By Vicky Ahuja
Director, Marketing & Sales, Baggit
After my first year in commerce, I wanted to taste financial independence. I got an opportunity with Baggit and jumped at it. I was under the impression that it would be a desk job, so imagine my surprise when I was sent off to the loft to cut synthetic material, remove buckles from the stores for a particular bag and get my hands dirty on the shop floor. My first day passed in a kind of haze and a swirl of colours, patterns and cuts. According to me, colours were named red, blue, green, black... so when words like aqua green, lilac, teal and fawn were thrown around, I was worried. When ‘onion pink’, ‘shocking pink’, ‘dreamy pink’ and ‘baby pink’ did the rounds, I was in trouble! But I wasn’t going to let a few words bog me down. Within a few weeks, I was rattling off these shades like I was born talking about them. I quickly moved up the ranks, realizing as I went along that Baggit was quite a loved and admired brand. Every store and retail outlet had only good words to say about it. I decided to focus and give the job more than my role required.
As I navigated the world of women, I picked up some very good nuggets of wisdom. Being a man gives you a certain flexibility that is not prejudiced with typecast and traditional roles. So I began gaining insights, developing strategy keeping in mind market preferences and demands without being too close to the brand, helping the company maintain a balance between creativity and marketing & sales. This merger inspired us to put forward the brand strategy for the contemporary woman - ‘Not Just Pretty, Pretty Tough’. That is exactly how I view the modern woman.
Key things that you need to remember while working on a women’s brand:
Insight! Insight! Insight! – Take a peek into the mind of the target audience, truly understand and then come up with a brand strategy and campaign. These insights might not be what you have been taught in B Schools, but it’s what women want and that’s what matters!
Innovation – Women know what they want to buy and how and where they want to buy and also define the purpose of it in ways you and I would not have thought about. Don’t ever underestimate their intelligence. Your product truly has to show innovation in style, design and functionality to appeal to them.
Research –Women think differently... especially when it comes to buying. Years and millions of terabytes of data are dedicated every year to this research. Make sure you add a good amount of common sense – it plays a huge role in the success of a collection. Take time out to do your own research to get this last important bit.
Hold Your Own – While all the women in the team will share very valuable insights with you, you have to really listen and then decide what is right for the brand, choose your path and stick to it! Back it up with lots of logic to make sure your decision is acceptable to all.
Feedback: vicky@baggit.com
