Tata Steel cracks the door open, extends the brand

The old steel major goes direct-to-customers as it drills its way into the home solutions market

A little over a year since Tata Steel forayed into a new product line, Pravesh steel doors, the company is ramping up its engagement with the sector. As it rolls out a more diversified range of products and gets more aggressive with its advertising and promotions, it is looking to leverage the trust that the Tata brand enjoys to make its mark in the home solutions market.

The company has broken from past convention with this campaign with a digital first approach. No hoardings and minimal advertising in traditional media with a greater emphasis on social media campaigning is how it has been conceptualised by its agency JWT. The strategy is to make customers aware of a branded solution in a largely unorganised category, while using the Tata brand’s legacy and the environmental benefits of steel doors to carve out a premium spot in the market. 

The campaign has been designed such that Tata Steel gets to own this category. Like when you think of copiers, you think of Xerox. “Similarly, when you think of doors, you will think of Pravesh,” says Tata Steel’s vice-president (sales & marketing) Peeyush Gupta.

A doorway to the world

The campaign has been online for a few months now and has been launched in the South and East. It comprises stories about different doors of India, bringing out the symbolism and the idiosyncrasies that govern people’s choices in the category. Instead of making a direct product pitch or talking about the company, the ads use the concept of a door as a gateway into a hidden world to lead customers into the brand.

To do that six explorers are travelling 30,000 kilometres, across 46 cities, to collect stories about the doors of India. Called the Doors of India campaign, it uses stories told by explorers who were chosen through an internal competition that Tata Steel organised. The contest asked participants to hunt down stories behind doors, historical and otherwise, post them on social media and engage with consumers. 

The stories have not stopped pouring in, but many ask what is in it for Tata Steel and how do customers make the connection between the brand and the product? Chances are that when customers think of doors, they will recall the stories and connect with Pravesh and Tata Steel, says the company.

The stories are likely to find an online readership and notch up enough shares and likes for the brand say experts. For example, one of the stories from Amrita Das, who is currently crisscrossing through Kolkata, Jaipur, Shantiniketan and a host of other towns has generated big interest. She stumbled upon the door of the first Chinese restaurant, that’s the Nanking Restaurant in Kolkata’s Chinatown. The front door leading to the restaurant is an odd one; there is a full length gate that leads to a shorter, red door, symbolic of the Chinese culture. 

Another story that has found many followers is that of Rabindranath Bhaskar from Boner Pukur Danga, a village near Shantiniketan, who has carved 2,000 doors till now.  

Going direct to consumer

Tata Steel had launched Pravesh about a year and a half back. But it is now ramping up the roll-out. “We are already selling to 1,500 shops. We will now sell from other shops. We sell Tiscon (rebars) from 5,000 shops,” Gupta said.

Tata Steel is reaching out to the community of home owners, contractors, property owners and decision makers to establish a deeper connect with the brand. The idea for Pravesh emerged from research done by its Innovent team about three-and-a-half years back. Innovent was set up to study and experiment with services and solutions that can lead to higher margins and differentiation. The team met homemakers to understand where Tata Steel could step in and the majority identified doors, indicating that they were looking for safety, longevity and, in semi-urban areas, termite protection.  

However, none wanted to compromise on looks and design of doors, making it clear that they were not buying into an all-steel door. This led to steel doors with a wood grain finish and Pravesh was launched. The doors are also being promoted as an environment friendly alternative, they last longer and  do not lead to the cutting down of trees.

In terms of business, the potential for Pravesh is immense, believes Gupta. “A door is not like a refrigerator or television. A house will have many doors,” explains Gupta. Pravesh is installed like any consumer durable item. Customers get delivery within a day of purchase, an installation team comes by within a few days and fits the door into a metal frame. 

“We want to celebrate this category. A door is an entry point to a city to a person’s house. So, there is a lot of pride associated with the kind of door one has,” Gupta explained. The price of a Pravesh front door is Rs 26,000 and that of interior doors is Rs 20,000. 

A big challenge the company faces is customisation. Gupta says that currently customers can choose between 36 combinations in Pravesh. Colours, embossed panels, customised images; these are among the many variants that the doors offer. But the problem arises when a customer asks for intricate carvings on a door or colour shades beyond Pravesh’s capabilities.  

Doors are a part of Tata Steel’s Home Solutions vertical, which is expected to clock in sales of Rs 1,000 crore this year. In the next three years, the vertical is expected to bring in sales worth Rs 5,000 crore. However, that wouldn’t be from Pravesh alone; Tata Steel says it will launch windows soon and a furniture portfolio is on the horizon.