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returned from the moon, they
TATA SALT
brought back some pieces of rock
with them, which were found to be
common salt. After all, building
brands out of common things is
what innovation is all about. In
- Satarupa Sen Bhattacharya
reality, anything which has merit
to it and can consistently deliver
I was stunned at first by the results of my research, and then rather impressed-
value is capable of being branded.”
my mom, whose food I was constantly screwing my nose up at, had actually
As far as appeal is concerned, the
something in common with the cook at the National Defence Ministry's canteen Tata name in itself went a long way
stores and even with the chef at the best restaurant in town. They all used Tata in creating trust. In Mr. Sohoni’s
words, “to begin with, we had the
Salt! Jokes apart, there's reason enough to be impressed. Not by my mother
huge advantage of the Tata brand.
perhaps, but by a brand that has held on to an undisputed position of market
All qualities that the Tata name
leadership for over two decades since it was launched and has an enviable market conveys to people— trust,
share of 41% in the national branded salt segment (ORG-MARG, March 2004). simplicity, quality, mutual respect,
loyalty— are ingrained in salt.
Not only is this share the highest in the market but is ahead of the nearest
Besides, salt is something that cuts
competitor by a factor of close to two! Tata Salt is also the only Indian brand to
across sections of society; no one
make it to the list of the 10 Most Trusted Brands as per The Economic Times can say, ‘I will not buy salt this
Brand Equity Survey for two consecutive years. month.’ So when you buy a brand
and discover that it delivers
distinctively better taste and
History the local store, how did the concept
quality, and consistently so every
In 1979, Tata Chemicals Ltd. of branded salt create an appeal?
month, you develop a certain
founded a salt works at its In fact, how did the idea of
affinity for it. This gets consolidated
Mithapur complex in Gujarat as branding something as common
over time. That is how you generate
part of its inorganic
a huge brand loyalty.”
chemicals complex. It all
began when the company
Brand Positioning:
installed a process to
At a time when people
generate fresh water (for its
were only used to buying
soda ash plant in
loose salt and there was not
Mithapur) by evaporating
a second player in the
sea brine in steam-heated
market, the packaging in
vacuum evaporators. This
itself turned out to be a
resulted in the production
point of marketing
of pure, sterilised salt as a
communication. Another
by-product. Four years
crucial aspect was the
later, in 1983, the company Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Satish Sohoni with the
manufacturing process, as
launched Tata Salt as a range of Tata Salt Products
highlighted in all TV
brand—the first branded,
commercials. As described
high-quality product in the salt and seemingly ubiquitous as salt
earlier, the salt was obtained
segment in the country. occur in the first place? As Chief
through vacuum evaporation,
Operating Officer, Food and
which meant that not only was it
Creating Brand Awareness Additives Business at Tata
completely free from all impurities,
For millions of Indian Chemicals Ltd., Mr. Satish Sohoni
but also had a uniform, fine
housewives, who had been used to very aptly puts it, “If you recollect,
crystalline structure that made it
buying loose unbranded salt from when Neil Armstrong and his team

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naturally free-flowing—a quality share. Mr. Sohoni, however, Tata Salt has a business process in
rare in solar refined salt. This also admits that there is intense place by which it tracks consumer
made it uniformly salty. Then there competition where pricing is feedback on a regular basis. All
was the USP in the form of concerned. Many of the new complaints and feedback from
iodisation: at a time when UNICEF players have a whole range of customers are logged in through
and the Government of India were products and many are priced an intranet system and action is
both promoting the intake of lower than the Tata brand. But taken on every report received.
iodine for health what ensures the There are also specific exercises
reasons, iodised continued with the consumer to gauge his
salt instantly popularity of the reactions and understand his
struck a chord in brand and its unmet needs or levels of
people’s minds. sustained control dissatisfaction. This is an ongoing
Salt was after all over the market exercise conducted through
the most easily share is the surveys, panel discussions,
available dietary guarantee of focussed group discussions and
instrument quality. As the market observation.
through which former said, “What
you could ensure we do is deliver a Advertising and Change in
the consumption consistent promise positioning
of iodine. Thus the of quality and Being the pioneer brand in a
trio of purity and people know field also connotes that you have
uniformity of texture, taste and that—they know that when they to build awareness from scratch,
iodisation formed the launch pad pay Rs.8, they probably get and that is where advertising has
for the brand. Then there was the something worth Rs.10. More such an important role to play.
valuable prefix in the form of the importantly, there has been no Tata Salt also relied heavily on
Tata name. Thus emerged the change in this performance over advertising to create awareness of
positioning statement: “Namak ho the decades of our existence.” its product superiority to begin
Tata ka, Tata namak.” This turned with. Till its entry in the market,
out to be an alliterative mnemonic Continuous Improvements salt carried little added
that went a long way in boosting in Quality significance for the consumer. The
brand recall values. Yet another factor that has kept moment iodine, texture, purity etc.
Tata Salt at the pinnacle of the came into the picture, there was the
Competition market is perhaps its philosophy onus of awareness generation. It
The 1990s witnessed the entry of of striving towards continuous was a comprehensive media-mix
a number of players in the market. betterment. Forget deterioration, that was chosen for this, without
Some, such as Captain Cook the company does not even any exceptions.
positioned their brands on the concentrate on maintenance of With the aspect of purity and
premise of texture (free-flow), quality: at Tata, improvement is value for money firmly established
while others like Annapurna the only mantra. “If we have and a consequent capture of
positioned it on the health benefits attained a particular level of mindshare, the Tata brand began
that iodine brings. However, Tata quality X at a given cost, our aim to perceive a need to review its
Salt’s claims on these factors were is always to try and make that 2X marketing and communication
by then firmly established, and its without substantially altering strategy sometime around the
quality entrenched in the minds of cost.” This is achieved through middle of 2002. Though still ahead
consumers so that they no longer clear direction from the top and of its competitors by a substantial
perceived these claims by the constant involvement and margin, differences were
competitors as major commitment of the team working becoming less pronounced. A new
differentiators. Thus there was no on it. And of course there is the agency, Bates India, was called in
major dent in terms of market element of consumer feedback.

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to work on advertising. Consumer Integration with the Tata commendable exercise of social
research at this time revealed that Philosophy responsibility has always been a
the nation was deeply As an extension of the Desh ka Tata way of life and is one of the
disillusioned with the erosion of Namak campaign was started the major reasons that the brand
values. Integrity, loyalty and Desh ko Arpan programme in enjoys the wide respect that it does.
nationalism appeared to be the consonance with the Tata
needs of the day, and tapping that philosophy of giving back to Future
emotional requirement, a new society what comes from it. From being the first among
campaign was launched with an Partnering with CRY, the company Food Brands in the country
identifiable and universal theme: decided to contribute 10 paise on (Economic Times Brand Equity
Desh ka namak. The tagline “Maine every package of Tata Salt sold. Survey 2004), and a recipient of the
desh ka namak khaya hai” linked the Funds worth Rs.11million were Superbrand Title in the FMCG
product with loyalty and trust, and garnered through this initiative brands category, where does Tata
went straight to the heart of a and invested in the cause of Salt see itself in the future? “While
people who were grappling with improving the quality of life of the we may be the absolute leaders in
a sense of degenerating values. girl child by ensuring access to the branded salt segment, the latter
Each commercial was a tribute to basic education, nutrition etc. As in itself is a very small proportion
the integrity and honesty of the revealed by Mr. Sohoni, Tata Salt of the total market for edible salt,”
millions of common Indians points out Ms. Daphne Nair,
who connected Marketing manager, Tata
instantaneously with the Salt. Thus the aim is not only
values of the brand. It was as if to retain core users but also
the purity of the salt was to broaden the base of
reflected by the character of the consumers. Global expansion
end-user. The advertisements is also being explored. It is
were very aptly started on also looking at addressing
August 14, 2002 and were new segments. In an initial
eventually rated highly on endeavour towards that, the
parameters of persuasion, company has launched a new
simplicity and ethics. This was product in the table salt
backed by new packaging, segment: the Tata Fine Table
Mithapur Plant, Gujrat
which retained its emphasis on the is now planning to expand this Salt that comes in an attractive
Tata name to reassure the programme beyond academics. Of glass dispenser designed to avoid
customer. the various plans in the pipeline, problems relating to moisture
Along with the national one relates to a programme in seeping. According to Ms. Nair,
campaigns, Tata Salt also has collaboration with the Mumbai the potential target segments
ongoing local sales promotions. Municipal Corporation whereby include flavoured salts, low
These often take unique forms: to poor children in the municipal sodium salts etc. And what about
name one, in the recent Makar schools will be given free coaching competition? “Oh, there is going to
Sankranti kite-flying festival in and in cricket, football or other sports be a tremendous rise,” beams a
around Ahmedabad,, close to two in which they are interested and confident Mr. Sohoni, “but we are
lakh kites were flown in the air show an inclination towards. “We well equipped to face that and are
with the Tata Salt name embossed are not purporting to be the GOI, going to reinforce our positions as
on them. It received immense or Unicef, or any global social leaders in the face of that.” For all
response and appreciation. The organisation,” says Mr. Sohoni, of us saying our prayers before we
brand has also sponsored cooking “neither is this a publicity exercise. partake of some delicious dishes
competitions, organised lucky We are simply doing our little bit seasoned with Tata Salt, we can
draws in various local clubs or for society, something we have only say “Amen!”
organisations or put up stalls at always believed in.” Indeed,
fairs.