead.” At that time, the Tata Tea office was in Kolkata. Jaleel made three trips there with ideas on how to integrate the product into the script, but those did not meet the client’s expectation.

In the third trip, Jaleel realised that one had to fix the thought and not how the product was shown. And the line, “Har Subah Sirf Utho Mat, Jaago Re” (Don't just wake up every morning, awaken yourself) was born.

The minute Dash heard that, he said, “Now, let’s go ahead.”

Jaago Re is born

In 2007, Jaago Re hit the television screens, featuring the now famous actor Pankaj Tripathi as a politician who has come to ask for votes, and is being challenged by a youngster who’s questioning him about his qualifications. Tripathi had just entered the scene and as per Dash, he had done a brilliant job.

“It was very different from any other creative advertisement at that point of time and it appealed to the youth,” he added.

Amit Sharma was the director. Jaleel shares a back story. During the making of the first ad film, while they were seated in Sharma’s office and trying to cast, they felt that the protagonist will not be memorable.

On casting Tripathi, Jaleel explained that during the audition, the actor, had done a hand gesture which screamed assertiveness and strength, indicating that ‘hum lootne aaye hain’ (we have come to loot) instead of ‘hum aapka vote maangne aaye hain’ (we have come seeking your vote).’’

The team understood that the brand had to walk the talk — the storytelling needed to be edgy and challenge the norms.

Dash further stated that it was all about taking ownership, looking at the fault within rather than blaming the society.

Thereafter, the ‘One Billion Votes’ campaign was launched in 2008. In that ad film, one can see the young actor, producer, writer, lyricist, and director Anand Tiwari providing tea to cinema goers on election day. Here, the point is, “If you are not voting, then you are sleeping.” The campaign helped register six lakh citizens, according to a media report.

The brand also asked the youth — who had become cynical about the voting process — why they refrained from voting. Most of the youth had travelled from small towns and villages to work in larger cities. Hence, they were unaware of the process of registration, and did not have the required identity cards.

Here, the team worked with the Bangalore-based NGO Janaagraha to register voters and ensure that people enrolled to vote, especially the youth.

Dash explained, “For the first time, the youth could register online, find out details about where to go, download the form, etc. That resulted in a lot of positivity.”

Then, in 2011, celebrating the brand’s 25th anniversary, the ‘Soch Badlo’ (change your thoughts) ad was released, which emphasised on looking at things from a different perspective.

In the 2013 ad, Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan pledged in a mock interview that in every film of his, his female co-stars’ title would be placed before his.

Also in 2013, the ‘Power of 49’ ad was released which touched upon women voters, who constituted 49 percent of India’s electorate.

In another ad film in 2014, actor Shwetha Tripathi is seen speaking on the importance of voting for the ‘right leader’ who ensures the safety and protection of women.

Ahead of the 2014 General Elections, Tata Consumer Products released a 10-point ‘Voice of 49%’ women’s manifesto (an outcome of the ‘Power of 49’ campaign). The key issues that emerged were around the themes of violence, safety, health, and education, according to the Tata Consumer website.

Some of the other Jaago Re TVCs include ads on the importance of being mindful about rules, the importance of climate change etc.

Jaago Re 2.0

In 2015, a global merger between Mullen and Lowe & Partners took place, and the Lowe’s India operations got rebranded as Mullen Lowe Lintas Group, and the Tata Tea Premium account moved here.

It was early 2017 when Tata Tea Premium launched the Jaago Re 2.0 campaign. The new team at Mullen Lintas came up with fresh ideas and presented them to the brand. However, those did not make the cut.

So the agency came up with another thought: instead of criticising the government on social media, why don’t you act before anything bad can happen? This led to the tagline: ‘Alarm bajne se pehle, Jaago Re’ (Before the alarm rings, wake up). The ad was released in 2017, and was well received.

In 2017, the ad film ‘Why are our rising sports stars retiring early?’ was released.

Some of the other TVCs include ads on the importance of gender equality, fear surrounding exams, etc.

Long-standing agency-client relationship

The relationship between Tata Tea Premium and Mullen Lintas continues.

Dash stated, “I think, it's got to do with the people at the end of the day, and the trust that you have in each other.”

For Jaleel, handling the tea brand has been a matter of pride. He said, “When you find a good partner, nobody wants to give that up. We always created something new and fresh which takes the Tata Tea name forward.”

Jaago Re: how did it impact the ad landscape?

There are various issues right from corruption to gender inequality which still exist in our country, and Jaago Re did its bit in creating awareness and bringing in a little change through its campaigns.

Dash credits the power of the Tata brand for Jaago Re’s success. "If you didn’t have a brand with stature, history, and trust, Jaago Re wouldn’t have been possible. I strongly believe that is what made the campaign believable,’’ he concluded.

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