CASE STUDY

BROOKE BOND
 BROOKE BOND CASE STUDY

CREATE A PHYSICAL MARKETING ASSET OF VALUE TO BUILD

EQUITY FOR BROOKE BOND TAJ MAHAL TEA
India has romanced tea ever since its first tea plantations came up on the misty banks of the Brahmaputra in the 1830s. Tea
has enchanted and energized the young and old alike for centuries, with its flavor, colour, aroma and uplifting emotion. And
the journey of tea from bush to cup continues to be an inspiring story.
Around a third of all tea consumption in India occurs outside of home, largely at ubiquitous chai-tapri stalls. However,
unlike coffee, the opportunity of a premium caf like model for tea has not been explored at scale in India until very recently.
While Hindustan Unilever has specific blends and pack sizes that cater to chai stall owners, it has not hitherto made an
attempt to create a retail caf business model for tea in India.
This case takes a look at one of Indias oldest and leading tea brands - Brooke Bond Taj Mahal - in its attempt to set out on a
new journey to offer a premium tea consumption experience out of home. Apart from the primary objective of creating a
new revenue stream, strengthening the Taj brand equity is a key task.

PREMIUM TEA CAF IN INDIA:

AN EMERGING CONSUMER MEGA-TREND
a. Urban consumers with high disposable incomes are rediscovering the magic of tea again today. Tea Walks (now
popular in major cities), the entry of premium fruit infusions and the rediscovery of Indian chai concoctions such as
masala chai and Kahwa in premium formats are indicators of this trend.
b. There are a number of specialty tea selling outlets such as San-Cha, teabox websites and stalls at food retail chains like
Godrej Natures basket and Hyper Market stores as well as on e-commerce. Consumers today are more inclined to
experiment with tea than in the past, and are willing to pay more for unique experiences.
c. The consumer segment frequenting cafs in India is mainly in the age group of 18-35 years. This is the primary
workforce of the country, with higher disposable incomes, fast-paced lives, and inherently more comfortable with the
idea of grabbing a quick lunch, dinner, or beverage. Specialist coffee shops are frequented for both work and pleasure by
consumers, as these outlets are generally better designed in terms of ambience.
d. The unorganised tea shops segment is large in India. These outlets are tiny stalls, at the corner of roads. Indians love tea,
and consume it much more often than coffee, especially in the northern, eastern and western parts of the country.
However, organised consumer foodservice outlet-style tea shops are negligible in India. A few brands such as Infinitea
Tea Room in Bangalore, Lloyds Tea House in Chennai, Cha Bar in Delhi are some of the well-known tea shops in the
country. However, organised tea shops continue to be niche in India.

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL ENVIRONMENT AROUND ORGANIZED

TEA CAFES
Over the past few years, a host of entrepreneurs have attempted to recast
the caf model for tea, fundamentally offering something in between a
CCD like hang-out cafe model to a full fledged tea lounge.
Most notable amongst these attempts has been Chaayos, which currently
reports around 40 outlets across the country with a turnover of ~15 crore
(FY16). An overview of some of these startups is in the below article -
http://www.livemint.com/Industry/llSMHjYamyubSRH1nU4QAP/Are-
organized-tea-chains-here-to-stay.html
 BROOKE BOND CASE STUDY

THE BROOKE BOND TAJ MAHAL TEA HOUSE OVERVIEW

(Further Details in Appendix)
The Taj Mahal Tea House is an oasis of calm. Situated in the heart of
Mumbai, it naturally exudes a contrasting aura of tranquillity. It is a place
where voices are not raised, but spoken in soft tones. For example, one
would never find a customers name being screamed across the room.
The quaint bungalow retains the old world look, has a meandering feel and
is essentially a wind-me-down place. The language of tea is intrinsically
woven into the space in various rooms, and allows for browsing through
interesting constituents and takes one back in time. Each room has a
different expression and the arrangements are home style.

THERE ARE ESSENTIALLY 3 KEY PILLARS THAT WENT INTO THE

CONCEPTION OF THE TAJ MAHAL TEA HOUSE:
1. The finest set of teas: Taj Mahal tea has always stood for excellence and rigour in crafting some of
the best tea blends in the Indian packaged tea segment. The major focus of the menu is
quintessentially Indian teas put together with an interesting juxtaposition of spices and natural
ingredients from all over the country.
There is also a retail section where people can pick up some of these specially handcrafted
teas.
2. Tea & food pairings: The food menu has been created by Gregory Bazire, a French Chef
based in India and it has been designed to complement the teas. The Taj Mahal Tea House
has an all-day tea-pairing menu with an appealing melange of flavours, right from breakfast
to high tea.
3. Indian classical music: With a legacy of supporting classical music and musicians, it is a
place that encourages the exploration of classical music. The Taj Mahal Tea House carries a
physical space for classical musicians to showcase their work to cohesive and select
groups in the music room of the tea house which adorns Ustad Zakir Hussains tabla and
Niladri Kumars sitar for inspiration. It has also been envisioned as a place where budding
musicians could be given a platform to showcase their talent.
What The Taj Tea House is What it is not
We do not subscribe to the loud, We are a place of discovery and refinement.
American-style coffee house culture.
We are not a quick takeaway outlet. It is place of inspiration where people can take their time.
Ordering is never express. Ordering is well-measured in both time and selection.
The server will not engage the customer in The server will have intimate knowledge about the product
a superficial show of comradeship. and the art of tea-making. And shall dispense information
when the customer seeks it.
The decor is never bright or loud. It is not meant to The ambience is designed to radiate calm. It must be a
attract. But reveal itself in layers, much like the parallel world that stands apart from the hustle-bustle
tea itself. of the city.
An important consideration related to the tea house is the trade-off between quality and business viability. Since the place is
a physical manifestation of the Taj Mahal Tea brand it has a very high standard to meet in terms of ambience, quality of food,
service and of course exquisite tea. By design, the concept and vision of the Taj Mahal Tea House as outlined earlier, in its
entirety, is hard to replicate similarly across multiple markets - it is not a Starbucks (See annexure for more details)
 BROOKE BOND CASE STUDY

MARKETING ACTIVATIONS AT THE TEA HOUSE:

In line with the Tea Houses vision as a home for classical music in Mumbai, classical music performances are held quite
frequently. Classical music, although declining in cultural relevance is core to the Taj Mahal Tea brand equity. Hindustani and
Carnatic classical music and musicians are generally revered, they are associated with refinement, practice and cultural
sensibility which are all intrinsic values associated with Taj Mahal teas brand ethos. These concerts are recorded and
uploaded on YouTube in an attempt to bring scale to these activations which are otherwise physically attended only by a few
dozen people.
Watch performance videos (Tea House sessions) here - https://www.youtube.com/user/TajMahalTea
A particularly large marketing investment made was in holding a 14 hour long concert (dawn to dusk) at the Tea house in
celebration of Tajs 50th anniversary. The event was recorded and uploaded on Youtube garnering over 2 million cumulative
views and kicked of Darbar-E-Taj, intended as an online storehouse of classical music captured at and around the Taj Tea
House -https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVsYD602MhemHuTxshG7TkQ
The smaller events are cost efficient, and can be done at high frequency through the year but lack scale. Large concerts with
big names incur much higher costs but lend significantly more scale.
In addition to classical music, there are special tea launch events as well as various photo ops, tea sommelier sessions,
blogger meets etc. that happen at the Tea House quite frequently. These initiatives have earned a significant amount of Press
coverage and social media traction.
The Taj Tea House is present on social media and follows a Marketing without Money model. Paid advertising (outside of
the 14 hour concert) has not been done for the tea house and it has grown organically so far through word of mouth and PR
coverage alone.

IMPACT OF THE TEA HOUSE ON BRAND TAJ MAHAL TEA

One of the key reasons for the existence of the Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea House is to improve salience, brand associations
around premiumness and indulgence, and build Brand Love for Taj Mahal tea. In that sense, it is both a business capital
expenditure as well as a brand marketing investment. Hence, its ROI should be justified as an aggregation of both the profit
it yields from operations, as well as the marketing gains that accrue from its presence and activation. A well activated tea
house saves advertising money that would have otherwise been incurred.
For instance, in Mumbai, there have been significant gains in spontaneous
awareness as well as trials for the Taj Mahal packet tea business, a significantly
larger business at ~400 crore annual topline nationally (chart on the left
compares scores between consumers aware and those not aware of Taj Mahal
Tea House. Spont is unaided recall of brand Taj Mahal Tea, Total awareness is
aided brand recall and trials indicates % age of sample that has ever tried Taj Mahal
packet tea).
Also, in the first year of launch, the tea house has generated around 75 lacs worth
of free PR coverage across digital and print media which has spilled over
nationally.

CASE STUDY OBJECTIVE

Outline a plan for leveraging the Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea house concept to create a sustainable physical marketing asset
for Taj Mahal Tea.
Ideas on a Page questions
Marketing Asset vs New Revenue Model - The Brooke Bond Taj Mahal tea house concept aims to do both. How do you
plan to deliver these objectives?
What is activated consumer insight with respect to the OOH opportunity? How will you grow the Taj Tea house presence
(more outlets / more footfalls), who would your customers be and what will you do to make the tea house relevant for them?
Touch upon your proposed business model and potential revenue streams.
Building Brand Equity for Taj Mahal Tea How will you tie in your marketing plans for and at the Tea house to deliver value
for the Taj Mahal tea brand at scale?
 BROOKE BOND CASE STUDY

ANNEXURE 1
BROOKE BOND TAJ MAHAL TEA HISTORY
In the year 1966, in a tea taster's chamber in Kolkata, Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea was born. India's first premium tea brand, it
emerged onto the market with a promise never made before - fostering excellence in tea blending and taste.
In the years that followed, Brooke Bond Taj Mahal entered Indian hearts as one of the
country's most loved indigenous brands. The most remembered phase in the brand's
history came in the 1980s - with the signing on as brand ambassador of Zakir Hussain,
the then rising star of Indian Classical Music, he personified the brand's values. And
just as he foreswore all appreciation by saying 'Arre huzoor, wah Taj boliye!' Taj Mahal
too could live up to it by delivering to India a 'hazaaron mein ek' experience.
This promise has been upheld by the time-tested principle of combining the finest
traditions of tea making with the latest innovations in technology. This principle is
based on three unshakeable pillars selection of only the finest tea leaves from the best
tea gardens, blending the leaves for the perfect combination of strength and flavour,
and quality assurance to ensure the tea stays fresh when it reaches you.
Over the past three decades, the brand has continued to build upon now entrenched advertising codes of Indian classical
music and musicians, exquisite opulent settings and romancing the product in a reverent way, including the current
advertising campaign featuring Santoor maestro Rahul Sharma seated upon a Shikara in the majestic setting of Srinagars
Dal Lake (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPjLgVT2NQI).

BRAND TAJ MAHAL TEA 6PS

Proposition Indias finest quality Assam CTC tea, a taste so sublime you exclaim Wah Taj. An individualistic indulgence
of the very sophisticated.
Product Highest quality Assam Leaf Tea blend, available in packet as well as tea bag formats.
Pack Primarily sold in 250g, 500g and 1kg vaccum packaged cartons. Unique packaging codes in the tea category (only
major brand to not feature a cup of tea clich on the pack). Royal blue encasement of golden logo with the Taj Mahal
monument are key branding elements. Available in small pack sizes as well in Andhra Pradesh.
Price At a premium of 1.5x average category price. Most expensive CTC leaf tea sold in India at scale.
Place Sold across Modern and Traditional trade channels across the country, distributed in 30% of tea retailing outlets and
overindexed in Metros and Tier 1 and 2 cities of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Western UP, MP and J&K.
Promotion Always on air TV advertising.
The route of growth for Taj Mahal packaged tea is to bring about the consequence of premiumisation in the tea category by
inspiring consumers of current popular teas to move up and discover a more refined, indulgent tea drinking experience.
 BROOKE BOND CASE STUDY

ANNEXURE - BUSINESS PERFORMANCE OF THE BROOKE BOND

TAJ MAHAL TEA HOUSE AND SCALE
After a quick ramp up post launch, the number of monthly visitors has plateaued and sales have established a baseline of
around 25 lacs a month.

In terms of business, the key challenges the tea house faces are high rentals and operational costs. These have led to an
annualized negative operating profit. The tea house in Mumbai is a full service kitchen model with a large staff and hence
incurs high maintenance and raw material costs.
Structurally, the tea house has also incurred high fixed costs of dcor, design and kitchen set up. The classical music
performance area and state-of-the-art recording and sound systems also added high costs of set up and maintenance.
Hence each tea house set up will incorporate a high fixed cost as well as continuingly high operational costs if the structure
is the same as the one currently in Mumbai.

ANNEXURE CAF MARKET IN INDIA

INR bn 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Cafs 356.7 378.0 401.5 433.7 478.0 527.2
- Chained Cafs 6.2 5.1 3.3 3.6 4.0 4.4
- Independent Cafs 350.5 372.9 398.2 430.1 474.0 522.8
Juice/Smoothie Bars 13.2 14.5 16.2 18.0 20.2 22.8
- Chained Juice/Smoothie Bars 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.9
- Independent Juice/Smoothie Bars 12.6 13.8 15.5 17.2 19.3 21.8
Specialist Coffee Shops 13.1 13.6 15.2 17.0 18.9 21.5
- Chained Specialist Coffee Shops 12.5 12.9 14.3 16.0 17.7 20.1
- Independent Specialist Coffee Shops 0.6 0.7 0.9 1.0 1.2 1.4
Source: Euromonitor International from official statistics, trade associations, trade press, company research, trade interviews, trade sources
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Shares in Chained Cafs/Bars: % Foodservice Value 2013-2016

% value Global Brand Owner 2013 2014 2015 2016

Caf Coffee Day Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd. - 48.0 41.2 38.6
Coffee Day Xpress Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Co. Ltd. 6.6 5.8 5.1 4.4
Starbucks Starbucks Corp. 2.3 3.2 3.7 3.8
Costa Coffee Whitbread Plc. 3.8 3.6 2.9 3.3
Barista Coffee Co Lavazza SpA, Luigi 3.3 3.1 2.5 3.2
Source: Euromonitor International from official statistics, trade associations, trade press, company research, trade interviews, trade sources

BROOKE BOND TAJ MAHAL TEA HOUSE COVERAGE