The Tata Customer Insights Group, in association with Tata Business Excellence Group (TBExG), conducted a Masterclass titled “Pathways to premiumisation” December 14, 2015 at Taj Lands End, Mumbai. The Masterclass, which focussed on exploring different aspects of one of the key megatrends ‘Premiumisation’, was specifically organised for Tata companies in the business-to-consumer space with a retail presence. The session was attended by over 55 senior executives from 10 Tata group companies. The key objective of the Masterclass was to highlight the different enablers for premiumisation that Tata companies can leverage.
The session kickstarted with a welcome address by Mr. Garth Viegas, Global Insights Director, Tata Global Beverages, who leads the initiatives on premiumisation in the Tata group. After welcoming the participants, Mr. Viegas threw light on the initiatives pursued on the subject within the group in the last two years. Mr. S Padmanabhan, Executive Chairman, TBExG, then delivered the opening remarks for the session and highlighted how brands like Singapore Airlines, Starbucks, Titan and Tanishq have premiumised all aspects of the consumer experience.
Mr. Harish Bhat, Member, Group Executive Council, then took to the stage to deliver the keynote address. He illustrated the need for businesses to re-imagine the experience that their product/service can provide to the consumer and how essential it was to add the ‘wow’ experiences to be able to charge a premium. The next session was by Mr. Manoj Kulkarni from Nielsen, in association with Ms. Ankura Ranade, Head, Marketing, Unibic Cookies. They discussed the emerging trends in premiumisation and how brands can leverage them in the real battleground - the retail store. Next was a session with Mr. Abhinava Palliwal, VP, American Express, who illustrated how the company has identified key touch points in the consumer experience and created brand differention to be able to command a premium.
Dr. Gopichand Katragadda, Group CTO, Tata Sons, was up next, and through his session, he prompted group companies to identify the optimum technology which would help them leverage mega trends like premiumisation, health & wellness and digitisation. He spoke about how companies like Apple,General Electric and Proctor & Gamble understood needs of their respective target consumers and then identified the technology that could be leveraged to design the consumer experience. Mr. Pankaj Jhunja from Tata Motors then used the Zest model as a case study to showcase how value laddering can be used to create different product variants. The last session of the day was anchored by Mrs. Alpana Parida, President, DY Works, on the use of semiotics in designing premium packaging. Using product samples from the FMCG category, she demonstrated how even minute details on packs can have a major impact on consumer perception.
The Vote of Thanks was delivered by Mr. Sanjeev Singh, AVP, TBExG, who summarised the key takeaways from the Masterclass and stressed the need for Tata group companies to pursue premiumisation in their respective organisations.
Masterclass: A Consumer Excellence Series
Formed under the aegis of Harish Bhat, Member, Group Executive Council, the Tata Customer Insights Group has senior Tata leaders as members. In addition, TBExG, Tata Management Training Centre (TMTC) and the Customer Analytics Group are its partners. The key objective of the initiative is to evangelise Customer Centricity in group companies. Masterclasses are a series of workshops, as part of the Consumer Excellence series conducted by TBExG, which focus on capability building in selected megatrends namely premiumisation, greying consumers, digitisation, working women and health & wellness.