Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer Badri Beriwal discusses the current campaign, TG, media mix, and other topics.
Through their most recent campaign, Every Walk is a Ramp Walk, Bata India is making an effort to connect with the younger generations, Gen-Z and Millennials. The corporation decided to use influencers rather than celebrities as the faces of this campaign, breaking from tradition.
Vishaka Fulsungle (a rider), Aakash Malhotra (a traveler), Janhavi Dasetty (a content developer), and Raghavendra Mahat (an actor) are some of the social media influencers involved in the campaign.
With 34% (or 44 crore) of the population being millennials, India has one of the largest millennial populations in the world. By 2030, it is anticipated that these two demographic groups—together with Gen-Z—will make up a startling 50% of India’s population.
This information highlights the need for marketers to deliberately interact with this demographic, since they are expected to overtake more traditional customers in the near future. By focusing on this demographic, Bata India hopes to follow this trend.
According to Badri Beriwal, chief strategy and business development officer, “We are always changing our communication approach. Celebrities will continue to play a part in the industry; it is true that influencers play a significant role in it as a consequence of consumers’ increased reliance on social media for content consumption. As a result, influencers have evolved into new types of celebrities. Gen-Z in particular is more receptive to an influencer than any celebrity, therefore we used them to become more approachable to customers.
The City Casual Collection and the Celebrations Collection of the footwear company are highlighted in the campaign. The influencers appear in the video as a separate avatar. According to Badri, Vishaka is a rider and Aakash is a traveler; both has influence in their specialized sector. But their admirers and following see a wonderful metamorphosis when they dress up with Bata and become into style icons. That’s what we wanted to highlight in our advertising.
The age range of the campaign’s target market is 20 to 30 years old, and Tier I and Tier II cities are included in the geographic emphasis.
In response to a question concerning the campaign’s media mix, Badri says, “I believe there was a period when digital accounted for just 5-6% of the media mix. But with the increased digital presence, it now makes up around 35% of our whole mix. Our expenditures on digital media have greatly increased.
Capitalizing on the rise of social media, influencer marketing has become a crucial component for any brand. It offers a direct channel for communicating with the target market while utilizing the persuading power of word-of-mouth advertising via influencer fan bases. But how does Bata India want to stand out in this market?
According to Badri’s response, “Many businesses utilize influencers as media vehicles or channels and capitalize on their fan bases on the channels themselves. While we will gain from that, we have used influencers as celebrities in our campaign and broadcast them on television.
Bata India uses influencers as style models rather than just using them as media outlets, which is a different strategy from other brands.
This approach aims to draw in younger customers who may see the brand from a new angle and position it as a full-service answer to their needs for trendy footwear.
According to the company’s AGM presentation for 2022–2023, 25% of Bata India’s business comes from institutional/distributional and online means, while 75% of the company’s revenue comes from the retail sector.
Men’s footwear makes up 52% of the category, women’s footwear is close to 31%, kids make up approximately 10%, and other footwear makes up 6.5%.
The firm intends a thorough strategy using direct-to-consumer channels, e-commerce platforms, and omnichannel pathways in anticipation of its digital sales outpacing total growth.
A paradise for sneaker fans with a single wall covered in a profusion of shoes, the Sneaker Studio was established by the company as part of its efforts to appeal to Gen-Z and millennials. Over 500 Bata and Franchise establishments have adopted this strategy.
The footwear company is now considering a prospective engagement in the Men’s Cricket World Cup as a result of this year’s junction of the holiday season and the ICC Cricket World Cup.
