‘Jaago re’ was born before ‘brand’ & ‘purpose’ came together: Puneet Das

The Pitch BrandTalk seminar held on November 29 saw a special address by Tata Consumer Products Limited President - Packaged Beverages, (India & South Asia) Puneet Das who shared some insights on the ‘Jaago re’ legacy and what it means to the beverage brand.

Das also spoke on what’s behind the journey of building a ‘brand with purpose’ and the learnings from the same.

Today brand purpose has become more important and critical than ever as consumers want to know how authentic and transparent a brand is. But, Das divulged that the philosophy of ‘Jaago re’ was born in 2006 before the words “brand” and “purpose” came together. “While it was born out of a simple wordplay, it is deeply rooted in the category, since Tea as a beverage is known for its refreshing, arousing functionalities.” He added that it does not just wake you up, but helps “awaken” you. “Suddenly a functional benefit became an emotional benefit and a philosophy that has stood the test of time.”

Das peppered his session with presentations of Tata Tea Jaago Re’s campaigns while talking about the philosophy behind it. “The ‘Jaago re’ tenets were based on challenging people’s apathy to the things that were happening around them, and really awaken the collective conscience of India.”

He explained that the whole philosophy of ‘Jaago re’ is not about just giving ‘gyan’, it’s about unlocking the power of the 1.3 billion population and urging people to take action, while walking the talk as a brand and company.

Speaking about other memorable campaigns, Das recalled that the campaign was launched with the theme revolving around voting. Later it dealt with corruption, women’s empowerment and so on. But what is important to understand is that the core of the philosophy has remained intact through the years, he said.

Tata Tea also launched a campaign two months into the Covid lockdown, revolving around the elderly who were one of the worst-hit during the pandemic. That’s when the brand activated its ‘Is baar bado ke liye jaago re’. Later it also launched its vaccination awareness campaign. “This is not about a marketing gimmick, but something that’s close to our heart and an activation we all believe in, that makes a change for the better,” he asserted.

Elaborating on the significance of such a campaign in today’s times, Das stated that its better that brands understand and identify what they stand for, over and above the commercial interests. He cited a number of studies conducted in the West, that prove consumers today are keener and more invested in brands that showcase their purpose and authenticity. And it’s not just in the West, but in India too a study by Kantar showed the benefits a brand can score in equity points if consumers see it as an authentic brand with a purpose, Das shared.

Coming to the brand’s latest campaign on climate change and global warming,
Das spoke on adding value as a brand to the cause. The brand recognised the current and pertinent problem faced by the country and world at large and felt it necessary to highlight it through ‘Jaago re’.

To confront this issue, the brand had some challenges to fix at the fundamental level. While most people were aware of the issue at a general level, there was less awareness about how the matter affected them on a day-to-day level. And that’s what the brand worked on - how to make the campaign simple to understand, as well as relatable and personable to the layperson. “So the simple insight was to go about distilling the problem into a simple call-to-action.”

Das also shed a light on how interestingly the biggest conversations on the topic are happening amongst the youth and are being led by the younger generations. “We have spoken to the youth because we feel they are the bastions of change through their voices. This time we realised it’s actually the younger audience and kids of today who are holding up the bastion of climate change. We really need to listen to them and understand what we need to do as a society.”

To tackle the issue, the brand bought out campaigns that threw light on the massive problem through a kid’s eyes. It also created a platform where users can gain insights on what can do about the problem on a daily basis, now that they are aware about it.

Das shared that the response to the campaign so far has been encouraging, considering it’s a problem people identify with easily and take the matter seriously and urgently.

He also emphasised that while as marketers one does wonder when you are putting your money in it, what it gives to your brand, but consumers today prefer and understand what the brand stands for.

“In our case, basis these campaigns we saw equity scores lift all across. And not just equity scores, but hard measures such as share household penetration etc increased.”

He added that while all this is great, the bigger price for us lies in the bigger KPI that all of us have to drive. And that is: Allow our kids to have a future. That is what can we do to elevate the future and fight climate change. And that’s something for all of us to think about, and it’s not just about Tata Tea Jaago re, Das said while signing off.