ITC sharpens the classroom pitch with sustainability and personalisation

The conglomerate looks to win over the young and build its credentials among a new band of consumers

Notebooks made of recycled paper, becoming more environmentally aware of the impact of its business and a campaign that seeks to dial down the stress and peer pressure among students are some of the steps being taken by ITC to keep its Classmate brand of stationery relevant among a young set of consumers. Faced with an environmentally and socially engaged group of young students and parents who are vocal advocates of their beliefs on social media, the cigarettes-to-consumer goods major is looking to build an identity that addresses the concerns of the target group and is more in step with the times.

“The notebook market is very vast and it is important to keep engaging with consumers and create excitement,” says Shailendra Tyagi, CEO of ITC’s Education and Stationery Products business. He points to a new campaign that Classmate has launched and the efforts underway to make greater use of recycled material as examples of how the brand has adapted to the changing needs of its customers.

According to company officials, the objective is to keep the brand young, and to that end, it has to build an identity that is more than the product it sells. The campaign currently running on television and digital platforms is an attempt to understand the pressures students face in the classroom today. The ‘Be Better than Yourself’ media campaign is urges students to focus on individual ambitions and not succumb to peer pressure, the company said.

The ITC Classmate brand-building efforts appear to be aligned with that of several others targeting the parents-children combine as consumers. For instance, two popular energy drinks, Horlicks and Bournvita, have had recent campaigns that marked a sharp swing away from the past—- earlier, where exams were treated as key events and competition was valorised, the new-age mantra is busting stress among children.

Tyagi points out that the campaign tries to take children and parents away from the accepted practice of comparing them with others in the group, be it in terms of marks or on the sports field. “In an achievement-oriented society like ours, they are conditioned to perceive their peers as competition. The campaign wants to change this approach and advocates that children set personal values and ambitions ahead of the competition; and to be judged only on their own metrics, not anyone else's,” he says.

The young are also keen seekers of customisation and personalisation in the brands they consume, point out several research reports. And in keeping with such findings, everyone, from auto majors to apparel and food brands, have sought to highlight the individual over the community in the products being developed and in their communication initiatives. ITC is trying to do the same with its portfolio, bringing in greater variety to the notebooks in terms of size, binding methods and covers. “We allow customisation, customers can choose the size of a notebook, between spiral and centre-staple option, the type (ruled or plain) of pages and even can have the family or pictures of the users choice on the cover,” says Tyagi.

He says that the branding efforts at Classmate are also driven by the insight that this is one category that connects the brand with the consumer for long hours. In a way, the category not only introduces many to the brand for the first time but also provides the company with an invaluable opportunity to bring them on board as long-term loyalists.

For ITC, the other important part of its branding initiative today is to walk the talk on sustainability and environment. Tyagi says that it is a growing concern and children have become more vocal about it in recent times. He says that the company recently held one of its routine marketing initiatives at a school, a drawing competition, where nearly 80 per cent of the students chose to paint on issues related to the environment. No brand can afford to ignore the message being sent out by consumers. So, Classmate recently launched a pen which was made of bamboo as pilot, besides bringing out notebooks made with recycled paper, said Tyagi.

As going green comes at a price, the company would need to move up the price-value chart if it is to continue on the same path. Tyagi says that today technology has brought down the cost of undertaking such initiatives. For example, the bamboo pen costs Rs 10 a piece, which equal to any normal pen, but,  “having said that customers are ready to pay extra amount for value,” he adds.

ITC is also looking to break deeper into the rural market where per capita consumption is still low. However, these markets are price sensitive and the company has been careful to watch its baseline for this segment. It’s all about innovation, says Tyagi, whose company spends nearly five per cent of its revenue on R&D and branding.

The stationery market is estimated at Rs 150 billion in India annually and nearly 70 per cent of the market is unorganised. Of the total stationery market, note book is estimated to be around Rs 75 billion and growing at 5-6 per cent despite the fact the notebook as a category is fighting against digitisation in the higher secondary classes and colleges.

Classmate claims it has around 20 per cent market share in the notebook category, which accounts for nearly 98 per cent of the brand's revenue. The company has 15 per cent of the stationary market.