REPORT ON

Tetley in Pakistan

COURSE TITLE:

ADVERTISING & BRAND MANAGEMENT

COURSE INSTRUCTOR:

DR. M.A.K Chisty

GROUP MEMBERS :

Hira Mughal 7246

Huda Naseem Khan 10604

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

All goodness belongs to Allah who creates human beings as the greatest

creature. It is really a state of honor for us to write down this page.

We also owe a debt of gratitude to our esteemed teacher Mr. Dr. M.A.K Chisty

who is a beacon of light and bastion of strength for us all in bringing out this report. He

always has been a source of motivation.

We hope that the report we try to make will afford information, pleasure, and

enjoyment to the readers and they will show a deep sense of appreciation for our effort.

At the end, it is hoped that short comings, errors, and mistakes, which, if they exist

are purely accidental and would be pardoned.

Tetley Tea History

Tetley Tea maintains a tradition of quality begun over 160 years ago in England. At the

beginning of the 19th century, brothers Joseph and Edward Tetley founded Joseph

Tetley & Co. in 1837, after successfully selling tea off the back of their pack horse for

several years. In 1856, they moved the company to London—then the center of the

world’s tea trade. They eventually parted, and Joseph unveiled the newly named

"Joseph Tetley & Co., Wholesale Tea Dealers."

In 1871, Tetley took his son Joseph "Junior" into partnership. Business flourished and

the company extended its services to include blending and packing. By 1888, the

company was ready to take its next major step-an agreement with American agents to

distribute Tetley’s teas throughout the United States.

The Tetley Family Tree

Tetley USA is owned by The Tetley Group, an overseas subsidiary of Tata Tea. The

group is in the worldwide branded and packaged tea business, and Tetley is the

second-largest teabag brand in the world.

The Tetley Group has its headquarters in Greenford, West London. It has commercial

operations in Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Poland and the U.S., tea-buying

operations in Kenya and Malawi and joint ventures in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The

manufacturing facility is located at Eaglescliffe, near Darlington, in the northeast of

England. The group was acquired by the Tata Group in 2000.

The Tata Group is one of India’s oldest, largest and most respected business

conglomerates. The group’s businesses are spread over seven business sectors. It

comprises 96 companies, operates on six continents and employs 350,000 people. The

business operations of the Tata Group currently encompass seven business sectors:

communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy,

consumer products and chemicals.

Tetley Expertise

Tetley purchases millions of pounds of tea each week for our different blends of tea.

These teas come from as many as 35 different countries and as many as 10,000

different estates. Tetley selects only the finest tea leaves to produce our exceptional

quality blends.

Tetley tea tasters, who are responsible for buying and blending our teas, taste up to

1,000 different teas per day to determine their suitability. Our team of buyers and

blenders are acknowledged as one of the most expert in the world, with over 80 years of

experience between them.

Tetley & the Tea Bag

Though sales of tea in tea bags accounted for only 5% of Tetley’s sales by the 1930s,

the company accurately pegged them as the future of tea commerce. War interrupted

immediate production plans, but the foundation was laid for the launch of the Tetley Tea

Bag in Britain in 1953.

Tetley continued to innovate with the introduction of the round tea bag to the U.S. in

1992, that literally changed the shape of the market. Tetley further revolutionized the

industry with the unveiling of the first drawstring tea bag, in 1997. Designed to squeeze

every possible drop of flavor into every cup, Tetley drawstring tea bags have become a

favorite with lovers of hot tea.

About Tetley:

Tetley a fully own subsidiary of Tata tea limited, is the world’s second largest

manufacturer and distributor tea. Owned by India’s Tata Group Tetley’s manufacturing

and distribution business is spread across 40 countries and sells over 60 branded tea

bags. It is the largest tea company in the United Kingdom and Canada and the second

largest in United States by volume.

After Tetley purchase b y Tata Group in 2000, most of its business in Asia has been

integrated with Tata Tea, but in Pakistan The Lakson group, with interests in tobacco

and consumer goods, deal with Tetley Tea and not directly with Tata Tea company.

Company Mission:

To make the world a better place through life-enhancing sustainable hydration.

Vision Statement:

To become the leading ‘good for you’ beverage company.

Value:

Our company values add up to something unique that gives a sense of

responsible irreverence in all that we do.

Tetley in Pakistan:

Brands often witness the start of their journey coming to a standstill when they fail to

facilitate the cultural aspects and norms of a society no matter how successful they

have been in ages in their own country. What happened with Tetley in Pakistan is an

interesting story, it failed to do well despite it’s established existence in the UK since

1837.

Even in UK tea is preferred more over coffee which caters to a different cultural set.

Similarly, tea is more of a South Asian concept, it is consumed in a totally different

manner as compared to the UK market, that is why flavoured tea doesn’t strike us well

into it’s consumption, the cultural phenomenon cannot be ignored, orange tea or

strawberry tea and that too a hot beverage cannot relate to the Pakistani market.

For any brand to be known well awareness needs to be created when it is launched

while the key to success is based upon three important factors:

     Differentiation

     Doing something with an Impact

     Creating publicity / Advertisement

Tetley Comparison with Lipton & Tapal:

At the end of the day perception matters a lot, if the perceived positioning is tainted the

brand image would have a negative impact. Tetley internationally has a trendy

positioning, that comprised of innovation and younger, upbeat and lively brand. On the

other hand, Lipton had been targeting the youth with their tea bags which is also going

through a shift to target house wives and offices. Supreme had been successful

because of it’s cultural association while Lipton too had been doing well till is associated

with Basant, the rule of a good brand is to bring itself down to a local level to talk and

relate to the ultimate consumers. This is the reason why Tapal has always been

successful, its execution and ideas are quite local.

Tetley and its Animated Characters:

‘Creative without strategy is called Art. Creative with strategy is called

Advertising.’

Tetley had a brand building activity through it’s animated characters known as ‘Experts

in Branding’, the tea folks have names as well, what Commander Safeguard is to the

target audience here in Pakistan, Gaafa and folks are to the tea target audience in UK.,

the association of these three characters has done wonders in striking a conversation

among the consumers. Perhaps, this animation would work well in Pakistan as well, if

the idea is skeptical let’s wait to see the target audience of Commander

Safeguard/Safeguard grow up to accept Tetley’s animated ads. Tapal Safari tea is the

only brand here that uses animation. 

Why Tetley Failed in Pakistan:

“THE CAT IS ON THE MAT,” is not the story.

“THE CAT IS ON THE DOG’S MAT,” now that’s the story.

What Tetley failed to show was their core differentiation built upon heritage, their

culture, positioning and innovation (tea bag).  With the concept of the celebration of tea

time coming from England the brand has a good range of products coupled with good

marketing through international campaigns that they could have capitalized upon but in

vain.

The concept of tea in Pakistan is a very interesting one which makes one wonder about

what could possibly happen if tea was to vanish away just for one day, let the

imagination run wild to think about what could happen and marketing would accost a

new story altogether, we are a dedicated tea consuming nation.

Tetley TVC:

Tetley's ads in Pakistan with that of their international campaign, it has been

a disastrous story mostly ... One of the first few ads had a jingle which says: "Pehlay

aankhon sey pee, saansoun sey phir pee, hontoun sey jo pee tou jannat milee!". Looks

like this ad was getting people right to their graves and finally the Hereafter but a good

end towards heaven altogether, however, these words are pretty lame. Tetley deviated

from their international campaign taglines that could have worked well locally as well,

everything was as blue as Nestle Everyday, hence, giving a feel of this particular brand.

At that point in time, Everyday was also playing their jingle, Lipton had their Hadiqa and

Ali Haider campaign, Supreme was airing "Teen ka Kamaal". Eventually Tetley let go of

it's 'heritage concept' and jumped on to the stuff that everybody else was doing, they

had included a lot of 'Me Too" ideology in their TVC and in others later on, therefore, the

focus was lost while letting go off differentiation. In a nut shell they didn't do what a new

entrant was supposed to do in the market and they also didn't talk about their history

that could have left an impact on the target audience and engaged them in with the

story. 

An attempt at suicide followed and it was very successful at killing the brand. Four

months after it's launch in Pakistan, Tetley introduced a consumer promotion and that

too for every pack they sold. Whether it was about competitive

advertising targeting Brooke Bond Supreme or Tauqir Haider shown in the market place

comparing other brands, the idea was the same ... to highlight the brand as a cheap one

coupled with odd strategies, at the same time 'Apnapunn vs. Soutailapunn' was much

highlighted upon. While every brand had increased price because of an increase of

import duty, Tetley spoke highly about price reduction but later on they also increased

their prices. The brand was head on with it's challenger strategies while the leaders

were not bothered to respond because they didn't feel threatened or bothered by as

small a brand as Tetley was considered.

Ramzan offer including two Tang sachets with Tetley was evident of the fact that people

would buy it because of Tang since cold beverages have high sales in this particular

month, in totality it was a combination of a hot beverage with a cold one.

Reason for Failure in Pakistan:

Not doing an analysis of the market to identify what could have been applicable,

Failure to do a SWOT analysis,

Not creating a brand identity,

Not talking about their heritage and strong presence since 1837 which is

something to own.

Conclusion:

As mentioned, what works in other cultures doesn't necessarily mean it would have

worked over here as well.  Tetley's soft pack didn't work in Pakistan because people

prefer to let it remain in the package and have it as a reusable thing while, compared to

the UK market where the concept of tea jars prevails. Thus, hard packs were the need

for our market.

Tetley’s 'Draw Strings' tea bags are an energizer for the brand, however, were not

commercially viable in Pakistan and had to be taken off the market.

The brand also focuses on its 'Ethical Tea Partnership' which emphasizes upon the

need for a responsible tea industry and shunning down tainted ethics. For instance, a

wrong practice often includes child labor obviously but other than that, including stems

to be worth discarding. Fair practice is a strong belief for Tetley.