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Pummy Kaul
New Delhi, Aug 23: Following in the footstep of other textile brands who have gone the Bollywood way, the Rs 150-crore BSL Ltd--part of the LNJ Bhilwara Group--has decided to use popular film actress and model Sonali Bendre, to endorse its BSL brand of suitings. The company is going to splash the glam-gal in a Rs 6-crore ad-campaign to be aired across major satellite channels starting August 25.
The BSL campaign is significant since it's the first major strategic effort from the company after a gap of about two years. ``Our previous ads were lagging a celebrity face and to give some new twist to the suiting campaign we have roped in Sonali Bendre,'' says RP Jhanwar, marketing manager, BSL Ltd.
Significantly, the decision to adopt the celebrity endorsement route has been prompted by the feedback from the company's dealer network which felt that by taking this route sales would get a fillip.
The campaign--created by Ammirati Puris Lintas--comprises two 30- and 20-second TVCs and is based on two themes:traditional and western. According to the agency, this has been done keeping in mind the fact that suitings are very occasion-specific products.
The campaign reinforces the brand's positioning--`the ultimate man', which the agency insists had not been developed as a ``campaign thought'' so far--with a strategic approach. ``For the first time, the campaign has tried to give a particular strategic insight into the ultimate man,'' says the Lintas spokesperson.
A subtle interplay of the man and woman relationship, the campaign is all about the female celebrity endorsement of the suiting-and the man who wears it.
In the first film, set against a traditional marriage backdrop, Sonali is impressed by a male model's dressing style, personality and his caring attitude and falls in love with him and finally declares him as her ultimate man. The second film, has a western setting: here too, Sonali can't resist the charm of the male model and finally declares him her ultimate man.
The company is relying largelyon the electronic media--no print campaign at the moment--which it believes will help it reach its target audience which is largely dominated by the middle and upper middle class. ``We are trying to catch our targeted customers with maximum thrust on the electronic media,'' says MD Gagrani, president BSL Ltd.
In fact, the campaign is breaking with Zee News, besides bagging a regular spot on Zee Cinema; and some high viewership programmes like `Om Namah Shivai' on Doordarshan, and Antakshri on Zee.
The textile industry currently is going through rough times and this is clearly BSL's attempt to perk up its sales--particularly with the beginning of the festival season. The company has also forayed into the readymade trousers market with its brand La Italia in May this year.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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