Saatchi & Saatchi wins Tata Tetley account

Saatchi & Saatchi, Mumbai, has won the advertising account of Tata Tetley. This move was confirmed by Vivek Mathur, vice-president (marketing), Tata Tea, who refused to be drawn into a discussion on the same. The Tata Tetley account was with Rediffusion DY&R earlier. Post the realignment, Saatchi & Saatchi will be the custodian of two tea brand from the Tatas - Gemini and Tetley - and one coffee brand, Mr Bean. A multi agency pitch did not precede the move. agencyfaqs! was told the business was awarded to the agency "on the basis of the work it has been doing on Gemini and Mr Bean". The size of the business, however, could not be ascertained.

With Rediffusion out of the picture, the Tata Tea brands will be split among four advertising agencies - Saatchi & Saatchi (Tata Tetley and Gemini), McCann-Erickson (Chakra Gold), Publicis (Agni/Kanan Devan) and Vaishnavi (Tata Tea).

Tata Tetley is Tata Tea's premium tea brand. For the record, Tetley Tea, inventor of the teabag and maker of the traditional English cuppa, was bought over by Tata Tea of India in February 2000. The £271 million deal was perhaps the biggest acquisition in Indian corporate history.

While the company has tied up with a few southern retail majors to promote Tata Tetley, on the brand-building front, there hasn't been much action till now. The realignment may be a signal that things won't be the same again. And Tata Tetley needs to aggressive if only to keep competition at bay. In any case, Hindustan Lever currently leads the pack in the packet tea segment (estimated to be 2.2 lakh tonnes by ORG) with a market share of 30 per cent with brands like Brooke Bond Red Label, Taj Mahal, 3 Roses, A1 and Taaza. Now with the entry of Godrej in the tea market (with Noble House and Chai House brands), competition is only going to get tougher in the Rs 4,000-crore Indian branded tea industry. © 2003 agencyfaqs!