Effies 2009: A call not to wake, but awake

The case study presentations for the ninth edition of the Effies was held at the KC College auditorium, where 33 of the 164 shortlisted entries made presentations. Lowe Lintas was nominated for Tata Tea's Jaago Re! campaign in the Consumer Products and Integrated Advertising Campaign categories. Arc Worldwide, the digital agency that created the online voter registration site for the campaign, was also nominated in the Consumer Products category.

The tea market was ruled by Red Label for a long time. In a category such as tea in a country which thrives on the product, the market leader controls the consumer's palette as well. Thus, Tata Tea had the mammoth task of changing hardened consumer behaviour.

Tata Tea has three brands under the mother brand, including Tata Tea Gold, Tata Tea Premium and Agni. Instead of creating individual adverts for each, a mother brand campaign was created. There were no lady protagonists in the ad; the benefits of the tea were not highlighted, nor any promotional gimmicks or freebies offered.

Lowe Lintas aimed to shift codes and make Tata Tea a brand which was much younger at heart. A study showed that in a country where 65 per cent of the population was in the age group of 18-35 years, less than 10 per cent exercised their right to vote.

The agency stepped onto this platform to encourage the consumer to vote. The communication aimed not to wake, but awake. Thus, the Jaago Re! campaign was born.

The campaign broke as a prelude to the 2009 General Elections. It consisted of a TV commercial, where two young men offer tea to people gathered outside a cinema hall. They keep pestering the people to have tea so that they wake up. Finally, an irritated lady, who came to watch a film, tells the men that they aren't asleep and don't need the tea.

One of the men reminds her that on the day of the election, if she is not voting, then she is obviously asleep.

The communication also involved an elaborate viral campaign, social networking sites, desktop applications and a voter registration website (created by Arc Worldwide). Tata Tea also sponsored a rock show during the span of the campaign.

Lowe Lintas' objective was to make the brand familiar among the target audiences of all three brands of Tata Tea.

The campaign garnered more than 86 per cent recognition and brand association was about 98 per cent. Tata Tea achieved considerable gain in terms of volume share. Positive disposition towards the brand was 85 per cent for Tata Tea Premium consumers; 73 per cent for Tata Tea Gold; and 80 per cent for Agni.

When Arc Worldwide had to create the website for voter registration, it initially studied all the reasons for the poor participation of the youth in voting. The website was designed on the basis of this research. Jaagore.com was created to address the issues for which one needs to exercise the right to vote.

The forms for voter registration were simplified and made into a single page process. Regular SMS updates about the status of the forms were given. The website also assisted in other queries regarding voting.

2.7 million unique visits were recorded on the site, including six lakh registrations. About 70 per cent of those registered were youth. On the last count, about 5,11,875 people were awakened to the necessity of exercising voting rights. There have been about 3,000 blog mentions and 2,000 online communications revolving around the Jaago Re campaign.