Q] I was struck by your ‘100% Tiles 0% Celebs’ campaign. It is quite witty. So, is Orient Bell against celebrity campaigns or is that a play that you did once?
I don’t think that consumers would forgive us if we were unauthentic. I don’t own the brand more than the consumers. So, they pretty much decide what I can do or not do. What we are saying is, if you’re using celebrities, please use them in a relevant manner. Just having a celebrity face does not mean that your brand does not need a proposition. So, it’s more important for brands to showcase their benefits and that’s what we are hoping to do.
Q] Can you shed some light on your brand journey and how it has strengthened over the years? Also, what are the innovative marketing strategies that you use to reach out to your audience?
Orient Bell has always stood for making tile shopping easy, and this is as much for consumers as for channel partners or B2B customers. So, we take many initiatives to make things easier for them. In a way, we are the only brand in the industry which thinks in this unique way. If you’ve ever thought of buying tiles or repairing the bathroom or the kitchen, it was probably accompanied by a groan saying, ‘I don’t want to do this.’ This is what we’re trying to solve.
Budget is also an important aspect here; customers may think about whether something fits into their budget. We guide people to make informed choices. We also have similar offerings for channel partners as well. They can help customers visualise with the help of proprietary software by sharing designs with them. Similarly, for B2B customers, we do a lot of stuff on training their masons to ensure that the outcomes they get are optimal. So, we ensure that tiling can be done with the best quality and in the shortest possible time at minimum cost. It’s a long-term approach rather than a transactional one.
Q] What are the mediums that you mostly target? And please elaborate on your marketing budget for these various platforms.
For the retail customer, obviously, the choices are linear TV, connected TV, and maybe a bit of digital and social media. If you want to reach men and women together, you look at linear TV as a strong option and use digital and social media to plug into things. It would depend on the job that is to be done and the things that we are trying to achieve.
Q] What trends are you observing in relation to the slowdown? Going ahead, what is the way to overcome this?
Housing is a key priority, and the government has indicated so in its budgets and numerous plans. Now that straightaway makes tiles necessary for all. What’s likely to happen is that you will have short-term swings. So, maybe a particular quarter will be lower than normal and another will be not as well as expected, but these are part of short-term swings. I think if we remain confident of the long-term outlook and things should be looking good.
Q] What is your marketing mix for brand campaigns? Also, do you think post-pandemic, the messaging and propositions in India have changed a bit?
It depends on what you compare it with. If you were to compare it with the pandemic, obviously there’s a sea change. During the pandemic and as we went through its various phases, the effort was to address the prevalent concern then. So, we talked about germ-free tiles, we have our patented antiviral tiles, and all these made sense during the pandemic. Of course, now it’s back to normal and it’s different from where we were, but it’s business as usual. So, we’re back to making tile shopping easy for all and that’s the focus. There has been a change in the media mix, as you can see that there is so much more digital post-pandemic.
Q] To what extent do you advertise on TV? How important is TV for you?
Yes, absolutely. It was around post Diwali when we launched our first ever television campaign in approximately 45 years. It is the one we were talking about, ‘100% Tiles, Zero% Celebs.’ And linear TV is by far the most cost-effective way of reaching large audiences and delivering your message impactfully.
Q] So, speaking of TV, how much of your marketing budget do you allocate to TV and digital? Would you say the same or one is more than the other?
In the last six months it’s been predominantly linear TV with Digital TV playing a supporting role.We wanted to reach out to our customers and explain to them what we stand for, talk about our unique features and more. They can virtually browse styles and choose with their family, maybe even try it in their bedroom or living room, and visualize it. It makes the choice so much easier if you have already decided that out of these 3000 tiles, these are the four or five tiles that you like.
Q] We are looking at the Lok Sabha Elections in India coming up this year. Of course, it presents a great opportunity for brands to showcase their products. Do you have an advertising strategy for the same?
Yes, we tend to go where the consumer is. So, if the consumer starts watching elections, IPL, or the World Cup, we will be there. We pretty much follow the consumer and his viewing habits. Yes, elections do garner eyeballs, and we will be present in that kind of programming too.
Q] Which medium are you going to prefer for the general elections, it’s going to be TV or Digital? How much of your total spends are you going to allocate to this?
It would be linear television, and a significant portion of our spends, close to 70 to 80 percent will go towards it.
Q] In what ways do you think these big events like the upcoming polls influence consumer behaviour?
It’s important to catch the audience when they’re in that mind frame and communicate your message. If you do that, it improves your brand awareness and consideration. So, it’s as basic a marketing philosophy as that. As eyeballs move to elections, we see us being able to communicate our message and make an impact.
Q] What is your roadmap for future growth plans?
We will continue to make tile shopping easier, even easier than it is. And, hopefully, drive references for our brand.
