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Grasim turns young, to emnbark on 4-pronged brand revamp strategy

Ratna Bhushan

KATHMANDU, Sept. 18

GENERATIONEXT has done it again. It has forced Grasim Industries Ltd, owned by the Aditya Birla group, to give a contemporary, fashionable look to its 50-year-old, traditional Grasim brand of suitings.

The Rs 300-crore textile division of Grasim Industries has announced a complete revamp for its Grasim brand.

What the company is attempting, however, is a herculean task. First, the Grasim brand has lost its contemporariness and become aged, as Mr Vikram Rao, Group Executive President, Fabrics & Apparel, Grasim Industries Ltd, admitted at a press conference in Kathmandu to announce the brand's relaunch. Second, the Rs 4,000-crore textile industry (both organised and unorganised sector) is stagnant and even declining by 2-3 per cent.

Grasim Industries, however, is projecting to double its turnover in five years and grow at 15-20 per cent in the current fiscal. How does it propose to achieve these targets? ``By doing things differently, benchmarking against the best brands, and aiming at the number 2 slot among branded suitings, right after Raymond's,'' Mr Rao said.

The company is pulling out all stops to give the brand a facelift, and the four elements the brand will be refurbished on are positioning, distribution, product, and design and development.

The Gwalior name has been dropped from the company's portfolio, and what was Grasim Gwalior will henceforth be just Grasim. To convey fashion as an integral part of Grasim, the brand now sports a pacy logo in place of the earlier straightforward letterin g.

An ad campaign designed to appeal to the 25-45 year-old upwardly mobile male consumer, developed by O&M and shot in Paris, is already on air. A budget of Rs 15 crore has been set aside for promotions and advertising.

``Other initiatives that will help us maintain connects with young consumers will be events such as the `Grasim Mr India' and `Grasim Mr International' pageants,'' Mr Rao said.

Trade confidence in the brand is being built through efforts such as mass retail contact programmes and 24-hour tailoring facilities.

``All trade collaterals are being changed to communicate fashion. For example, modern packaging and backlit boards for Grasim's 100 exclusive retail stores,'' Mr Rao added.

On the product front, a range of `innovative' fabrics are being added to the Grasim portfolio. Among the new sub-brands are a wool-blended fabric called All Seasons, e-Stretch (mechanical stretch fabric without lycra), apart from five synthetic and worst ed collections -- Celestial, Heritage, Herald, Vintage and International.

The intent henceforth is to introduce two product lines every year.

Further, with the objective of achieving `leadership in design', a Grasim Design Studio is being set up in Delhi, on an investment of Rs 1 crore. Headed by an European designer, the design studio will forecast colour and fashion trends besides churning o ut 7,000 designs a year.

Meanwhile, Graviera, a mid-priced synthetic brand from Grasim Industries, was also refreshed with a new look earlier this year. Mr K.D. Joshi, Vice President (domestic sales), Grasim Industries, felt that Grasim and Graviera would not eat into each other 's shares, since both brands have been given distinct identities.

Against Grasim's premium positioning, Graviera is positioned as a mid-priced brand pitted against Siyaram's, Mayur and BSL.

No celebrity endorsement

ICONS age too. With young consumers unable to identify with Tiger Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore -- traditional brand ambassadors of the Grasim Gwalior brand -- Grasim Industries had created a series of ads with the royal duo passing on the Gwalior baton to young, effervescent Saif Ali Khan. That was a couple of years back.

The advertising could not connect with the core target. Company officials say they did not pursue the issue. Interestingly, the new advertising for Grasim does not feature any celebrities.