How does Woodland get its message across effectively, especially when its core philosophy is based on the concept of outdoors and adventure? Amol Dhillon, Vice President of Strategy & Planning, Woodland, believes it’s by successfully connecting with the target audience and focusing on innovations, technology, activations and CSR
Q] What message are you looking to convey with Woodland’s new campaign ‘Why Stop?’?
The company’s tagline is ‘Explore more’ and we are extending it to ‘Why stop?’. Our TG is the youth, aged between 18 and 25 years, who love adventures. We’re encouraging them to push the limit, by essentially saying that ‘nothing’s stopping you when Woodland is with you.’ We consistently talk about the outdoors, adventures and the human spirit, because this is what the brand believes in. The communication with a 360-degree campaign was aimed to create excitement around the same.
Q] What does your marketing mix include? Can you give us an estimate of your spends?
We spend almost 8 to 10% of our revenues on advertising. 60% of our revenues comes in during September and January, our peak marketing and advertising season. About 60% of our content is shared on social media. Although Digital is huge for us, 70 to 75 % of our budget is skewed towards traditional media like Print, Magazine and TV. As our TG spends a lot of time outdoors, we target prominent outdoor hoardings in cities. We also try to integrate our campaigns through technology and even our stores. While we mainly use Radio for our CSR and sustainability campaigns, events and activations, it also helps amplify our social media messages.
Q] Tell us a little more about the brand’s online presence and activations?
Considering our focus is on adventure, we have a site called exploremore.pro, where we mark various adventure locations in India for people who go on bike rides, SUVs and ATVs to geo-tag. They can also share their experiences through blogs on our site. We have a strong presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and LinkedIn and also have a mobile application.
Q] The ‘Adventure Club’ initiative was established to connect with your customers. What has been the response to this? Are you planning to roll out any other initiatives?
The Adventure Club was introduced through our Digital platform and retail stores. We engaged with customers through contests, where winners got a chance to experience our product in rugged terrain. We’ve had consumers ask us if we can take them to Mount Everest; so this year we plan to take them to the base camp, where they will get a chance to wear and experience our products. We are also looking at creating a club with our Elite Ambassadors as trainers who can train amateurs.
Q] Who are these Elite Ambassadors?
Traditionally, we have always extended our international campaigns to the Indian market but for India particulary we have these Elite Ambassasdors, Indians like four-time Everest climbers or the first woman parachute jumper over the Poles. So we have a list of these ambassadors on our website and keep adding new people. These are the people who become our face of Indian communication on our digital platform; but for print and TVC we follow international content.
Q] Woodland has three broad categories: footwear, apparels and accessories. Which segment gets the most traction?
Woodland started as a footwear brand and contributes almost 65 to 68% of the total sales. Apparels has grown to almost 35 to 36% from 30%. Sales are skewed in favour of men who make up 70% of our customers.
Q] What are your future expansion plans? Are you looking to add new products in your portfolio?
We plan to add 60 stores in the current financial year and look to grow by almost 25 to 30% YoY. We’ve also introduced an adventure gear range that includes sleeping bags and rucksacks; and we’re hoping to add products like tents, mountain bikes, walking sticks and mountain climbing gear like helmets, ropes and snow shoes.
Q] It’s been two decades since Woodlands launched in India. What lessons have you gained along the way? In your opinion, how has the adventure lifestyle segment evolved in India?
The adventure lifestyle segment was nonexistent when Woodland came to India. Initially, people were wary of trying new products. We have worked with stakeholders to build a community and recognise the efforts of our Elite Ambassadors. We also work with NGOs like WWF, UNICEF and Oxfam as part of our effort to promote sustainability. We are the green partners of Volkswagen India, to promote adventure-motor sports in the country. We also engage with consumers through various activations like organising camps, music festivals, introducing mountain climbing in schools, getting people to experience ATV rides and so on.
Q] CSR is an integral part of your brand philosophy. Could you elaborate on your efforts in this space?
The brand’s CSR initiative called ‘ProPlanet’ constantly strives to keep the environment safe in whatever we do and is backed by innovation and technology. Our stores in Delhi, NCR and Karnataka are ‘carbon neutral’ which means that whatever carbon footprint is generated in our stores, it is offset by either planting trees or getting carbon credits from consumers.
We did a campaign with MTV where 60,000 trees were planted. All our products are environment friendly and have an eco-index, which indicates the impact it has on the environment. Our employees appraisal and KPIs are linked to events like community work to plant trees. We are also the first brand in the world to run a campaign on LinkedIn where we asked Indian corporate to come out with ideas on how to make a greener economy and take a leadership position in terms of sustainability.
Q] What are the plans for your premium lifestyle brand Woods? What is the marketing strategy?
Woods is a high-end fashion brand of British lineage. Currently, we have about 12 independent stores for Woods and plan to roll out 12 more by the end of the financial year. Being a lifestyle fashion brand, the ratio is in favour of women at 60:40. We have seen a growth of 25 to 30% in this category and use fashion celebrities. We promote the product at fashion shows and are using Digital besides mostly Print media.
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