Changing Tastes
Business Standard — July 19, 2005

As the father looks on, his mother cuts out a recipe from a magazine and makes a pizza at home. She follows the recipe religiously, except when it comes to adding salt — she sprinkles it instinctively, without referring to the recipe.

When the mother serves the pizza, the boy is excited but the others in his conservative, south Indian household aren't so sure. As he reaches for a slice, his father stops him — he'll taste it first. The grandmother asks "Namak theek hai na?" (Is there enough salt?).

The father's face relaxes; he answers in the affirmative and the boy is jubilant. As the family sits down for dinner, a male voiceover says "Chutki bhar vishwas. Tata namak."

The 45-second television commercial (TVC) is part of the new advertising campaign of Tata Salt. Launched last month, the ad is running on all major cable channels such as Star Plus, Zee and Sony, with Bengali, Tamil and Telugu versions running on the major regional channels as well. Radio spots on FM, hoardings, bus shelters and pole kiosks complete the promotion.

Created by Leo Burnett, the new ad is the first deviation from the communication line Tata Salt adopted following its relaunch in 2002. For the past three years, the brand has been the desh ka namak, with ad agency Bates creating six ads based on the theme. Those TVCs portrayed people who were the salt of the earth: a railway linesman who checks each nut and bolt on the track, despite torrential rain, and the elderly taxi driver who refuses a reward for returning a passenger's cellphone. Maine desh ka namak khaya hai was the endline for all variations, while the background track and jingle were reminiscent of the national anthem.

The new ad, too, is just a variation on the original theme, insists Tata Chemicals, the Tata group company that owns the 22-year-old brand. The desh ka namak tagline has been retained, points out Satish Sohoni, chief operating officer, food additives business, Tata Chemicals. "The storyline now has a family feel rather than an individual statement," he adds.

The difference is deliberate: while previous campaigns linked salt with national pride and loyalty, the new ad is all about familiarity. The mother in the ad is making an unfamiliar dish, but she knows just how much salt to use.

The "chutki" acts like a mnemonic to indicate the product attribute - just a pinch is enough. The idea will also be extended to future campaigns to symbolise Tata Salt's differentiators - saltiness, whiteness and consistent quality. Watch out for chutki bhar safedi (a pinch of whiteness) and chutki bhar mamta (a pinch of affection).

For the new campaign, the company called for a fresh pitch that involved seven agencies - Rediffusion DY & R, Contract, Lowe, Leo Burnett, Quadrant, FCB-Ulka and Bates India.

Says K V Sridhar, national creative director, Leo Burnett, "We wanted to establish universal equity in terms of trust. The message we wanted to send is that Tata Salt is a heritage product. It had to connect salt back to the mother-child-family domain."

Why did Tata Salt need to connect to the family this time? On a broad level, it denotes Tata Chemicals' renewed focus on rural markets.

According to the ACNielsen Retail Survey, Tata Salt has a 42 per cent share of the Rs 2,000 crore branded salt market, while Hindustan Lever's Annapurna soaks up 27 per cent of the market (April 2005).

While the company isn't willing to disclose what share of sales is accounted for by rural markets, it does admit to a shift in focus. "Our immediate future plans involve an extension into the rural segment," says a Tata executive. Which is why the present campaign will build on the trend of rural India adopting urban lifestyles (small town housewife making pizza), with Tata Salt being the one constant in this social transition.

In line with the rural focus, the company is also considering variations in pack sizes that will make the product more accessible, especially for first-time users.

While no consumer promotions have been planned as yet, Tata Chemicals has already kicked off several incentive schemes at the retail level: the company's 2,000 stockists are currently competing for a holiday abroad that is being offered to the highest sales achiever. Nor has the urban consumer been forgotten: flavoured salts will be launched by year-end.

But perhaps the biggest reason why Tata Chemicals switched its communication strategy is a market survey conducted by the company last year. The findings showed that while the previous communication linked the brand proposition to quality, purity, trust and national pride, there was a disconnect between the consumer perception of Tata Salt at a familial and an individual level.

The consumer did not necessarily translate the feeling of trust and patriotism into an individual level purchase. Says Sohoni, "We realised we needed to focus on rejuvenating consumer connect with the brand and to link the product with functional use."

So from an emotional display in the previous communication, where the connotation of salt was metaphorical, the current ad shows Tata Salt as an actual commodity being used in the kitchen. Whether it appeals to consumers' tastes, though, still remains to be seen.