Why did Tata Salt revive its ‘80s jingle for the 2024 IPL campaign?

Nostalgia is powerful, but is it when most viewers have never heard the jingle?

Tata Salt’s ad campaign for the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) was quite the googly. Most viewers assumed the iodised salt brand had created a new jingle, only to realise it had revived an old tune from the 1980s.

“Our intention was not to relaunch the jingle,” states Deepika Bhan, president, packaged foods, Tata Consumer Products. She says they wanted to up the connection many have with Tata Salt and build salience while at it.

Launched 41 years ago in 1983, Tata Salt is one of the most common brands found in Indian households. It competes with brands such as Aashirvaad Salt, Puro, and Catch.

Its sub-brands are Tata Salt Immuno, Tata Salt Lite, Tata Salt SuperLite, Tata Rock Salt, Tata Black Salt, Tata Salt Crystal, I-Shakti, Tata Salt Vitamin Shakti+, and Tata Salt Iron Health.

In its Q3F24 report, parent Tata Consumer Products said salt revenue grew 6% during the quarter and saw its highest-ever quarterly volume market share in Q3FY24.

From a marketing perspective, Tata Salt has seen three major positionings in the last few decades. There was Namak ho Tata ka, Tata Namak in the 1980s. Come 2002, it moved to Desh ka Namak, and more recently, it’s Desh ki sehat, Desh ka namak.

“We were perfectly aware that the audience will watch these ads, and for them, that nostalgia will not be there,” admits Anurag Agnihotri, chief creative officer (west), Ogilvy. The WPP-owned advertising agency is behind this ad campaign.

He questions how it matters if the jingle is old or not; what should matter is it is doing its intended job. 

And what is the job? Ensure present consumers remember Tata Salt is a deeply penetrated brand and that they buy it every time, says Bhan. “The objective of any campaign is to sell more. In my view, ‘marketing is in the service of business growth’” she remarks.

What about the viewer? Most folks who watch cricket on television, stream connected TVs or consume content on their smartphones are young.

Instead of having a few of these young viewers make the connection to the jingle’s origin while others do not, would a clean break with a new tune not make better sense?

“Large brands are more about archaeology than creation,” quips Bhan. She says the team knew a bit of tweak to the old jingle was needed so a new tune was added to it to make it suitable for today’s viewers.

“We were very clear we would build a high-frequency campaign,” she states.

“Tata Salt is a TV brand. We will play across media, but where we are in our penetration, we cannot survive in this country without television,” admits Bhan. However, she adds that the brand is experimenting and so present on CTV too.

Performance marketing is not on the cards because Tata Salt, she says, is a nationally penetrated brand so brand building works best.

The ad one sees on screens is often not the first idea pitched to a client. Tata Salt’s IPL spots are no different. Agnihotri reveals two such ideas.

One was to partner with creator and artiste Yashraj Mukhate to create a jingle, and the second was to make people quickly repeat Tata Salt because it could sound interesting. “There were many ideas around and not around a jingle using the name Tata Salt.”

The jingle presents itself in the everyday life of consumers, and interestingly, out of 11 ads, there is a not single shot inside a kitchen – the homebase for any salt brand.

“It is good it's not there,” remarks Agnihotri. He nods to Tata Salt’s Desh Ka Namak positioning and the imagery it evokes of everybody across the country using it. “We wanted to elevate it from the shackles of the kitchen.”

Along with this clean exit, Bhan says the ads wanted to show the lighter side of the brand and the team was having fun with the brand.

When asked if the brand will use other legacy assets, Bhan was clear, “… As we look at brand growth, we won’t hesitate to use anything that has worked in the past.”