“The readymade furniture industry is poised for unprecedented growth,” says Abhra Rajib Banerjee, Executive Business Head, Century Plyboards. The brand plans to open 35 stores in the Eastern Region, with an estimated investment of Rs 100 crore. Banerjee emphasizes on the brand’s focus on consumer engagement, meaningfully using the digital medium, challenges brought in by the unorganized nature of this sector and more…
Q] The last few months saw a lot of action from the brand after a gap of four years, specifically the campaign Sab Sahe Mast Rahe in September. What was the strategy behind releasing the campaign at this particular time?
We unveiled our campaign to communicate a new interpretation to the brand’s tagline ‘Sab Sahe Mast Rahe’. This highlighted the brand’s strengths as a modern, contemporary, youthful and trustworthy market leader as well as Centuryply’s patented technology which makes it 100% borerand termite-proof and gives it the strength to withstand all abuse.
For the last four years, the brand salience had been maintained through strategic brand placements within big entertainment properties. This campaign line was introduced a few years ago through a memorable series of television commercials. It was time to bring in a new version of the brand tagline ‘Sab Sahe Mast Rahe’ and thus the birth of the sequel ‘Sab Sahe Mast Rahe - Part 2’.
The new campaign aims at redefining the brand image and increasing consumer involvement with the plywood category through Bates’ proprietary ‘Changengage’ tool. The campaign is targeted at the upwardly mobile urban male in the age group of 35-45 years, who is a home-owner and digital-savvy.
Q] How is the brand taking the momentum built by this campaign forward?
The campaign has touched an emotional chord with the consumer. The enthusiasm of the consumer is validated by the fact that the Youtube Centuryply TVC has garnered more than 1 million hits. The campaign has hit a new high, being actively talked about among the intelligentsia and the common consumer alike.
We are taking it forward through our digital campaigns and on-ground activities currently. We will soon be back with another round of nationwide airing of the campaign on all national television channels.
Q] How does the brand leverage the digital medium to reach its consumers?
The success of any brand depends on its ability to engage the customer on a one-on-one basis and that’s where we have integrated our digital media. We plan to reach out to every consumer and make him or her relate to the brand. When people think of strength, durability and longevity, Centuryply would be their brand recall. We have run ‘Share the Anger’ contest on Facebook, where participants were asked to view and share our new Gorilla ad. The winner got an iPhone 5. We saw tremendous engagement and response and within a few months, we had 1 million views on YouTube. To take this engagement further, we have come up with ‘Show the Anger’ contest, which will be launched soon. This campaign will urge customers to share their ‘Anger Moments’ with underlying humour. The idea is to show people how anger disrupts their normal lives and brings out the beast in them. So, it’s better to smile and let go. Or better, they can go and take out their anger on Centuryply doors or furniture because they will withstand all and still remain intact.
We have also come up with an iPhone app and an Android app, which enable consumers to have all our designs, branch and dealer locator on their fingertips.
We have launched an e-book for our coffee table book and engaged 500 guests at our Aces of Space Awards with our Facebook page and Twitter account by using RFID tags. They could post comments which were pushed via their tags and also upload images by just tapping on our terminals.
Q] The brand has launched innovative mobile furniture stores and plans to launch 35 readymade stores in the Eastern Region with an initial investment of Rs 100 crore. Where do you the see the readymade furniture industry five years from now? What were the insights behind your expansion plans?
The mobile furniture store is an innovative approach wherein the brand comes to the consumer in his own frontyard. With the launch of the furniture store at Kolkata, Centuryply has embarked on an engaging initiative and tried to reach out to its targeted consumers in high footfall areas like big malls and even Higher Income Group and Sec A residential welfare associations. Consumers get a ‘touch and feel’ of the brand and products right in front of their homes. This was a part of the brand activation strategy and we teamed up with Radio Mirchi in this activation, wherein the TG had an opportunity to speak live on air about his/her experience of visiting the mobile store.
The readymade furniture industry is poised for unprecedented growth and therefore we are investing in this business with solid infrastructural plans like opening up 35 stores in the region, new and breathtakingly innovative designs in products, having a warehousing/manufacturing facility in the country, etc. ‘Price being a surprise’ will surely put Brand Nesta in the reckoning as one of the leading brands in the readymade furniture horizon.
Q] In hindsight, out of your marketing plans, what would you have changed now that would have given you better results than what you had executed earlier?
We had never really tried to ‘engage’ the consumer in our earlier campaigns. With the power and advent of the digital medium, we have started consumer engagement initiatives.
Q] How has the Indian consumer evolved over the years? Can you share with us a few consumer trends you have observed?
Today, there is a huge focus on doing up interiors. Huge apartment blocks with a multitude of flats have taken the place of bungalows and villas. The trends in interior design propagated through cinema and television soaps have resulted in a focus on beautiful interiors. Furnishings are a very important part of designing dream interiors.
Q] What do you have to say about the interior design infrastructure market in India? Can you give a brief overview of the industry?
The interior design infrastructure market in India is estimated to be to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore for wooden panels and wooden panel decoration segments. The market is growing at an average rate of 7-8% per annum.
This segment has close correlation with the real estate market. Apart from new constructions, renovation of existing interiors and maintenance work account for 50% of the total consumption of material in this category. Renovation work is seasonal in nature. Festivities, new events in the family through changing life-cycles define the material consumption requirement in this subsegment.
Today, with a huge explosion of condominiums, flats and multi-apartment building complexes in the urban areas, the only way to differentiate is through fashionable interiors. With the explosion of urbanization and nuclear families, the segment looks very promising in the times to come. The opening up of FDI in retail too will bear well for the fledgling readymade furniture industry, which is poised for huge growth and will become a Rs 50,000 crore industry.
Q] What are the challenges faced by the brand?
The biggest challenge for the brand as well as the company is from unorganized players. The organized market is only 30%, while the unorganized market is 70% of the total market of plywood and related products. The pricing is what affects us the most. To bring in the best quality product, keeping international standard and trends in mind, becomes challenging. The success of our brand totally depends on the innovativeness and attributes that the product attaches to the brand. Through various marketing initiatives, we have been able to keep our brand energized and continuously checking the pulse of the consumer has helped us overcome the challenges thrown by other players.
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