Wagh Bakri creates photo-based anthem for its centennial campaign

Ahmedabad headquartered Wagh Bakri Chai, a subsidiary of Gujarat Tea Processors And Packers Limited, has released a campaign to celebrate its 100th anniversary. As per Euromonitor estimates, the packaged tea market in India stood at around Rs 13,000 crore in 2019 and Wagh Bakri Chai is the third largest player in the category.

Tata Global Beverages and Hindustan Unilever (HUL) dominate the market but Wagh Bakri is a dominant player in the country's western parts. On the shelves, Wagh Bakri tussles it out with Brooke Bond, Taj Mahal, Tata Tea Premium, Tata Tea Gold, Tata Tea Agni Dust and several other brands. Close to 65-70 per cent of the sales, according to a Technopack report, is routed through the kirana stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets.

Wagh Bakri, which reportedly spends over Rs 100 crore in marketing, has given the creative mandate to Scarecrow M&C Saatchi. A TVC, a Celebratory Anthem, and a "Timeless Calendar" constitute the centenary campaign. The Wagh Bakri Tea Group, which started operations in 1919 from a tea depot, has come a long way and is now available in multiple blends, variants and formats. "Since inception, the brand believes in bringing people closer and in creating relationships. Scarecrow intends to capture the same in the three-piece campaign, in a unique way," says Manish Bhatt, founder director, Scarecrow M&C Saatchi.

In the 'Two Cups of Togetherness TVC', the brand is seen bringing people together and creating relationships. To highlight the same, Scarecrow created a TVC with a montage of ‘Two Cups’. "We bought images shot by Mukul Raut, who has been clicking two cup shots for a long time now. About 130 of them were used to create the film," informs Bhatt.

Along with the TVC, there is a 100-year anthem too. "The purpose of the anthem is to capture Wagh Bakri's 100-year journey in India," says Bhatt. The three-minute song has been composed by Akshat Parikh and Divya Limbasia, and sung by Arun Kamath. The lyrics of the song musically weave in the brand’s positioning line, ‘Hamesha Rishtey Banaye’. "It describes how Wagh Bakri has been creating relations for 100 years. The brand’s tea making process is intertwined with the emotions of its consumers, and the anthem details how they have reached global heights and marked Gujarat on the world map," asserts Bhatt.

With several other 100-year campaigns being released all the time, it was important to create one that "stands out", says Bhatt. "A 100-year campaign does not always mean chopper shots or big spends, the idea does not come with a price tag. The idea needs to show that there is love and affection behind it and has been executed with a lot of effort. It also needs to travel. This is the approach we took," he says.

To conclude the campaign, Scarecrow created a 'Timeless Calendar', which intends to signify that even after a century of bringing people closer, the brand will continue to do so for many more centuries to come.