Tanishq - All that glitters...

As a brand, Tanishq has been perceived as the modern, almost cosmetic jewellery brand, but somehow not right for traditional family occasions or weddings. Tanishq decided to set this right in 2010.

As a brand, Tanishq has been perceived as the modern, almost cosmetic jewellery brand, but somehow not right for traditional family occasions or weddings. Tanishq decided to set this right in 2010. The brand focused on diamond jewellery in the first half of 2010. According to Sirish Chandrashekar, senior manager, marketing, Tanishq, weddings contribute to 50 per cent of any jeweller's sales, and hence, the focus this year was on the key wedding months in India.

The Tanishq team profiled nine key communities in India, including Punjabis, Malayalis, Tamilians and Assamese - wedding jewellery is community specific. March and April witnessed the 'reluctant bride' campaign, conceptualised by Lowe Bangalore, which aimed at establishing the brand in the wedding jewellery segment, an area that has traditionally been ruled by family jewellers. The job was to position the brand as a catalyst in decision making. The TVC told the tale of a mother, who uses Tanishq's range of wedding jewellery to persuade her 'modern' daughter to see herself as a bride. It, consequently, makes the daughter agree to an arranged marriage proposal.

This TVC served two purposes. It not only pitch forked Tanishq up and put it at par with traditional jewellers for wedding occasions but also had Tanishq pushing its diamond jewellery range for an occasion such as marriage, usually dominated by gold. The campaign increased the emotional quotient amidst consumers, apart from leading to a sharp increase in brand recall from March-June. There was also a print campaign that was rolled out which was more community/region specific.

In August, Tanishq rolled out its Glam-Gold collection in collaboration with the World Gold Council. If the task was to get Tanishq to make inroads with its diamond collection in the gold-dominated wedding space in April, the job in August was the exact opposite - to get gold among the consideration set of buyers for party occasions, or in the fashion space. Gold is considered traditional, boring and unfashionable, something for the oldies. This perception had to be changed, and gold had to be seen as 'cool' and aspirational.

There stepped in the 'Sacrifice' ad that showed a lady clad in gold jewellery, visiting the book launch party of her author friend. Soon, more people get attracted to her friend and wish to interact with her. Seeing someone else as the centre of attention, the author feels lost at her own party. Observing this from a distance, her friend fakes a headache and makes a hasty exit from the party, along with her husband. On the way back home, the husband asks her why she lied about the headache. She responds that it was a better option to ruining someone's evening. The man smiles in appreciation of his wife's magnanimity. The ad ends with the voiceover: 'Beautiful gold for beautiful people'.

Apart from this commercial, Tanishq rolled out its 'Queen of Diamonds' contest (in its second year) which had a quiz format and winners were selected through a lucky draw. Diamonds worth Rs 5 crore were given out as a part of this exercise, and there were 4500 winners across 119 stores in 76 Indian towns.

By attempting to be both traditional and contemporary, Tanishq tried to prove that it had an equity strong enough to stretch from one end to the other, from the 'Mangalsutra' to the 'Diamond necklace'.

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