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returned from the moon, they

TATA SALT
brought back some pieces of rock
with them, which were found to be
common salt. After all, building
brands out of common things is
- Satarupa Sen Bhattacharya what innovation is all about. In
reality, anything which has merit
I was stunned at first by the results of my research, and then rather impressed- to it and can consistently deliver
value is capable of being branded.”
my mom, whose food I was constantly screwing my nose up at, had actually
As far as appeal is concerned, the
something in common with the cook at the National Defence Ministry's canteen Tata name in itself went a long way
stores and even with the chef at the best restaurant in town. They all used Tata in creating trust. In Mr. Sohoni’s
Salt! Jokes apart, there's reason enough to be impressed. Not by my mother words, “to begin with, we had the
huge advantage of the Tata brand.
perhaps, but by a brand that has held on to an undisputed position of market
All qualities that the Tata name
leadership for over two decades since it was launched and has an enviable market conveys to people— trust,
share of 41% in the national branded salt segment (ORG-MARG, March 2004). simplicity, quality, mutual respect,
Not only is this share the highest in the market but is ahead of the nearest loyalty— are ingrained in salt.
Besides, salt is something that cuts
competitor by a factor of close to two! Tata Salt is also the only Indian brand to
across sections of society; no one
make it to the list of the 10 Most Trusted Brands as per The Economic Times can say, ‘I will not buy salt this
Brand Equity Survey for two consecutive years. month.’ So when you buy a brand
and discover that it delivers
History the local store, how did the concept distinctively better taste and
In 1979, Tata Chemicals Ltd. of branded salt create an appeal? quality, and consistently so every
founded a salt works at its In fact, how did the idea of month, you develop a certain
Mithapur complex in Gujarat as branding something as common affinity for it. This gets consolidated
part of its inorganic over time. That is how you generate
chemicals complex. It all a huge brand loyalty.”
began when the company
installed a process to Brand Positioning:
generate fresh water (for its At a time when people
soda ash plant in were only used to buying
Mithapur) by evaporating loose salt and there was not
sea brine in steam-heated a second player in the
vacuum evaporators. This market, the packaging in
resulted in the production itself turned out to be a
of pure, sterilised salt as a point of marketing
by-product. Four years communication. Another
later, in 1983, the company crucial aspect was the
Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Satish Sohoni with the
launched Tata Salt as a range of Tata Salt Products manufacturing process, as
brand—the first branded, highlighted in all TV
high-quality product in the salt and seemingly ubiquitous as salt commercials. As described
segment in the country. occur in the first place? As Chief earlier, the salt was obtained
Operating Officer, Food and through vacuum evaporation,
Creating Brand Awareness Additives Business at Tata which meant that not only was it
For millions of Indian Chemicals Ltd., Mr. Satish Sohoni completely free from all impurities,
housewives, who had been used to very aptly puts it, “If you recollect, but also had a uniform, fine
buying loose unbranded salt from when Neil Armstrong and his team crystalline structure that made it
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naturally free-flowing—a quality
rare in solar refined salt. This also
made it uniformly salty. Then there
was the USP in the form of
iodisation: at a time when UNICEF
and the Government of India were
both promoting the intake of
iodine for health
reasons, iodised
salt instantly
struck a chord in
people’s minds.
Salt was after all
the most easily
available dietary
instrument
through which
you could ensure
the consumption
of iodine. Thus the
trio of purity and
uniformity of texture, taste and
iodisation formed the launch pad
for the brand. Then there was the
valuable prefix in the form of the
Tata name. Thus emerged the
positioning statement: “Namak ho
Tata ka, Tata namak.” This turned
out to be an alliterative mnemonic
that went a long way in boosting
brand recall values.
Competition
The 1990s witnessed the entry of
a number of players in the market.
Some, such as Captain Cook
positioned their brands on the
premise of texture (free-flow),
while others like Annapurna
positioned it on the health benefits
that iodine brings. However, Tata
Salt’s claims on these factors were
by then firmly established, and its
quality entrenched in the minds of
consumers so that they no longer
perceived these claims by the
competitors as major
differentiators. Thus there was no
major dent in terms of market
share. Mr. Sohoni, however,
admits that there is intense
competition where pricing is
concerned. Many of the new
players have a whole range of
products and many are priced
lower than the Tata brand. But
what ensures the
c o n t i n u e d
popularity of the
brand and its
sustained control
over the market
share is the
guarantee of
quality. As the
former said, “What
we do is deliver a
consistent promise
of quality and
people know
that—they know that when they
pay Rs.8, they probably get
something worth Rs.10. More
importantly, there has been no
change in this performance over
the decades of our existence.”
Continuous Improvements
in Quality
Yet another factor that has kept
Tata Salt at the pinnacle of the
market is perhaps its philosophy
of striving towards continuous
betterment. Forget deterioration,
the company does not even
concentrate on maintenance of
quality: at Tata, improvement is
the only mantra. “If we have
attained a particular level of
quality X at a given cost, our aim
is always to try and make that 2X
without substantially altering
cost.” This is achieved through
clear direction from the top and
constant involvement and
commitment of the team working
on it. And of course there is the
element of consumer feedback.
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Tata Salt has a business process in
place by which it tracks consumer
feedback on a regular basis. All
complaints and feedback from
customers are logged in through
an intranet system and action is
taken on every report received.
There are also specific exercises
with the consumer to gauge his
reactions and understand his
unmet needs or levels of
dissatisfaction. This is an ongoing
exercise conducted through
surveys, panel discussions,
focussed group discussions and
market observation.
Advertising and Change in
positioning
Being the pioneer brand in a
field also connotes that you have
to build awareness from scratch,
and that is where advertising has
such an important role to play.
Tata Salt also relied heavily on
advertising to create awareness of
its product superiority to begin
with. Till its entry in the market,
salt carried little added
significance for the consumer. The
moment iodine, texture, purity etc.
came into the picture, there was the
onus of awareness generation. It
was a comprehensive media-mix
that was chosen for this, without
any exceptions.
With the aspect of purity and
value for money firmly established
and a consequent capture of
mindshare, the Tata brand began
to perceive a need to review its
marketing and communication
strategy sometime around the
middle of 2002. Though still ahead
of its competitors by a substantial
margin, differences were
becoming less pronounced. A new
agency, Bates India, was called in
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to work on advertising. Consumer
research at this time revealed that
the nation was deeply
disillusioned with the erosion of
values. Integrity, loyalty and
nationalism appeared to be the
needs of the day, and tapping that
emotional requirement, a new
campaign was launched with an
identifiable and universal theme:
Desh ka namak. The tagline “Maine
desh ka namak khaya hai” linked the
product with loyalty and trust, and
went straight to the heart of a
people who were grappling with
a sense of degenerating values.
Each commercial was a tribute to
the integrity and honesty of the
millions of common Indians
who connected
instantaneously with the
values of the brand. It was as if
the purity of the salt was
reflected by the character of the
end-user. The advertisements
were very aptly started on
August 14, 2002 and were
eventually rated highly on
parameters of persuasion,
simplicity and ethics. This was
backed by new packaging,
which retained its emphasis on the
Tata name to reassure the
customer.
Along with the national
campaigns, Tata Salt also has
ongoing local sales promotions.
These often take unique forms: to
name one, in the recent Makar
Sankranti kite-flying festival in and
around Ahmedabad,, close to two
lakh kites were flown in the air
with the Tata Salt name embossed
on them. It received immense
response and appreciation. The
brand has also sponsored cooking
competitions, organised lucky
draws in various local clubs or
organisations or put up stalls at
fairs.
Integration with the Tata
Philosophy
As an extension of the Desh ka
Namak campaign was started the
Desh ko Arpan programme in
consonance with the Tata
philosophy of giving back to
society what comes from it.
Partnering with CRY, the company
decided to contribute 10 paise on
every package of Tata Salt sold.
Funds worth Rs.11million were
garnered through this initiative
and invested in the cause of
improving the quality of life of the
girl child by ensuring access to
basic education, nutrition etc. As
revealed by Mr. Sohoni, Tata Salt
Mithapur Plant, Gujrat
is now planning to expand this
programme beyond academics. Of
the various plans in the pipeline,
one relates to a programme in
collaboration with the Mumbai
Municipal Corporation whereby
poor children in the municipal
schools will be given free coaching
in cricket, football or other sports
in which they are interested and
show an inclination towards. “We
are not purporting to be the GOI,
or Unicef, or any global social
organisation,” says Mr. Sohoni,
“neither is this a publicity exercise.
We are simply doing our little bit
for society, something we have
always believed in.” Indeed,
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commendable exercise of social
responsibility has always been a
Tata way of life and is one of the
major reasons that the brand
enjoys the wide respect that it does.
Future
From being the first among
Food Brands in the country
(Economic Times Brand Equity
Survey 2004), and a recipient of the
Superbrand Title in the FMCG
brands category, where does Tata
Salt see itself in the future? “While
we may be the absolute leaders in
the branded salt segment, the latter
in itself is a very small proportion
of the total market for edible salt,”
points out Ms. Daphne Nair,
Marketing manager, Tata
Salt. Thus the aim is not only
to retain core users but also
to broaden the base of
consumers. Global expansion
is also being explored. It is
also looking at addressing
new segments. In an initial
endeavour towards that, the
company has launched a new
product in the table salt
segment: the Tata Fine Table
Salt that comes in an attractive
glass dispenser designed to avoid
problems relating to moisture
seeping. According to Ms. Nair,
the potential target segments
include flavoured salts, low
sodium salts etc. And what about
competition? “Oh, there is going to
be a tremendous rise,” beams a
confident Mr. Sohoni, “but we are
well equipped to face that and are
going to reinforce our positions as
leaders in the face of that.” For all
of us saying our prayers before we
partake of some delicious dishes
seasoned with Tata Salt, we can
only say “Amen!”