Pakistan’s milk industry is one of the biggest in the world, valued at approximately $11 billion (Source: Nielsen Pakistan 2014), of which branded milk accounts for only 12% of the overall market. In such circumstances, no surprises that Dalda Foods recently launched their tea whitener Dalda CupShup, in a bid to increase the company’s product portfolio and leverage this untapped market potential.

Within the branded milk category, liquid tea whitener accounts for over 50% of the market, with full fortified dairy milk, flavoured milk, powdered milk and dairy beverages accounting for the rest.

According to Hatif Yousuf, Assistant Brand Manager, Dalda Foods, “the tea whitener category has grown by 35% in the last five years, the highest in any dairy segment.”

In his view, the reason for this growth is due to the fact that liquid tea whiteners are a cheaper alternative to both packaged and loose milk. Currently, the category is led by Tarang (they introduced the liquid whitener category in 2007) and which has a 60% market share, followed by TeaMax, with approximately 25%; Chaika, Nestlé EveryDay and others account for the rest.

Yousuf says that the long term vision for Dalda is to become a foods company with a wide range of products, not just limited to oil and ghee. He adds that given that 88% of the milk category is unbranded and “up for grabs”; tea whiteners were the most viable option for Dalda, especially as the company provides raw vegetable fat (a primary constituent of tea whiteners and other dairy products) to companies like Engro and IFFCO (manufacturers of Tarang and London Dairy respectively).

Furthermore, Pakistan has one of the highest per capita tea consumption in the world (one kilogramme compared to the global average of 0.75 kilogramme per capita, according to the Maverick Pakistanis Beverage Consumption Report, 2014) and therefore in Yousuf’s words... “Hamara toh engine hee chai say chalta hai!”

Dalda CupShup targets SEC C, D and E, which Yousuf says constitute the “largest segments of our population and are also the largest number of tea consumers.”

The brand was launched with three SKUs (125ml for Rs 10, 200ml for Rs 16 and 250ml for Rs 20), with the objective to cater to the majority of households as a 250ml pack can make up to eight to nine cups (a 125ml makes up to four cups on average). The aim was to provide convenience by introducing packs that could be consumed in one go instead.

The marketing strategy, says Yousuf had to connect to this audience and stand out from the rest of the tea whitener campaigns. So while Tarang opted for a flashy ‘larger than life’ image with Lollywood and entertainment at its core and TeaMax went in for a ‘Dabang’ Bollywood style of advertising, Dalda opted for a more personal and ‘real’ image, based on relationships and conversation.

“Even the product name ‘CupShup’ reflects the concept of having gupshup [conversation] over a cup of tea,” points out Yousuf.

The 360-degree launch campaign was developed by IAL Saatchi & Saatchi and focuses on a young couple, featuring Mekaal Zulfiqar and Amina Shaikh, bonding.

According to Nida Haider, Group Brand Strategy Director, IAL, “familiarity as wonderful as it is in a relationship, hammers away the gloss, and injects a sense of being taken for granted. So good tea serves as a conversation starter, where couples can bond and connect.”

She adds that the line: “Rishtoun kay rang dheemay hojatay hain” [the spark wears off] is an invitation to bring something new into your life (or a new tea whitener).”

Although it can be argued that the idea of couples bonding has been extensively explored by Nestlé’s EveryDay, Haider points out that while EveryDay’s protagonist is a self-assured woman in control of her surroundings, CupShup’s protagonist is a “real woman who has her flaws, can get frustrated and take it out on her husband.”

Regarding the overall marketing strategy, Yousuf emphasises that Dalda has no intention of competing with Tarang or TeaMax; the objective is to target and convert loose milk drinkers, which is why loose milk is shown in the TVC. He adds that milk adulteration is a huge problem, and providing an economical and tastier alternative is much needed.

The media plan, developed by GroupM was aimed to ensure blanket product awareness. ‘Aggressive road blocking’ on TV was done five times, and this involved running the launch TVC on more than 35 channels at the same time. To increase the chances of audiences watching the TVC in its entirety, a 30-second timer was simultaneously run, piquing their interest and increasing the chances of them waiting to see what the timer was about – before breaking the copy.

In the packaging, Yousuf says the objective was to establish Dalda CupShup as a brand of its own, which is why Dalda’s logo takes up less than 20% of the space, with the rest given to CupShup’s branding.

Looking to the future, Yousuf says that the potential for tea whiteners is immense, especially now as people are realising the health issues associated with loose milk, as well as because branded tea whiteners provide consistency in the taste of tea which loose milk does not. Yousuf confirms that a new campaign exploring another aspect of family relationships is in the pipeline and variants are also being planned.