Anjana Reddy, CEO, Universal Sportsbiz Pvt. Ltd talks about the need for brands to engage in disruptive marketing to cut through the clutter and make a statement
BY ANJANA REDDY
CEO, Universal Sportsbiz Pvt. Ltd.
I remembered this quote as I began to write on rules of disruptive marketing, where the only rule is that there are no rules! Disruption comes from breaking existing rules and upsetting the status quo. When I was launching Wrogn and Imara, there were many voices advising me against this with reasons such as ‘the market is very crowded’, ‘it is almost a commodity product’, and ‘there are too many players’. But I took that as a challenge to launch a brand that would disrupt the existing boring ‘readymade garment sector’.
Disruption needs to embrace the entire business model and not restrict itself to marketing. How can a brand be disruptive? How can it cut through the clutter to be heard, and noticed through the sensory overload that consumers today are subjected to? And how can an existing brand survive the disruptive forces that are bringing challenges to every industry? Disruption does not announce its arrival in advance, it happens in a flash and every brand needs to be wired to survive and avoid being disrupted out of business! A recent tweet listed 50 things that the smartphone has replaced from the big videorecorders to something as basic as a flashlight!
One of the ways to survive is to start disrupting ourselves before someone else comes along to disrupt us.
When we wanted to launch a fashion brand for the youth, we started disruption right from the brand name ‘Wrogn’ and extended it to all aspects including the designs which broke convention with a funky philosophy and trendy design quirks. The showrooms were also aligned to the basic disruptive paradigm as was all brand communication. The most stylish batsman of the Indian team, Virat Kohli, worked with the brand as its curator, making it an extension of his own maverick personality. Choosing to identify with the rebels and mavericks, Wrogn’s latest campaign asks the youth to cast aside their idols and stop following others. In dramatic images, it shows Virat tearing his own poster, breaking his own statue and setting fire to his own cut-outs. The message is simple and powerful: be your own hero.
A similar approach with Imara had Shraddha Kapoor as co-creator offering a refreshing contemporary take on classic Indian ethnic wear for the brave and fearless new Indian woman of today. Disruption is happening at every moment in every industry, facilitated by technology. The disruption of the taxi industry by Uber and Ola has been widely written about. The luxury watch industry with 62 luxury brands saw disruption from HYT with the first hydromechanical technology for watches marrying watch-making and science in 2012. Nearer home, we have seen the recent launch of smallcase.com giving a new twist to investing by letting small investors invest in thematic basket of stocks at a low cost.
Some simple tips for a successful disruptive marketing campaign are to keep the planning process cross-functional and integrate marketing right from the stage of defining the product, leverage the voice of the consumer through targeted market research, integrated execution of the campaign across sales, marketing and PR customising the approach for each step in a customer’s journey and finally, being agile and continuously evolving strategies based on customer inputs and feedback.
Social media is now a tool for disruptive marketing with its sharing capabilities. But one needs to be in control of the brand communication, propagating conversations but not allowing it to be distorted by the whims of people. This is the time to disrupt your brand, your marketing, because the competition is doing the same!
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anjana@usplworld.com
