``The aim is to create a desire for the brand and drive interested, aware consumers to look for clothes with Lycra,'' says Paul de Belay, director, (Ready to Wear), Asia Pacific, DuPont China Limited. The other objective, of course, is to create awareness and understanding about the fact that Lycra is not a generic name for elastic fibre.

Lycra is the world's only branded elastic fibre and is produced by DuPont, the $45 billion conglomerate. Pertinently, the campaign, launched globally in Spring 1999 and created by Saatchi & Saatchi, positions and reinforces Lycra as a high-performance fiber ingredient with unique``look good, feel good'' associations. Says Belay: ``Lycra is like the Intel chip inside a PC - the super performer.''

According to Belay, the timing of the campaign is right for India because of the potentially huge market-both from the demographics point of view as well as the Indian woman's aspirations. Coupled with the fact that the textile industry is very strong in India and most of the international brands have opened offices in India, Dupont now feels the need to promote its Lycra equity.

The campaign will be customised in India by creating co-branded advertisements in association with mills, manufacturers, retailers, designers and other industry partners who can capture consumer interest around product innovation and new applications of Lycra. For instance, Liz Claiborne, or Tommy Hilfiger or Arvind or Raymond could have a joint ad with Lycra. The campaign will be restricted to print alone and will be splashed in key fashion and lifestyle magazines. The multi million campaign also aims atachieving other objectives: The campaign will significantly extend the brand franchise. Until now, Lycra has been most strongly associated with swimwear, intimate apparel, active sportswear and hosiery.But with the new campaign, it aims to build awareness of Lycra in the potentially huge ready-to wear market, as well as in new applications, such as sweaters, menswear and even shoes. ``The ready-to-wear market is witnessing the largest growth and that's where our focus will be,'' says Belay.

The campaign features-and targets-men for the first time, as well as women. According to Belay, research shows that though brand awareness among men is already high through active sportswear, and they readily accept that Lycra can enhance everyday wear, penetration is very low. It also shows that lifestyle values projected by the campaign have broad age appeal including teens, priming a new generation of Lycra users.

The campaign will be supported with a range of point of sale, merchandising and promotional supportmaterials. To leverage the power of the campaign at point of sale, distinctive hang tags, will be used to identify garments made from fabrics enhanced with Lycra. Their use, however, will be available to manufacturers and retailers whose products are made from fabrics which meet DuPont quality standards.

DuPont extends Accredited Mills programme
As part of its another global initiative, DuPont India is extending its accredited mills programme to Indian textile mills. Under the programme, DuPont identifies certain textile mills and helps them set up Lycra testing facilities either by training key personnel in Singapore or bringing down international DuPont technicians, so as to be considered DuPont's ``preferred source partner''.

The tested Lycra is later promoted by DuPont to various global retailers through advertising or direct mail or promotions. In India, Dupont India has shortlisted two companies-Arvind Mills and Raymond-for the project. For garments, Dupont India is working with global andlocal retail brands such as Gap, Liz Claiborne, Tommy Hilfiger, Liberty, Lovable and Chelsea jeans.

DuPont India has recently increased its plant capacity in Singapore andChina by pumping in a fresh investment of about $150 million. It is also setting up an `End Use Research Lab' in Taiwan.