Giving that filmy glint to Tanishq jewellery collection

Sriram Sharma

The massive jewellery market in India is driven by purchase of high value, heavy jewellery sets. However, in this category Tanishq was regarded as a mere trinket. Therefore, the task was to establish Tanishq as a serious brand in the jewellery market.

We adopted two different media innovations to promote the brand message.

One of the key objectives of the brand was to promote a range of jewellery, using movies as a platform. One such opportunity came by during the making of a period film Paheli, in which the lead characters were played by Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukherjee.

This range of jewellery was promoted as the ‘Tanishq-Paheli collection’. Jewellery from this collection was actually worn by Rani Mukherjee in the movie. The idea was to use this association with the movie to lend salience to the brand Tanishq.

Premieres in the four leading cities allowed consumers to experience the range the jewellery was displayed in multiplexes. Another display point was the Tanishq outlets, which celebrated Paheli range with special merchandise.

The movie turned out to be a big hit; the cash registers at Tanishq outlets kept pace with the box-office collection of Paheli.  The ‘Tanishq-Paheli’ collection was fully sold out. A sales blip of over 15%, combined with the highest ever score on “Tanishq being a serious jewellery maker”.

The second media vehicle that we adopted for Tanishq with the same mandate was a customised Tanishq contest film on Star Plus. In this film, the protagonists from various K-series serials were shown wearing Tanishq jewellery and the voice-over also had references to the Tanishq brand. Therefore, we picked up the lead female character from the soaps like Kumkum, Bhabhi and Kasauti Zindagi Kii for the Tanishq contest film.

Viewers could SMS answers asked through the contest to a number or log onto the Star website to enter the contest. This contest was also widely promoted on Star Plus.

Further more, entry forms were made available at the Tanishq outlets across the country.  The response was overwhelming and 25 lucky winners were selected and were given exclusive Tanishq jewellery set worth Rs 50,000 each.

The motive behind this exercise was to establish the idea that Tanishq jewellery is uniquely positioned to capture the imagination of modern woman. Tanishq jewellery designs are inspired from the rich Indian heritage and have modern styling.

The jewellery is made of pure gold and diamonds, guaranteed by Tata. It is the best collection of Indian jewellery in the country today - from Kolkata ‘filigiree’ to Rajasthan’s ‘kundan’ to Victorian diamonds to South’s temple and ‘Chettinad’ jewellery.

The profile of the protagonists in the K serials on Star Plus has many similarities with the Tanishq audience. The idea was to make the audience identify with the jewellery brand in an environment that is far more relatable.

(The author is business director, Maxus, Bangalore)

As told to Pritha Mitra  Dasgupta