Tata Tea Kanan Devan takes users on a tour to their tea-plantations

Brand

Tata Tea Kanan Devan

Agency

Maxus I GroupM Bangalore

Tata Tea Kanan Devan launched season 2 of their national photography challenge – Photography Escapade2.

Objective

The objective of the campaign was to make a 32-year-old heritage tea brand more relevant to a set of newer, more digital savvy audiences.

Execution

To be recognized as the cup of tea that makes for magical moments and conversations, Tata Tea Kanan Devan decided to bring the story of its origins to the audience – the magic of the Kanan Devan Hills in Munnar, Kerala.

Through The Photography Escapade, audience was able to experience the plantations, the tea leaves and the people behind their cup of tea through the lens of India’s best budding photographers. Over two seasons, what started out as a means to show the audience the tales of its origin, has grown to become a property that the brand is recognized for by the newer set of audiences. Thereby linking the brand to its story, simply.

The process to apply was simple. Participants could head over to the Photography Escapade microsite and upload up to three photographs with a caption and a story behind each click. Once the call for entries closed on 22 July 2016, the jury shortlisted 10 photographers to be a part of a memorable four day and three-night trip to the Kanan Devan Hills Plantations in Munnar.

At Munnar, Amit Rane, a director and masterclass mentor with decades of experience in landscape and wildlife photography guided the 10 winners to witness the Kanan Devan Hills in all its monsoon glory. With access to private tea estates and perfect vantage points for the best shots, the tour helped them broaden their understanding of photography. In the process, they also learnt about the process of tea making, the people and the landscapes that make Kanan Devan Tea stand out from the rest.

The contestants learnt a great deal about framing, micro and macro photography, all with Amit lending a keen ear for questions as they travelled the hills. To make space for more technologically advanced means of photography, this year saw the use of drone air photography in Munnar.

Relevant collaborations with native content partners and paid media promotions (Mumbai_igers, ScoopWhoop and the likes) gave the campaign an incredible boost for its second season. The partnership spread word of the challenge to photography groups and enthusiasts nationwide, thereby enhancing the quality of imagery that was submitted substantially.

In a first for a brand in this category, Kanan DevanTea decided to launch a limited-edition tea pack featuring the winning photograph by Prabhu Prakash. Thus seamlessly bringing together the offline and online audiences while keeping them hooked for season 3 of the Photography Escapade.

Results

Season 2 of The Photography Escapade 2 saw double the amount of entries than season 1. The brand’s social media following across platforms has grown manifold. The campaign also helped grow the goodwill ambassadors for the brand by 10 more passionate photographers who fell in love with the origins of Kanan Devan Tea.

1,161,077 people reached, 9, 42, 751 impressions created and 35,000 fans gained. With 6 promoted posts the brand received over 60K Likes, 169 comments and 622 shares. Their page activities resulted in over 700 visits to website from Facebook.

More than 450 users participated of which 186 came in through the Wild Card Entry. The campaign generated more than 1714 conversations.

132,246 users reached and over 10,000 likes and numerous comments on promoted content which saw an immediate influx of good quality entries. 101 followers in less than a month.