To gain a competitive edge over rival brands in the Rs 4,000-crore Indian branded tea industry, Tata Tea Ltd is chalking out a new gameplan which includes marketing initiatives, product innovations, thematic advertising, online advertising plans and below-the-line activities.

On the company’s new initiatives, says Tata Tea Ltd vice-president (marketing) Vivek Mathur: "We are looking at innovations both in terms of marketing mix and product innovations. We are currently testing these innovations with consumers. Our focus is clearly on the brands’ theme advertising in an attempt to strongly establish the brand proposition."

The company carried out its consumer research programmes with three leading research firms namely ORG-Marg, IMRB and NFL-MBO. In addition, Tata Tea also plans to focus on online adverting plans to promote its premium tea brand Tata Tetley this year. "We plan to promote ‘Tetley’ on the Net because it’s still a niche medium in India," says Mr Mathur.

As part of its strategy, the company is also looking at marketing tie-ups with major retail chains across the country. According Mr Mathur, the company has tied up with a few southern retail majors to promote Tata Tetley a few months back. "Also, we had tied up with Sony Music to promote our Tetley brand. Our focus will also be on below-the-line activities to promote our brands in major metros. We will be looking at ‘tactical’ advertising’ as part of our marketing strategy too," he adds.

As for the company’s foray into the ‘iced tea’ segment, Mr Mathur says the company is evaluating viable opportunities for this category in India: "People still opt for hot tea in this country. We are looking at adding regional flavours in our hot tea product portfolio," he adds.

At present, Tata Tea’s products are handled by five advertising agencies which include, Rediffusion (Tetley), McCann Erickson (Chakra Gold), Publicis Zen (Agni/Kanan Devan), Vaishnavi (Tata Tea) and Saatchi & Saatchi (Gemini). "Many of these agencies have had a long association with the brand, which reflects on a better understanding of the brands’ communication needs," comments Mr Mathur.

As for the company’s adspend, Mr Mathur informs that Tata Tea has plans to increase its ad budget by 20 per cent this year compared to last year. With the entry of Godrej tea, competition is hotting up in the Indian industry. So, what’s going to be Tata Tea’s marketing strategy this year? Primarily, Tata Tea’s marketing strategy is to offer choice to the consumer by having a portfolio of brands in every important segment of the market, replies Mr Mathur.

"Through our range of brands we straddle the premium, popular as well as the economy segments of both the CTC leaf and CTC dust market. And the pillars of our strategy are consumer focus, brand-building and product customisation," he adds.

The company believes in investing behind long-term brand-building for sustained growth. "While we would have below-the-line spending on trade and consumer promotional activities to counter competition, when necessary, our focus on above-the-line would be significantly higher than other players," says Mr Mathur.