Garam chai ya aromatic coffee. Review on Coffee Commercials vs. Tea Commercials

Long time ago in the wilderness of the Wild West province of erstwhile Bihar, lived a mortal soul, who toiled all day hard and long in his fields only to come home dead tired. But lo and behold to the utter amusement of the others, within moments of retiring to his home, he would come back all charged up. While the others were literally lying half dead on their cots after the toil, our man would come out, mingle with people, shake a leg of two with the village belles, then have the energy to play with the gamely kids. Everyone wanted to unearth the secret of his recharged physical strength. Despite of persistent queries of the amused janta, he would not utter a word about it, so finally a gang of jawaans decided to take matters in their hands. They chalked out a course of action, they would break into his house and search the place to find aakhir isme aisa kya hai jo hum me nahi hai.

They broke into his house and after a lot of rummaging around, they found a box, which contained suspicious looking, black grainy matter. They did not know what to do with it, but still some of the brave souls decided to boil it and see what happens. Well as they say rest is aromatic and fragrant. They gulped it down hungrily and whoa eureka, they found a new flow of freshness and vigor overtaking them. Well rightly someone said *josh dila de hosh uda de, taaza chai sabse tez *. That was just one example of a tea ad for you.

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A gangly bubbly wannabe singer is waiting to audition for a song sequence. Damn shy and nervous she is, not knowing what she is doing there in the first place. Coyly she makes her way to the mike, as the music arranger and hordes of others wait outside the sound proof room, hoping and praying that she does a neat job. What happens next, does our girl do magic and comes out a la Madonna? She starts humming, and wow, rest is rhythmic glory and musical octet and ecstasy. I am sure some of you would be scratching their heads in disbelief, because they would have tried to eek out something close to likeable, but to their dismay every time they even give it a try they are shushed.

So what is the secret of the girl’s mellifluous voice, as she hums ho shuru har din aise ho shuru har pal aise, Nescafe. pa para pa paa paa paa. It talks about the infinite possibilities in a barrier-free world, not just free of narrow domestic walls, but also free from barriers of thought. That’s a sample of one of the ads for a popular coffee brand.

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Every time I watch a tea ad, I am forced to compare it with the coffee ones, and then I wonder why are they so different in their content and presentation, after all both are selling a beverage, right? But is it, that simple, well, think again?

Perceptions of both tea and coffee are very different from each other. It is this varied perceptions that get reflected in the kind of adverts that are made to promote the two. Tea for instance has always had this very mass appeal to it, where it has been thought of as being patronized by the middle classes and the general populace. It has a non glamorous, if I were to say more utilitarian feel to it. In Hindi they would say kuch nahi to chai to chalegi hi. Ever wondered what makes for that kind of perception for tea; the first thing that comes to mind is the habitual patterns of Indians in general. If it is hot it has to be tea, when you have a visitor, the first thing you ask, kya lenge, chai ya thanda? Tea in ways more then one has enjoyed an Indian ness to it, coffee on the other hand has had a more international feel to it. While tea is considered more a part of the Indian psyche, coffee by virtue of its international image enjoys an urban, upper middle class patronage and has a more sophisticated feel.

Stereotypes have also influenced the ads. Tea has always had this rather railway station’s image, we are used to the hawker shouting chai garam chai, ever heard someone shout coffee garam coffee? The name says it all; tea is chai in India but coffee remains coffee, why? It is largely an indicator of the kind of acceptance tea enjoys in our daily lives. Ever wondered why we have a Café Coffee Day or a Barista in all the up market and hep places while we don’t have a single tea bar? Is it that people will not want to have tea if served stylishly a la coffee bar, but it’s just an indicator of the kind of stereotypes associated with it. We have coffee table books, but we don’t have a tea table book, does that mean that only people who drink coffee read books or better sit on chairs and use tables?

Availability of tea was a major factor which made for that kind of perception. As it was more easily available and hence has always enjoyed a status of a more day-to-day basis drink, so much so it becomes a part of our lives. It is only now with the coming of the international players that we have coffee in every nook and corner of our country. Slowly now this is fading to be factor though, but still remains a factor. There are hundreds of tea brands and also the local tea is readily available in every nook and corner, while one can count the number of coffee brands on his fingertips.

Price does matter a 250gms pack of Lipton Taaza costs 43 Rs while the same cost 250 Rs for Nescafe. The price factor is a major thing which makes coffee still a relatively occasion based drink rather then a daily drink. It is this occasional and cost sensitive nature of coffee, which comes out in the kind of adverts.

Breaking out is the name of the game off late. Coffee companies have woken up to the reality that their image hinders their growth, as a suave look would only mean a limited clientele, at the same time tea companies are not liking the predominantly rustic, common parlance feel. That is why we see ads breaking out of the stereotypes in their effort to reposition the brands. So now instead of a person from the south being shown in his traditional attire, a software engineer symbolizing the technology-savvy culture of the south, enters the frame in a tea ad. While a coffee ad shows a drowsy passenger traveling, and how he gets recharged after having coffee. In the latter, however still mark the rich look to the ad, as unlike a tea ad, the passenger is shown traveling upper class. Stereotypes at work, one wonders?

Tea has also had a rather oldies feel to it, which again companies are trying to break out of, that’s why the new ad showing a bunch of college stylishly marketing tea over a game of dumb charade. Coffee ads on the other hand are trying to reach out the masses more, for instance the latest Nescafe ad featuring Amla and Rajeev Khandelwal of Kahi to Hoga fame, showing a match making meeting, which again is a very Indian thing and touches the masses. Also check out the subtle change Nescafe has undergone from the English taste that gets you started on jingle to a very Indian jagao jagao Nescafe pilao jingle. It is a definite indicator to the set of coherent communication components, which Nestle has followed to gradually open-up in India.

We now have tea ads harping on the taste factor which coffee ads had made their own, while coffee ads are moving more towards the refreshment theme a la tea. The redefining and repositioning continues for change is the name of the game. I will try and keep you posted on the changes as and when they happen and if and when I can pick them up.