Reinventing Bombay Dyeing

Here's how the Wadia Group brand is looking to secure the millennial's patronage

Few pop stars and fewer businesses have been able to woo new generations of consumers with the same alacrity as American singer Madonna. But that hasn’t stopped them from trying. Wadia Group’s home furnishing brand Bombay Dyeing, often seen by the new customer as a somewhat fuddy-duddy brand, hopes to create a similar magic with a slew of new products, spruced-up communication and a presence in new marketing platforms.

 

This, it hopes, will help its net new consumers, even as it adds value to existing brand loyalists. The move comes on the back of realisation that the brand had a very weak connect with the generation-next consumer. Bombay Dyeing is also hopeful that reaching out to youth who play a major role in a family’s purchase decisions will help the company grow its revenues from Rs 305.7 crore in 2016 to Rs 1,000 crore by 2020. Nagesh Rajanna, chief executive officer, Bombay Dyeing Retail, says, "We have millions of loyal consumers. But with changing market dynamics and consumer preferences, it’s imperative for us to appeal to the millennial to be able to expand our reach and net new buyers."

 

Over the next 18 months, the company will unveil three to four new product lines that are expected to play an instrumental role in wooing younger customers. Without revealing specific product details, Rajanna says that new launches are going to be an ‘active portfolio’ in the bath and bed segment with a youthful appeal considering that today’s youth enjoy an 'active lifestyle'. 

 

Commenting on brand’s shift in strategy, Ayan Banik, head, strategy, Cheil India, says, "Bombay Dyeing as a brand has not been doing too well. It has not been able to attract many new buyers. The fact that a large chunk of the youth has not been exposed to the brand could actually be a blessing in disguise for the company. Since the young generation doesn’t have any baggage associated with the brand, talking to them could open new doors for Bombay Dyeing."
 

"Bed, linen and upholstery is an unexciting and boring category," observes Banik. "Plus, for long, Bombay Dyeing has not had any meaningful communication." A decade ago, Bombay Dyeing had actors Karan Kapoor and Lisa Ray as ambassadors, a move that had helped in adding a dose of glamour not just to the brand but to the category as a whole. Now, the brand needs to make a fresh start and create an aspirational imagery among the youth with a presence on platforms like Instagram, says Banik. He adds that the brand needs to avoid mass media like radio because there is bound to be a spillover. Essentially, a large section of the people who tunes into radio are not those who can afford Bombay Dyeing products. 

 

Alongside, Bombay Dyeing is firming up its media strategy to communicate more effectively with millennial. Moving beyond digital and social media, the company plans to go big on brand activation. The company has earmarked ~100 crore in investment to refresh and strengthen its brand identity over the next four years. 

 

For Bombay Dyeing the whole effort doesn’t start with communication — in fact, it’s the end of a series of things it has planned, going right back to product design. The brand is experimenting with the structure of the company’s in-house design studio. Now, it has two leaders — one looks at the product portfolio targeted at the classical Indian high income group and the second leader is in charge of the global product portfolio and actively looks at expanding its international business opportunities. Setting up new manufacturing facilities is also part of the agenda.

 

The other aspect is interfacing with the consumer. It does have a presence across online marketplaces such as Amazon and Snapdeal but nothing, it believes, can compare the value a company-owned online store can add. The company is looking to set up a online marketplace by March 2017. It is not about increasing sales volume, the focus here will also be on driving brand reach.

 

Even as Rajanna and team chart out a new path for Bombay Dyeing, he is aware of the challenges that the brand faces as it seeks the millennial’s patronage. “Millennials are a set of buyers that has not tried my brand in the past. There could be a possibility that they have never even heard of it. The challenge, therefore, is to invite them and try us out first,” points out Rajanna. He also realises that all these years manufacturing has been the company’s core focus. Now, as the company focuses on the customer and communication, it faces the task of building new teams that have the skills to pull off the transformation.

Expert Take: Step beyond the comfort zone

Ayan Banik

Head, Brand strategy, Cheil India

As Bombay Dyeing sets its eyes on millennial, it needs to adopt a fresh business and consumer approach. From the business perspective, the brand needs to position itself for peak performance. In marketing parlance, this means that the company first needs to identify the unique selling point of the brand and then ruthlessly eliminate other trappings, going all out pushing the core of the brand among its target audience. 

Also on the business front, the company has to move outside the bedroom which is still considered as a private and intimate space. Since outsiders have a limited access to this space, one will only spend as much on maintaining or upgrading its look and feel. The brand needs to get into spaces or segments such as bath accessories (it already has towels — a good starting point) and drawing room etc. Making products such as bed linen, pillow, and mattresses a part and parcel for fashionable and stylised homes is critical. 

The moment a brand takes this approach it extends its business opportunity manifold. Such an approach would help the brand in commanding a larger share of consumers’ wallet. 

Titan has tried and  succeeded with this approach. It has positioned itself as a fashion and lifestyle brand and got into product lines like jewellery, eyewear and so on.