Taj Mahal Tea is the market leader in the 15,000,000 Kg Indian Premium leaf tea market. This four decades old brand is constantly evolving to keep up with the changing times. The Taj Mahal Tea brand, whose estimate worth is Rs 200 crore, has so far had a consistent promotional strategy which placed the brand in the top league. But with the competition catching up in the form of Tata Tetley and the fear of young consumers moving away from the brand is causing a concern to the brand owners. The brand has already undergone four makeovers and a change of brand ambassador.
The month of July '03 saw the relaunch of Taj Mahal Tea with a new baseline and world class packaging. The new makeover comes after a change in the communication strategy in 2002-03. Taj Mahal Tea was positioned by HLL as the best tea. This " hazaron me ek" tea was promoted using the baseline "Wah Taj" and endorsed by the tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain.
The brand was consistent in using the same promotional strategy and the baseline. But in 2003 the much popular baseline was changed to "Sabse Khas Taj Ehsas" from the famous and simple "Wah Taj". 2006 saw the brand going back to the same famous positioning "Wah Wah Taj" with an additional "Wah".
The recent television commercials feature recent heart-throb Saif Ali Khan endorsing the brand. Taj Mahal Tea has been using the Tabla Maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain as its brand ambassador from the early 1990's.
Since Ustad Zakir Hussain was only endorsing this brand, the recall quotient was very high. In the modern advertising era, the brand ambassador has become synonymous with the brand.
Ustad Zakir Hussain and Taj Mahal Tea were cited as the best example of a successful celebrity endorsement. The collaboration with the brand and the ambassador went so far that Ustad Zakir Hussain once challenged in a television commercial in 2001 that he will stop playing the tabla if he come across a better tea. Needless to say, the television created lot of controversy.
In the year 2007 Taj Mahal Tea appointed Saif Ali Khan as the new brand ambassador. Despite of repeated questions from the members of the press, the spokesperson of the Hindustan Lever Limited has not cited any reasons for changing the brand ambassador.
Many trade pundits have been heard commenting that appointing Saif Ali Khan may be an attempt to make the brand more contemporary. Ustad Zakir Hussain and his fans are getting older. Hence there is a chance that the new generation may miss out on the charm of Ustad Zakir Hussain due to the increasing relationship gap.
So the change in the brand ambassador is an attempt to make the brand relevant to the new generation. Hindustan Lever Limited does not want this to happen with a power brand like Taj Mahal Tea.
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