3. 1. Introduction
Tata Steel, a company synonymous to values – trust, transparency and total
Community Care announced the launch of a corporate campaign “Values Stronger than
Steel (VSTS)” in 2011.
The campaign presents the company’s very own achievers who have paved their
own way to success and recognition like R&D Chief- Mark Denys, the Head of Tata
Steel Adventure Foundation – Bachendri Pal, the young talent in Archery- Deepika
Kumari, empowered members of the Tejaswini Project like Asha Hansda amongst
others. Everyone has a story to tell and they are the brand ambassadors for the
campaign.
There are a total of 10 creatives for Print Ads which have been produced in ten
different languages (English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Telugu, Oriya,
Gujarati, and Bengali). Each of the 10 creative ads depict real-life heroes which the
company has chosen from around the company’s birthplace here — each trying to
depict one focus area of the steel major’s future thrust.
2. History
‘TATA Steel” is a 105 year old steel company. TATA is the eighth most-valuable
Indian brand and also has been listed as World's most ethical companies. The “Values
Stronger than Steel” is a major ad campaign launched by the company after 1991. In
2011 the company decided to go to people with a new tagline, burying the two-decade
old tagline which says “We Also Make Steel”.
3. Objective
The campaign aimed at reaching out to the Indian citizen to reinforce the image of
the company as cutting edge, global steel major which is dedicated towards social &
economic sustainability, green-technology and community empowerment. The core of
the campaign is to showcase the organization’s involvement and commitment beyond
steel making, while embodying it’s overarching “value system”.
4. Components of the Advertisement
This particular ad showcases the company’s commitment in developing and bringing
up the future leaders. The ad also portrays Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to
climb Mt. Everest and her relation with TATA Steel and their value system.
4.1 The Message
The message is the vital component of this advertisement. The company decided to
convey the main message through sentences. Left hand half of the ad is a colorful
portrait of Bachendri Pal and right half contains the message. The message is quite long.
So to make it interesting, the creators chose a contradictory title which says “WHY
Page 2 of 5
4. WOULD WE ENCOURAGE THIS LADY TO MAKE PEOPLE BREATHLESS?”. This is a
contradictory and a vague question which would stimulate the reader to read the lines
that follow. In the body of the message the creator tried to answer the question by
relating it to the main objective of the advertisement i.e., the company’s commitment
towards nurturing future leaders along with making steel.
The body was divided into several lines, each independently answers the question.
Every sentence of the body started with a “because” which gives a sense to the reader
that every line directly answers the question. This also created a synergy and rhyming
in the message. The message is broken into shorter sentences which are easier to read.
The sentences of the message are written in such a way that even by reading one line,
the reader gets stimulated to read the whole message.
The first three lines speak about the lady (on the left)’s relation with the company’s
leadership training camps, the company’s beliefs in making indestructible leaders and
what it takes to climb a mountain. The later lines speak of how important developing
tomorrow’s leaders is to the company. They also try to convey that this is not just a
policy but something deeper. The final sentence says “Because however strong our steel
may be, our values remain stronger.” Thus the message finally arrives at the new tagline
of the company. The message is followed by logo of TATA Steel and the new tagline.
4.2 The Endorser(s)
The endorser of this ad is neither a celebrity nor a very famous person but is a part of
the company. The company intentionally selected its employees to be endorsers of this
campaign because this is a campaign to promote the company’s culture and values. This
way the company wants to show that their people (employees) are their real heroes. As
this is a campaign to promote the value system of the company, the choice of endorsers
is very apt. Not always using celebrities will help. This is one such instance. The
company’s campaign is focused on the human resources and their position in the
company. So ads endorsed by its own employees create an image in people that the
company really values its people.
4.2 Segmentation & Targeting
The campaign is not targeted at selling any product or service in particular to the
viewer. The objective of the ad is brand positioning and re-positioning. The ad depicts
how the company values its human resources more than its products. The ad is mainly
targeted towards professionals and educated class. Along with the brand building and
repositioning the ad campaign mainly focuses on the company’s human resources and
its commitment towards it. The campaign mainly portrays the roles and success stories
of different employees in the company. So the targeted segment is young talent who are
looking for a meritocratic place to work where everyone has an equal opportunity to
grow.
Page 3 of 5
5. 4.3 Mode of Arousal
The advertisement focuses on cognitive arousal of the motives of the individual and
enhances the image of the company. This ad campaign assures to satisfy the Social
(affection, friendship and belonging) and Egoistic (prestige, status and self-esteem)
needs in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The ad is achieving them through the success
stories of the employees portrayed in a professional way. The choice of words and the
tagline clearly shows that the company wants to position (or re-position) its brand
image deeper into people’s minds.
4.4 Perception
The brand TATA already has a great position in minds of Indians. Through this ad the
company aimed at its brand re-positioning and taking the relation to a whole new level.
The company through this campaign tried to register in people’s mind that TATA is a
metaphor for values and people. The campaign used both women and men equally as
brand ambassadors to show that the company values gender equality. The company
through this campaign also tried to create a perception that TATA Steel the best place to
work and it is the place where your talent is nurtured and a place where everyone is
given equal opportunity to grow and become future leaders. The ad is also targeted to
create a perception that TATA is more than just a company.
4.5 Visual appeal
There is lot of empty space in the ad area. This is done purposefully to highlight the
central message of the advertisement. The background color of plain white is also
selected for the same purpose of highlighting the main message. Colors are mostly
confined to the left, where there is a portrait of the lady. Below the picture are her name
and her designation in the company. Her expression and her body language show that
she’s firm and confident. Behind her there’s a mountain. The picture looks like if painted
on a canvas rather than a photograph. The painted strokes impart a great formal look to
the advertisement. The fonts used are formal and professional as the content of the ad is
about the values of the company. As the message is bit long, the creator made sure that
the spacing between the sentences is enough so that the reader can easily navigate
through the ad. At the end of the message there is TATA Steel logo in blue color and the
tagline followed. There is also a TATA logo on the top corner of the advertisement. In
the right half of the ad both logos are the only elements with color. When one sees the
ad, the bright blue logos attract the readers. The name TATA by itself carries a great
brand value in India. So the creator leveraged the brand value and popularity of the
TATA name to attract the viewers at first glance. Moreover the dominant color in the ad
is blue which reflects love, authority, dignity and honesty.
Page 4 of 5
6. 5. The Tagline
The tagline “values stronger than steel” by itself is very powerful and catchy. The
tagline shows the company’s commitment to ethics and values. It reflects the main
function of the company and goes a step further and speaks about the company’s
priority of the “value system”. Half success of the campaign can be attributed to the
tagline.
6. Conclusion
TATA, one of the most valued Indian brands has been thriving restlessly to maintain
the brand value it has achieved all these years. Through this campaign the company
tried to advertise a soft and intangible asset of the company i.e., its values. Unlike
popular ways of advertising the company tried a new and totally apt way to advertise.
The ads may not appeal to all but would definitely appeal to the targeted segment i.e.,
young talent and working class. Using employees as endorsers is an innovative move to
showcase the values of the company.
Page 5 of 5
