It’s in the bag

BY IMPACT Staff

Aiming to target the untapped ladies’ handbags market in the country, Sandeep Goenka, Business Head, Lavie launched the brand with the positioning of a trendy product, appealing to different spheres of a woman’s life

Q] What were the key market insights that you had in mind while launching the brand Lavie?

We’ve been tapping the entire category of ladies’ handbags and we sensed that there is huge potential. The category is large but highly unorganised and untapped by good credible brands. A woman today typically carries at least seven-eight handbags in her wardrobe and there are not many choice offerings available. The whole idea of Lavie came from there.

We were then looking at what sort of personality Lavie should have. The fact is that a woman goes through different moods and roles in her lifespan, from a teenager to a working woman or a housewife. And along with her wardrobe she changes her bags too. But typically brands in this category position themselves against one particular segment whereas we wanted to make Lavie an extension of a woman in any sphere or mood of her life. We wanted the brand to be relevant for her through different spheres of her life. And so, Lavie’s personality is that it has many moods, elements, styles, cuts, designs and colours that woman can choose through the span of her lifetime.

Q] How do you propose to communicate this brand promise to your target audience?

Our advertising tagline is ‘Me, myself and I’ and we have taken Kareena Kapoor as our brand ambassador. We are currently running a print campaign in leading magazines. The creative is such that she is wearing the same attire and her bags change with her mood. She is shown saying that in all her moods she has a bag for herself. So the creative has been made in the manner that exhibits the different moods along with different features of the bag like the cut, style, etc.

We are planning to go into the electronic medium by the second half of this year. We may even look at selective outdoor for the same. We are looking at expanding our points of presence and we will ensure that we have good branding there. So we would be covering all the spectrums of advertising.

Q] How much is your annual marketing and advertising budget?

Considering that it is a nascent brand, our advertising budget is huge. I would restrain from giving numbers but it is in double digit crores.

Q] How has the initial response for the brand been? What is your key challenge right now?

Honestly, the response has been so good that we have run out of stock. We do not know what to do to replenish stocks so quickly. We have exclusive manufacturers for us based internationally.

Q] What is your view on the few other brands in the category?

There are only couple of brands in this category. One is Hidesign which is into the leather segment, and then there is Baggit. Besides that I cannot recall a third nation-wide credible brand which has enough reach and presence. Baggit targets teenagers or college goers while Hidesign is for mature women. There is nobody that offers choice to the consumer across the whole category and at the price point that we do. We would be extending into leather very soon.

Q] In this category, brands are usually perceived to be of more premium that what they actually are, especially international brands.

That is true for international brands but everything starts from somewhere. Even Louis Vuitton was born one day and it became what it is today. So there is always a time when everything is born.

Q] What according to you would be the key to the success of Lavie in India?

The key would be this entire part of being a style statement and having extensive distribution coverage. That is one of the reasons why we have chosen Kareena Kapoor as our brand ambassador. We wanted somebody who can translate the brand personality, and she is considered as a style icon and has a rich lineage behind her. Kareena is known for her fashionable instincts and accordingly we wanted to position Lavie as a fashion handbag brand, and setting new fashion trends.

Apart from that I think the key to the success of the brand would be to be able to sense consumers’ needs and demands and to be able to satisfy them at the right price point along with good quality. Our quality is as per a premium brand even though we are placed at a reasonable price point. So all this collectively will help to make Lavie successful.

Q] What is your distribution approach?

We are starting off with a few exclusive Lavie stores. The first one will be operational next month. Apart from that we are present through large format stores and handbag specialist stores, and we are open for going through the franchise mode, and are looking for franchisees.

We currently have over 100 points of sale for Lavie and are planning to reach at least 200 by next year.

Tags : CMO Interview