Tata Coffee Grand to spend 80% of its ad budget on TV, 20% will go to digital

Tata Coffee Grand, which was initially present only on e-commerce channels, is now scaling up its distribution to reach a larger set of consumers.

The brand, which recently launched a new ad campaign ‘Coffee Means Shik Shik Shik’, has allocated 80% of its ad spends on TV and rest 20% on digital.

Puneet Das, SVP, Marketing, Beverages, Tata Consumer Products, said, “Because we had limited footprint and focused on ensuring a consistent demand, we were initially present largely on digital and on e-commerce. And as now that our distribution is scaling up and we are becoming more mass with our proposition, we are now (again) going into TV.”

TV, however, will be for the regional South markets only. After the promotion and launch phase of the current campaign, he said it will probably move to a 50:50 sort of a ratio between both the mediums. It also uses print tactically at times.

The campaign:

Launched five years ago, Das believes the biggest differentiator for the brand has always been the instant decoction crystal taste, aroma and freshness, which basically end up giving a very great tasting cup of coffee experience. And it is the same message it is trying to convey through the recent campaign.

Apart from this, it is launching the two rupees value pack, since, according to Das, value packs account for 60% of the sales in the coffee category.

“The idea is to get more and more people to try our product via great price point and experience. We are less than one per cent at all-India level and have about 1% share in the South (South accounts for almost 65% of coffee consumption) and that is why it's important to be present in south since it is one of the biggest markets. So the idea is that with the heritage of Tata and a great product experience, and the proposition that we have, we aim to unlock the potential of our brand and obviously disrupt the coffee category,” he said.

Das said that there is a certain level of trust that comes with the name of Tata. From a consumer product point of view, it has products that are trusted by consumers. And as a marginal and young player in coffee, it has plans to scale it up.

He added, “The sentiments related to consumers opting for brands with certain legacy will continue to play a bigger role in the post-pandemic world.”

In terms of expansion, as it scales up the distribution and increases its availability at the ground level, it plans to offer good experience at a good price point to get customers hooked.

Asked if the brand is back to pre-Covid levels in terms of revenue and sales, Das said since it is already in the process of scaling up, it has actually been growing only. And therefore, it has far more outlets and sales than the pre-Covid levels.

“In the initial lockdown period, obviously, reaching out to consumers directly or supplying the product to retailers was the key task. And after that as retail started opening up, a lot of sales shifted to e-commerce. For us, the idea was to be available and secure full range everywhere possible so that people are able to access our product. As the environment has now starting to come back to normal, we will increase the scale of distribution in general trade and will reach out to as many customers as possible directly as well as indirectly,” he said.

He said the plan for the brand is to grow faster than the category and with such a small base, to really expand as much as possible.

Talking about adspends in the beverage and FMCG category overall, he said they have started to come back to pre-Covid levels.

“Beverage and FMCG have now started coming back to pre-Covid levels. So, will this year end up making the spends that didn’t happen last year? The answer is that it will differ from category to category. But overall, the spends are starting to come back to pre Covid-levels for sure.”

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