How to Reinvent Your Brand for the Digital Age

Digital advancements in India have incredibly impacted how and what consumers are purchasing today. They are up to date with the happenings of the world on a real-time basis. This has shaped consumer behaviour leading to new demands, which many of the brands in India may have never looked at.

The fashion industry is the most impacted by this digital wave. Consumer behaviour is continuously advancing with the latest trends in fashion across the world. This has forced brands to make frequent changes not only in their brand messaging but also ‘positioning’ to stay relevant to their customers. Brands need to be equipped better to keep their brand message and position relevant to changing tastes and preferences.

The need of the hour is for brands to comprehend this change and predict these new demands. A key head start to this is always understanding what your customers are purchasing. What your consumers are seeking and what they are finally buying [Technology can bridge the gap between sought vs bought]. The moment your consumer starts seeking information is where the data points kick in. Once brands have real-time insights about their customers, they can undoubtedly utilize these trends for mutual benefit.

We at Blackberrys also sighted a similar opportunity in the Indian apparel market with our offerings – Mainline, Khakhi and Urban. The visibility of these sub-brands was low when compared to our parent image, which is primarily of a formal wear retailer. This obstructed us from gaining the full potential of our product mix. We had to position these brands in such a way as to give them enough visibility, without diluting our brand image. With data and actionable insights into our consumers and business, we were able to do just that. You will now see separate positioning and hence marketing activities dedicated for the three brands on account of our learnings. The brands are to have their own target groups and  furthermore exclusive footprint and touch points, where consumers can truly experience these unique propositions.

An imperative step while repositioning a brand is to keep it relevant to the target group. When consumers perceive a product to be similar to the brand’s image, they will reason that what they know about the brand can be used to predict the product’s attributes, giving them reassurance when they transact with the brand. A data-driven approach lead by technology helps the brand understand its consumer profile and stay customer ready with their offerings.

Blackberrys’ current partnership with Capillary Technologies is helping us to design a targeted strategy for the relaunch of our brands. Capillary with their customer engagement expertise has contributed in developing and refining customer profiles for us to target.

Data-driven marketing efforts will bring the right customer profiles to your brand as opposed to mass marketing effort which brings a lot of quantity but not quality. Thus, it is very important for a brand to maintain its brand image to target the right set. Brands that are using consumer data and insights to develop customer-centric strategies and communicating new brand launches to a targeted set of customers have seen greater success.

The industry has started adopting technology but its use is limited to descriptive analysis rather than predictive analysis. We will see a move in the standpoint once brands begin to better understand its significance.

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Ramesh Kaushik is the Vice President- Brand Experience with Blackberrys where he manages a team spread across Brand & Marketing, Channel Management, Digital, Customer Services, Loyalty Programs, Training, CRM & Data Analytics across the business lines and formats.