Tata Tea's 'Jaago Re' campaign sought to register voters for the 2009 elections. In the process, it also re-energised the brand
One of the abiding images of the general elections 2009 is a young man chiding college students: “Election ke din agar aap vote nahin kar rahen hain toh aap so rahe hain” (If you aren’t voting on election day, then you are sleeping). He would go about “waking up” people to their democratic duty of voting. That was the Jaago Re campaign started by Tata Tea before the general elections. It looked like a public awareness campaign, but “It is not about corporate social responsibility, it’s actually a brand campaign,” says Sangeeta Talwar, executive director, Tata Tea.
The campaign proved a disruptive step in the way tea is marketed in India. Most Indian tea brands are advertised using either the “refresh” or “re-energise” message. Tata Tea itself has used these approaches in the past (Kamal ki Taazgi) but to beat the leader Hindustan Unilever (HUL), it needed something slightly different.(This story appears in the 31 July, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)