"Our consumers are part of India's 'migratory' population": Deepika Tewari, Tanishq

Tanishq recently won many a heart with what people are referring to as its 'Dadi commercial'. The objective of the campaign was multi-fold: to reiterate the fact that Tanishq offers wedding jewellery for different communities, to urge families to step out of their comfort zone - read: the friendly family jeweller - and give Tanishq a shot, and to bust the myth that Tanishq caters only to North Indian tastes.

As Arun Iyer, national creative director, Lowe Lintas + Partners, the brain behind Tanishq's ads, puts it, "When people visit jewellery stores, there's a pre-conceived notion about the origin of the jewellery, with the North Indian make being top-of-mind..."

Of course, we spoke to the lady who doles out creative briefs to Iyer and his team - Deepika Tewari, general manager, marketing, jewellery division, Titan Company, parent company of Tanishq.

Before joining Titan around two years back, Tewari spent over 12 years with Ogilvy. "It's not as simple as saying it is the other side of the fence," she says about her move from the 'agency side' to the 'client side' of things, "There is a lot more to it. It's a lot more business. I learnt the creative part in O&M and I am learning about business here."

Edited Excerpts.

Edited Excerpts

The task of the campaign was to let people know that Tanishq has once again launched wedding jewellery for nine different communities. We first launched the regional bride campaign in 2012.

We have always spoken to the modern, progressive woman. Weddings, however, are the most traditional events. The most modern woman will wear traditional jewellery during her wedding. And we have seen that sometimes the older generation is more open and progressive while the younger generation gets caught up in the rituals.

What we have shown in the film is what actually happens - families collectively decide on the wedding jewellery... everybody has a point of view. Our TG has become more inclusive; maybe brides' parents and family members will find this campaign endearing.

Of late, we have seen a lot of openness to Kundan and Polki jewellery. Maybe, it'll be five to six years before we see it as a trend, but we're certainly seeing a change now.

We're speaking to every bride - in Mumbai or Delhi, or in places like Rohtak, Raipur, Haldwani and Durgapur. We have done Rs. 100 crore worth of sales in Allahabad.

Women from tier II and tier III cities are accepting our products. In fact, for any brand today, that is where all the spending is happening.

Today, an intercommunity marriage is as openly welcome in small towns as it in the metros. Consumers there are so aspirational... they have more desires, they have many more occasions to celebrate and hence, more occasions to wear jewellery. It's far easier to connect with them. Besides, their spending power is high; they don't pay the kind of rent we pay in Mumbai and Delhi!

But come to think of it... ours is a 'migratory' population. For example, what will you call the core population of Bengaluru? Our consumers are largely part of this migratory population of India.

We are Tata. That's like a halo around brand Tanishq. We are the ones who brought the language of trust and purity into the industry. People who buy from competing brands often come to our showrooms to get the products tested by our Karat Meter. We introduced Karat testing by doing it right in front of your eyes. We do the gold-melting in front of your eyes.

There will come a time when they will move on from their family jewellers. In fact, that's how branded jewellery has come about. That's how we have gained customers in the first place.

And as the younger generation starts playing a bigger role in the decisions that go into their own weddings, they will come to brands like ours.

Iva is for people looking for fine fashion jewellery... Iva is occasion-based wear for the fashionable socialite. Inara is more for weddings, receptions and formal occasions.

Mia is targeted exclusively at the working woman. The design, marketing, promotion, distribution - everything about Mia is set around the life of a working woman. For instance, we do not advertise Mia when they cannot afford it, that is, towards the end of the month.

For Mia, we see growth in online sales, as compared to our other brands.

We advertise gold during Diwali time. In July-August people have a little more money, after paying their taxes, so we advertise our diamonds at that time.

We have been talking to them through e-commerce, especially about categories like solitaires.