MxMIndia

Tag: Akshaya Tritiya

  • Consistence in communication is key for a brand, writes Sanjeev Kotnala

    How Scarecrow is winning it for Reliance Jewels

     

     

     

    Sanjeev KotnalaBy Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    Reliance Jewels- Scarecrow M&C Saatchi – consistency in communication 

    The brand building says that once a brand finds its unique appeal and develops a unique or easily associated and recognisable communication style, it should be consistent. And, if possible, frequently surprise the audience with a different interpretation of the same, evolving with the consumers’ needs and changing ecosystem. Ariel – Share the Load is a case in point. The brand concept has evolved with time, retaining the basic parameters and testing the coordinated repeatedly. It has been consistent, and the thought is strongly associated with the brand. Ariel’s latest communication remains rooted in the thought and has moved from being asked to share the load to an expression of new coordinates of self-realisation. Make My Trip, Frooti, and Dream11 are some other brands consistent with their communication approach and language. Another brand that has been hugely consistent with its approach and communication style has been Reliance Jewels, and Scarecrow M&C Saatchi has been creating some unique communication language for them.

     

    Reliance Jewel Akshaya Tritiya

    In the recent Akshaya Tritiya communication, the brand captured the more than 1000 years old history of Thanjavur’s art & architecture. Thanjavur – a mystical Kingdom and the cultural capital of spellbinding art and Dravidian architecture. Watch the Tamil version here.

    This is not the first time the jewel brand ( Reliance ) and the agency has based the collection and the communication on Indian traditions, culture, dance forms and heritage.

    A note from the agency updates that the inspiration behind Thanjavur is its intricately carved stones of the temples, the excellent craftsmanship of Poompuhar ships, the artistic traditions of Bommai Dolls, and the vibrant interiors of Thanjavur Darbar Hall. The reliance Jewels Akshaya Tritiya Thanjavur collection reflects and pays tribute to nuances of this craftsmanship from the artisans of Thanjavur. The film is a result of a deep study of the history and conversations with experts in different fields.

    Music in the film is an essential element and captures the flavours of Thanjavur. The song is written in Gambheera Nattai raga and pays tribute to the ancient temples. The Hindi version of the song is written by Manish Bhatt. The film is long at 207 seconds, capturing the musical journey of two young girls; a dance choreographer and her friend. However, Manish Bhatt, Founder Director Scarecrow M&C Saatchi, believes that capturing the 1000 years of history in this short duration is an achievement. The Thanjavur typeface was also created to complement the collection and the traditional craft.

    The brand- Reliance Jewel’s thematic jewellery collections are an ode to the country’s diverse culture and are appreciated by customers. This is, in a way, season 7.0 of such a thematic collection.

     

    Reliance Thematic Collection Communication.

    Every year Scarecrow M&C Saatchi with the client, creates a 2 to 5-minute long music-song song-led film based on the culture/art/ history that has inspired the Jewellery Collection.

    Here are some of the films/

    UTKALA – collection inspired by Odisha’s Ancient Art Heritage.

    KAASYAM – collection inspired by Beauty & Divinity of Banaras

    RANNKAAR collection Inspired by Rann of Kutch. And here is the behind the scene for the campaign.

    MAHALAYA collection inspired by the Tribal, Ancient & Royal Heritage of Maharashtra.

     

    Net Net.

    Indian culture, heritage, design, and craft have so much to inspire creativity in jewellery design. I am biased toward such an approach to thematic collection and communication. By being consistent with the thematic collections and communication style, the brand is creating a niche for itself.

     

  • To commemorate Akshaya Tritiya

    Candere by Kalyan Jewellers launches new campaign

    By Our Staff

     

    Candere by Kalyan Jewellers has launched a campaign, #TaiyariPooriHai, that talks about their customisation feature.

     

    Said Rupesh Jain, Founder & CEO of Candere: “It is our constant endeavour to provide our customers with an enhanced jewellery shopping experience. The customization feature is not something new that we have come up with; in fact, Candere was started with the intent of providing its customers with a piece of jewellery that resonates with them. The percentage contribution of customized orders is around 50-60% of our total order share. We have integrated advanced technologies to ease their shopping experience. Although the market has multiple jewellery designs to offer, every customer wants their design to be unique and stand out, and that’s where our customisation feature comes in handy. They can get the jewellery of their choice with just one tap within the comfort of their own home.”

     

    Added Akshay Matkar, Head of Marketing at Candere: “Jewellery is just not a fashion accessory; it is more than that. We Indians have sentiments attached to our fine jewellery, and when it comes to shopping for one, it is a decision that is very well thought of. So this Akshaya Tritiya, we are ready to help our customers fulfil their Khwaishein with our customisation option. All they need to do is select the design and leave the rest to us!”

     

    Akshay Trittiya falls on May 3 this year. While it is regarded as an auspicious date by many, in recent years, marketers have been promoting it to sell their wares (Please refer to this article from our archives: https://www.mxmindia.com/2012/04/mediaah-the-business-of-akshaya-tritiya-the-plot-to-shift-mothers-day-to-make-money/).

     

  • The promotion is valid until June 9, 2018 across India, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman

    Kalyan Jewellers launches global promotion for Akshaya Tritiya

     

     

    Kalyan Jewellers has unveiled a unique global promotion leading up to Akshaya Tritiya, wherein customers will get an opportunity to win a Mercedes-Benz CLA upon purchase of jewellery at any of the Kalyan Jewellers showrooms.

     

    Said T S. Kalyanaraman, Chairman & Managing Director, Kalyan Jewellers: “Kalyan Jewellers has always focused on providing a compelling shopping experience that enables the customer to extract enhanced value from their purchase and fulfill their aspirations. We are positive that our patrons will appreciate this pre-Akshaya Tritiya opportunity. The promotion also coincides with the ongoing wedding season, and it is a great chance for our customer to win free Mercedes-Benz CLA car while buying jewellery from Kalyan Jewellers.’’

     

     

  • The new campaign by BlueStone states that love is the best investment

    Invest in love this Akshaya Tritiya, says BlueStone

    By A Correspondent

     

    Celebrating love on the day gold is celebrated, the #lnvestInLove campaign by BlueStone showcases the precious investment one makes in their lives for their loved ones which can re-ignite the spark in relationships by bringing one closer to the other.

     

    The ad film portrays a young urban couple who steal small moments out of their busy schedules to appreciate one another. The husband gifts the wife a beautiful Kuber Yantra pendent from BlueStone signifying how loving gestures can go a long way in keeping the romance alive.

     

    Talking about the ad film, Srinivas. S, Chief Marketing Officer, says “Modern, cosmopolitan husbands are quickly finding out that Akshaya Tritiya is no longer an expensive chore. They are beginning to discover the value of what Audrey Hepburn is credited with saying, “They say love is the best investment; the more you give, the more you get in return”. He further added, “And the Kuber Yantra collection from Bluestone.com gives a great opportunity to invest in love and renewing the romance in their lives while staying culturally relevant”

     

    “Bluestone has always interventions of real love between couples who are friends first in a marriage of equals. Akshaya Tritiya is all about investments and it being the best time for it. What better thing to invest than in love?” added, Anil Thomas, creative director, The Thinking Machine India Asia.

     

  • In Mediaah!, Pradyuman Maheshwari recounts a story on how some marketers had once wanted to shift the Mother's Day date and comments on Siddharth Varadarajan's outburst in The Hindu, Hoshie Ghaswalla’s advice to his editors and how Taproot ought to have won the Grand Prix at Goafest for Airtel.

    Mediaah! The business of Akshaya Tritiya & the plot to shift Mother’s Day to make money!

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    Many years ago, the CEO and promoter of a well-known consumer product company came to meet me at my office at Mid-Day. He brought with him a large volume and said he wanted to seek my advice.

     

    He said that a group of varied Indian organisations had got together to find a solution to a problem: find an appropriate ‘day’ for mothers. While Diwali and Christmas-New Year were good occasions for gifting,  Valentine’s Day had become a great success thanks to “their collective efforts”. There ws a long gap between Feb 14 and Diwali which falls in October and November. Now, the study conducted by a well-known market research firm said the person whom Indians love the most is the mother. So, what’s the problem, I asked.

     

    Well, he said, the issue is that Mother’s Day falls in May in India and that’s when most schools and colleges are shut. And then he dropped the bombshell. So, we were wondering if we can shift the Mother’s Day to sometime when educational institutions are open as kids pick up the maximum of cards and soft toys etc?

     

    I must confess I was struck by the ingenuity of the idea and how some of the most discerning names in Indian industry had got together to consider this.

    The CEO-businessman wanted my views on the issue, and whether the media would pan the move. They had even looked at alternative dates and were considering August 28 since it coincided with Mother Teresa’s birthday.

     

    This meeting happened sometime in June and I wondered how it could be done since we had already had a Mother’s Day that year? No problem, he said. We’ll have two this year, and told me that the group spearheading the move had considered this and didn’t think it would have any problem. We then spoke of how Shivaji Jayanti was observed on two different dates in Maharashtra and it didn’t bother people.

     

    After this meeting, I kept waiting for a fresh date for Mother’s Day that year and in the next, but figured that wider sense had prevailed and the companies didn’t change the date.

     

    A few years later, when I had relocated to Pune, I discovered that Akshaya Tritiya was being celebrated in a big way.  I was told that it was the next auspicious festival after Gudi Padwa for Maharashtrians, and thought it was essentially Pune thingie. Two years later, when I was back in Mumbai, I found that the day had taken roots here too. And now we have most of the country celebrating it. A festival had come out of nowhere.

     

    I have been somewhat radical with some of my religious beliefs, and had faced some heat from colleagues. I think Karva Chauth is regressive and since this occurred to me a decade-and-a-half back, I have ensure that all the publications that I have worked with didn’t carry any pictures of the celebrations. But I was quite pleasantly surprised to read this outburst by Hindu editor Siddharth Varadarajan (courtesy Sans Serif).

     

     Read this carefully:

    “We carried a ‘jacket’ on Monday in our Tamil Nadu editions that featured a message – laid out in the form of an in-house advertisement – to readers on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya on behalf of “The Hindu”.

     

    “Neither I, as Editor of The Hindu, nor anyone from the editorial side, was involved in the drafting of this message. Nor did we know of, let alone approve, its contents.”

     

    Makes sense, you would say. But the clincher is Para 3:

    “For the record, it is not The Hindu’s editorial position that Akshaya Tritiya, an occasion that has risen to prominence only relatively recently, is one of “the most auspicious days in the Hindu religion.” Nor can we possibly endorse this statement – “The belief that buying gold on this day would make you prosperous throughout the year is shared by one and all” – or others contained in that message.”

     

    One doesn’t have to dream much to figure what Siddharth Varadarajan’s sentiments are on Akshaya Tritiya. And I don’t think he’s incorrect. I don’t read Hindu since I don’t get it in Mumbai, but am surprised that this announcement was carried. So while it would be interesting to know what CEO Arun Anant has to say on his editor’s comment on what his marketing team would’ve done, there’s no denying that the festival has become as big as it has today thanks only to the collective zeal of some marketers.

     

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    I am delighted to inform that not all business-to-business publications are giving in to the demands and diktats of advertisers. Especially when it comes to editorial content.

     

    Hoshie Ghaswalla

    My friend Hoshie Ghaswalla, recently appointed CEO of the Cybermedia group (publishers of Dataquest, PC Quest, CIOl etc) has now issued an advisory to all his editors that they oughtn’t worry about the whims of large corporations who love bullying trade media. Note: these are my words, not his.

     

    Hoshie and his editor noticed some misgivings among employees of a laaaarge software corporation on salary raises even as the company had declared huge dividends to shareholders. CIOL went to town on the issue a fortnight back, and if the corp hasn’t done it already, it will soon announce wage revisions.

     

    Hoshie tells me that he has advised his editor on a similar story with a large international computer hardware company. “The problem,” he confesses is “that journalists have for far too long been not wanting to upset large companies who are also big advertisers”.

     

    I jumped to defend his editors and said this must be because of his editors who’ve worked in the past would’ve on their own or were told by his predecessors on not damning the big advertisers. Puff pieces only.

     

    Hoshie didn’t agree. I didn’t complain at all. It’s good to see a sales-driven CEO ask his editors to screw erring companies (who may be existing or potential advertisers). This especially in the trade media where there are many who are known to compromise on editorial integrity and ethics.

     

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    Agnello Dias

    It’s been over a week since Goafest happened. While I am happy that the Abby went through peacefully, I was surprised that Taproot didn’t win the Grand Prix for the Airtel ad. It deserved every bit of it, and although the Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi were pretty cool about it when my colleague spoke to him soon after the awards (see link), he has shared his disappointment in an interview with Anil Thakraney (see link). Though not in so many words.

     

    I sincerely hope that Taproot continues to bring us great advertising, attracts some $$$s (okay, let’s make it $$$$$$$$$$$$$s!) from the Big networks and is always rooted to the real world.

     

     

    Buzz me if you have a story to tell. Confidentiality assured. There are various ways you can reach me: pradyumanm[at]mxmindia.com, BBM 23050B5D, Gtalk pradyumanm@gmail.com, Twitter @pmahesh and of course the mobile: 98338 76278.

     

    Disclaimer: Although he is CEO and Editor-in-Chief of this site, Pradyuman Maheshwari’s views in Mediaah! are not necessarily those of the rest of the team and MxMIndia.com. And decidedly not those of the sales team 🙂

     

  • For, after Dhanteras, Akshaya Tritiya has emerged as the next big day for sale of jewellery

    All that glitters on Akshaya Tritiya is gold!

     

    By Tuhina Anand

    (with inputs from Shruti Pushkarna in New Delhi)

     

    While 5-6 years back, Akshaya Tritiya would come and go without making much noise except among few communities, but now it has become a pan-Indian phenomenon. Jewellers all across, be it branded or non-branded, have gone all out to communicate the fact that Akshaya Tritiya is among the most auspicious days to invest in the precious metal.

     

    One look at the newspapers of the last two weeks will show that jewellery advertising is dominating the supplements and some even taking front page advertising on the main newspapers. This definitely shows that this day has become a money-spinner for jewellers and they are leaving no stone unturned to tap maximum customers.

     

    After Dhanteras, which traditionally has been a day for Indians to invest in gold and silver, now Akshaya Tritiya has emerged as the second-most selling day for many players and spikes in sales is anywhere between 15-35 per cent for some players.

     

    There are also offers galore to lure customers like free silver coin, off on making charges or even EMI option available to help customers make their purchases notwithstanding the soaring gold prices.

     

    Bhuwan Gaurav

    Bhuwan Gaurav, Head-Marketing at Tanishq on the sales on Akshaya Tritiya said: “On this day we see an increase in sales of over 10-15 times as compared to any average day. We have made a conscious effort in positioning this day to our consumers and a lot of effort has gone in marketing it to people. The result being that Akshaya Tritiya has become a pan-India phenomenon and we see a spike in sale even from Punjab and the East.”

     

    For customers, on purchase of 8gm of gold and on diamond jewellery above Rs8,000, Tanishq is offering free gold coin of 0.25 gm. The rising gold prices have not deterred the brand and Mr Gaurav is sure that the day would see spike in the sales. In fact, the store has been decorated with flowers to welcome customers to buy jewellery on this auspicious day.

     

    Another leading jeweler is too confident of the sales. Vinod Hayagriv, Managing Director, C Krishniah Chetty & Sons said: “This year is the first year of price stability after three years. Hot gold rates in the previous years held back purchases. But this year the sales have been brisk and that is an indication of demand picking up for Akshaya Tritiya. We should see good demand for our new Touch Gold Collection of exclusive gold design jewellery.”

     

    On the high in demand products, Amit Puri, Manager, Delhi-based jewellery store chain Diamount Jewels Pvt Ltd said, “The most popular item is gold bangles, and the second is gold sets. We have a special offer where we are giving out free silver as much as the weight of gold item purchased. Our sales on Akshaya Tritiya comprise a good 30-35 per cent of the total sales. Apart from Akshaya Tritiya, we see similar purchasing pattern on Dhanteras around Diwali.”

     

    While at one hand communication in print, OOH and even digital has created the popular culture of investing in jewellery. There are offers that are coupled with these communications to bring more and more customers to invest. Also new collection has been introduced by few to attract customers. Although there is more demand for on Akshaya Tritiya, there is an increasing trend of many opting for diamonds.

     

    Harish Bakshi, Senior Manager, AKM Mehrasons Jewellers of New Delhi said, “Last year, we saw an upward trend in sales on Akshaya Tritiya, to be precise, last year sales on that day saw a 10 per cent increase than the year before. This year we can’t say anything up till now, we have our fingers crossed because of the increase in gold rates. Both diamond and gold are popular, but gold is essentially more popular on Akshaya Trithiya. Gold chains and bangles are the most common purchases. We don’t have any special offers as such but we are offering a 10-15 per cent discount on labour charges for both gold and diamond. In comparison to regular days, we see at least 35 per cent increase in sales on Akshaya Tritiya. Apart from Akshaya Tritiya, Dhanteras and Karwa Chauth are the two other high sales occasions.”

     

    One thing is for sure that there is an increase in sales, but the percentage may vary. Ram Kiran of Bhima Jewellers too puts the increase at 15-20 per cent during this time. He, however, adds that sales have been bit slow because of high gold rates but doesn’t rule out the possibility of increase in sales.

    Photograph: Courtesy Tanishq