#Brand Saga Strong women & memorable ads: the Tanishq Advertising Journey

Paying an ode to the eternal shine of the Tanishq advertising journey, this week's Brand Saga tours the unfathomable voyage of its communication spanning over two decades.

Tanishq has managed to become synonymous with the category of luxury jewelry and stands tall in every festive campaign from the house of Titan. #ThrowbackThursday celebrates the Tanishq advertising journey that understood the evolving needs and desires of Indian women.

India’s first jewelry retail brand

Marrying ‘Tan' (body) and 'Nishk' meaning a gold ornament, the then managing director of Tanishq, Xerxes Desai, coined the brand name with an aim to resonate the superior craftsmanship, exclusive designs, and superlative product quality.

Very few might know that the initial journey of the now-famous jewelry giant was a tough one and recorded recurrent losses. Tanishq was initially launched as an export property in 1980. Titan in the 1990s decided to focus on the Indian market. Their flagship store was launched in 1996 and with it, Tanishq became the first jewelry retail brand in India. By 2003, Tanishq was among the top 5 retailers in India and made up 40% of the Titan group's revenue.

The brand started off by rolling out 18K gold watches studded with precious stones and soon grew into a 22K gold jeweler with a blend of traditional values coupled with a modern outlook. Tanishq in 2018 occupied about 4-5 percent of the total jewelry retailing market which is estimated to be around INR 2,50,000 crore.

“Only a few brands are able to master the art of lacing their communication with sharp and hard-hitting content each and every time they decide to talk to the audience and Tanishq is one such example,” shared Deepika Tewari, Associate VP - Marketing, Jewellery Division at Titan Company Limited while defining Tanishq’s advertising journey.

Tanishq is for the progressive-minded Indian and that's not an age criterion but mindset criteria- Deepika Tewari

Tanishq completed its 23 years in India. This is a brand which not just brings the creative forces to work but also makes sure to hit the bull’s eye with their messaging, every single time.

Tanishq's Romance with Print

With the expanding community of loyal customers, Tanishq rolled its sleeves to catch up with some powerful branding activities; in the initial years, it chose traditional medium like print to spread the word. Targeting Upper-middle-class to lower–Upper-class women and consumers who understand uniqueness, elegance, and class, Tanishq went aggressive with magazine and print ads.

Later the brand’s ‘Diamond of Class campaign’ showed the woman of grace, poise, and personal style, promoting Tanishq’s range of diamonds.

It's print advertisements in the later years boasted of its positioning -  Tanishq's ‘consistency in delivering promise combined with offers, discounts, schemes, and brand ambassadors.

Tryst with Television

Looking at the growing competition, Tanishq adopted a 360-degree marketing approach rolling out TVCs for every festival. These festive campaigns were soon to become the brand's USP.

Consumers still recall the commercial where a father coaxes his independent daughter to look for ‘rishtas’ while the mother thinks of a plan to convince her. On entering a Tanishq store, the girl is mesmerized with the adornments, created as a part of the wedding season.

Also Read: Feature: #DuaKaSona – Tanishq’s first attempt at speaking about their Goodness initiative

Until now Tanishq actively focused on the premium urban woman with sophisticated values and choices. Around 2012-2013, it rolled out a scheme called Golden harvest promoting smart, safe and sensible investment in gold.

Touted to develop specialized design collections, Tanishq designed jewelry to suit all forms of attire - western, Indian, casual, formal and occasions. This was also reflected in their campaigns.

Of Women Power, Breaking Stereotypes, and Festivals

Tanishq and Lowe Lintas' collaboration resulted in some great work over the years. The  Remarriage ad in 2013 has been a turning point in the Tanishq advertising Journey.

Tewari highlighted, “In this ad, we brought the whole conversation around gender bias, gender inequality. It was refreshing to see something other than the usual male-bashing or narrating a poor woman's story”.

The ad supporting the LGBT community was also appreciated as the jewelry brand took a progressive stand.

Rivaah ad celebrating the bond between father and daughter gives this enduring relationship an emotional touch.

The Regional Route

The ads in the following years tapped into regional emotions celebrating all types of Indian weddings and saw Tanishq as a coming-of-age brand which embraces and celebrates the idiosyncrasy of various cultures in India.

Tewari believes that the major differentiator that Tanishq holds is how the brand stands for inclusiveness and has ardently strived to celebrate relationships of varied nature. Tanishq was seen as a national jeweler, over decades they took it as a challenge to turn the tables and be seen as a local player, competing with the vast unorganized jewelry segment.

In order to do that the brand tapped into regional emotionalism. Tewari added, “Our campaign’s rationale was created with narratives around regional festivals. The idea was to keep the deeply traditional nuances intact, all the while celebrating the core sentiment that binds Indians”.

Also Read: #20YearsOfTanishq: A walk through the best Tanishq campaigns

Progressive Stance

In their Raksha Bandhan campaign, Tanishq celebrated not just brother-sister bonds but also #sisterhood.

Strong, bold and independent women have always been at the center stage of Tanishq’s advertising for decades. It all banked on the startup rage in that phase.

In 2011, the Tanishq group launched the sub-brand called Mia for working women with the insight that 40% of the Indian women are working. Tanishq has been weaving path-breaking stories and communication under the sub-brand since.

Before the launch of Mia, Tanishq launched a digital contest ‘My Expression' asking women what kind of designs would appeal to them.

'My Expression' received more than 3200 entries, and these attracted 40,000 people to vote online. With Mia by Tanishq, the brand found its way into the wardrobes of working-women who are looking for contemporary designs and office-friendly jewelry.

Later with the rollout of more sub-brands like Rivaah targeting wedding segment, Mirayah to cater to women under their 40'sm and Aveer marketing its entry into men’s fashion, Tanishq’s inclusiveness got wings. The brand maintained the same progressive stance in their respective advertising journey.

The
Celebrity Connection

From Karishma Kapoor to Diya Mirza,  Deepika Padukone,  Asin, Amitabh Bachchan-Jaya Bachchan, Shridevi to Tisca Chopra and Neena Gupta, Tanishq has optimally leveraged the power of celebrities in their advertising.

In May 2015, Tanishq enrolled Deepika Padukone to be the brand's ambassador being a part of several campaigns and making appearances at events around the world, adding pieces from Tanishq’s jewelry collections to her distinctive looks.

For the latest niche campaign on high-end jewelry Ahalya featuring Padukone and Red carpet campaign, the brand used the sharp targeting method for reaching out to the relevant customers.

Hari Krishnan, President, Lowe Lintas shared, “Tanishq is truly a jewel in Lowe Lintas’ portfolio, in more ways than one. Through 23 years of our partnership with the brand, we have traversed a journey that is like no other. During the early part of the brand evolution, the challenge was to win the trust of the consumer because jewelry buying was largely dominated by the traditional family jeweler and there was no concept of a national brand. In the second phase it was about winning the love of the consumer for which the brand had to dig deep and unearth insights about women, beauty and relationships".

He added, "The brand has since then narrated many modern tales of tradition and explored different aspects of relationships, bringing out the beauty and joy of precious moments that are integral to relationships. It’s a kaleidoscope of beautiful memories so  it’s difficult to pick the fondest but the ‘Re-Marriage’ in 2012/13 would rank right up there followed by some of the Diwali campaigns and Diamond/Solitaire campaigns.”

Apart from the medium-specific communication, Tanishq as a brand has expanded its visibility in an offline like making beauty pageant crowns for the Femina Miss India 2007, the Tanishq showroom appeared in Hindi movie - Race, designing jewelry for Hindi movies like Paheli, Jodha Akbar, and Padmavati.

Shining bright on Digital

Digital is the primary discovery platform for Tanishq and one of the first touchpoints for its customers. Tanishq’s digital strategy centers around 3 main pillars - building an aura around the brand, creating consideration for its jewelry, and increasing accessibility for the consumers.

On the completion of 20 years of Tanishq in 2017, the brand invited people to walk down the memory lane and share their most memorable moments. With the help of influencers, Tanishq further asked people to share their Tanishq story using the hashtag #20YearsOfTanishq.

Keeping interactivity and consumer engagement at its core, the brand has been rolling out different contests and activities spread across its social media platforms.  

It is also quite regular with posting occasion-based wishes and spreading festive cheer through digital.

“Our communication on digital rests on simplicity, authenticity, and intimacy. We employ regionally nuanced communication and the latest and the best in technology to interact with them,” stated Tewari.

While Twitter and Facebook have their own eccentric charm, Tanishq’s Instagram is a visual treat boasting of vibrant jewelry collection and specifications.

Tanishq also claims to be one of the first brands in this category to try out shoppable posts on Instagram, Augmented Reality for a virtual try-on feature and, Voice Search on Google.

"The Tanishq brand is very close to our hearts at 22feet Tribal Worldwide. At a time when most mainline focused brands didn’t feel the need for a digital emphasis, Tanishq started a fantastic journey back in 2015," reminisces Vanaja Pillai, Business Head, 22feet Tribal Worldwide(Tanishq's digital agency).

Through that time, Tanishq has leveraged digital beautifully to solve real problems and tap into new digital opportunities. Whether it was creating new reasons to buy jewelry, with the ">Sisterhood and ">Valentines films, or tapping effectively into its existing customer base and look-alike audiences through personalized micro-targeting that impact walk-ins and sales, or educating audiences on choosing the right diamond through our ‘">Heeron Mein Heera!’ campaign, there is always a compelling reason to be on digital.

"Never an afterthought! Add to that the joy of bringing to life the beautiful products on visual-heavy platforms like Instagram, building identities and conversations around sub-brands like Rivaah for wedding, and Aveer for men, there is always a lot to do for Tanishq on digital. All of it in the classic story-telling, an endearing voice that makes this iconic brand. No wonder it continues to be the most searched jewelry brand in the country!" shared Pillai.

Its recent campaign #DuaKaSona highlights the #GoodnessOfTanishq- when you choose Tanishq, you choose gold that is enveloped with the blessings of every life it has touched was highly appreciated on social media.

For 23 years now Tanishq has epitomized consumer trust and quality assurance combined with over the top communication and progressive storytelling, making Tanishq advertising journey a compelling one.