Inside: Samaara Tea #KadakSoch - a Gujarat based brand's attempt to capture a bigger market pie

Samaara Tea's digital campaign ’Kuch Baatein Kadak Hai’ introduced the brand's focus on the evolution of thoughts in Indian society. We understand if the campaign stands true to its core messaging –Kadak Soch.

‘Kuch baatein, Kadak hai’ by Samaara Tea is a narrative set in office premises where the main lead reaches office late because he was helping his wife, on account of house-help being ill. The campaign progresses to discuss the role of women as 'home-makers'.

Campaign
Insight

The inception of the campaign is based on the central thought of breaking gender stereotypes with a conversation that is “Kadak” or “Strong”. This helps the audience realize the unintentional social gender roles which have been created and followed but need to be revisited. 

The video targets the young and educated people who are considered to be decision-makers.

Brief & Objective

Samaara wanted to position itself as a strong tea in the market, establishing the fact that when you think of a Kadak chai, you should think of Samaara. Also, the brand wanted to bring in the digital millennial audience on their website and motivate them to buy the tea.

Gemius Design Studio worked on these two ideas together and planned on a campaign accordingly.

The objective behind the campaign was to adopt an emotional yet take a quirky approach with the gender disparity topic. Samaara Tea hoped to tackle an age-old tradition with a contemporary approach, connecting it with its product tagline, #KadakHai.

Also Read: Inside: RBL Bank’s #RahoCyberSafe & awareness first digital strategy

Making of ‘Kadak Soch’

The brand team informs that they have been exploring several ideas on the campaign front and this is their first video series on the #KadakHai concept. 

“We developed around 8-10 campaign ideas and have shortlisted around 3-4 ideas which we will be producing in the longer run. The ideation of the campaign took us around 15-20 days and the story was set in office premises so we had to scout the location and artists to get the right execution done, especially during this lockdown,” informs Dheer Shah, CEO, Samaara Tea.

The strategists and cinematographers came up with their ideas and sketched a campaign brief which was then brainstormed upon by the team and the final screenplay was decided. After approvals, Gemius Design Studio did digital scouting of artists - asked them to audition and based on their selfie camera performance, finalized artists from Surat itself.

On a similar note, the brand stakeholders and creative team at Gemius worked through several digital communications to bring out this idea of the campaign.

Saurabh Pacheriwal, Captain, Gemius Design Studio shares, “It was a very interesting experience for us. For a few days, the situations were better in our city so a couple of meetings also happened but it became difficult to continue meeting so we shifted back to digital calls.”

Video production under lockdown

Pacheriwal highlights that there were multiple pre-production meetings to finalize the exact order of production. The video was produced at two offices in Surat - in the same building. The conference shot is staged in a different office and the desk area is in a different one.

“We started at 7 AM in the morning and the shoot took us around 8-9 hours, considering the slow pace while taking precautions for the crew and artists. Post-production required the final dubbing and editing of the clips. Dubbing happened in a sound recording studio for which the artists had to come to the studio,” he adds.

The editing was done by a lean team of only one editor who was guided digitally for the edit. The music and voice over were produced and shared with the editor in advance so as to get the right result, faster.

The editing, music production, dubbing, everything was completed in a period of 4-5 days and the campaign was rolled out in a total turnaround time of under 30 days.

“Remote working is absolutely the new normal and it is getting more difficult, every day, to get the creativity intact. Continuous communication and exchange of information is surely the key to ensure we have a smooth functioning.,”  asserts Pacheriwal.

Social
Media Play

The campaign aimed at reaching maximum Indian households in India and across the globe through digital mediums such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

“Samaara is a digital-first D2C brand and we have had a clear idea of amplifying the reach and results on digital platforms. With the campaign being launched completely digitally, we are using mediums like digital ads, influencer marketing and the use of various social media handles to gain traction,” says Shah.

The build-up for the launch was filled with teasers around Kadak Hai, Kadak soch and kadak baatein.

The brand claims that the campaign reached to over 1 million people. Samaara Tea is relatively new on social media and is catching up on trends, hopping onto the topical wave, and spinning some moment marketing creatives while also engaging in fun brand conversations.

Communication strategy

Samaara Tea has started with social media management by utilizing creative ideas into designs to cater to focus around it’s USP - which is strong aroma tea. Along with social media, PR activations were initiated for the campaign to gain mileage.

“We have also targeted to reach out to
the correct audience using digital ads and focused on advertising Samaara Tea
as a Kadak cup of tea. Small gifs have been shared that talks about various Kadak
moments in a person’s life,” adds Shah.

Changing marketing strategy

Shah informs us that the marketing mix consists of digital at the moment; the brand has been engaging with influencers and media professionals for a better reach in the industry. “In the longer run, we intend to also look at offline marketing but only when things get better around us,” he adds.

While the campaign shines a light on the slow but gradual change taking place in the Indian households, we speak to the industry experts to know their views on the campaign execution and core thought.

Experts Take:

Kishor Shembekar, Creative Director, Mirum India

Yes, it is a progressive thought. Especially during the lockdown where working people have realized the serious efforts required in managing domestic chores. And effectively, how it is essential to help the spouse or other family members at home.

The film captures this emotion very well and to the point. Though the execution could have been better, such an inspiring and new age thought will help the brand to create an impact on the overall. I believe the concept will help to connect with consumers better than just talking only about product attributes.

It is an
intelligent mix of emotions and product value!

Shayondeep
Pal, Chief Creative Officer, Network Advertising 

The articulation is nice and holds promise. But the execution pulls down the creative. It's a classic case of how an interesting idea runs the risk of being handled poorly – bad acting, amateurish lighting, and overall an AV-ish feel.

There's a minuscule number of people who can do justice to films where performance is key. Unfortunately, these people charge a premium and agencies because of tightening client budgets take to alternatives. It's a 'catch 22' cycle in the creative eco-system.