Q] What does your marketing mix look like? Can you also talk about the medium that V-Guard uses the most?
Nandagopal: If you look at V-Guard’s portfolio, you will see that we are present in a lot of low-involvement categories. However, we have some consumer-facing categories like kitchen offerings and water heaters, which transcend functionality to play a slightly more aspirational role in the bathroom. Our entire media mix is largely a mix of ATL, which is traditional media, plus new media. We also do a lot of BTL activities, which are below-the-line activations, to support last-mile buying. It’s not skewed towards a particular medium. Yes, in traditional media, we are slightly more skewed or over-indexed on Television because it’s also about creating the imagery that you require. Having said that, today all our plans include linear TV plus OTT because they have been built keeping in mind the changing consumption patterns. Today, consumer behaviour has changed in terms of content consumption. In tune with that, we have also made those changes in our planning process as well as in our delivery.
Q] What is the differentiating factor for V-Guard that separates it from the rest of its competitors, and does your latest offering, Insight-G, also have these differentiating factors?
Nandagopal: If you look at our brand, it came from a transformational exercise back in 2018. It was then that we had stated our vision for the brand. It was about creating thoughtful products and experiences for our discerning consumers. With that perspective in mind, we transformed our identity with the larger purpose of the brand, which is about bringing home a better tomorrow. We are focused on enabling our consumers to see that when they use a V-Guard product, it meets a need, and they take pride in the fact that they’re using a V-Guard product.
The Insight-G, which we have just launched, is another step in that direction because it’s not just another BLDC fan. At every stage of this journey, we were reaching out to consumers, understanding the challenges, pain points, and gaps in the products they were using, and then we tried to go out and create a product that matched their expectations. The Insight-G is crafted with a lot of features which consumers were expecting from our brand.
Q] There are a lot of talks about the Insight-G fan being aesthetic. So, what are your plans for the upcoming campaigns, and what does V-Guard as a brand look to gain from them?
Nandagopal: Aesthetics is one of the core deliverables of this product. We have a strong Digital marketing-led campaign, and we are targeting specific geographies, which are in the south and the west. This campaign will be led by an online video, and we will also use influencer marketing to create that buzz and credibility. Today, influencer marketing has evolved considerably, and reports say that two out of five Gen Zs trust influencers more than their friends. Gen Zs are the future evangelists of our products, and it’s not something we can ignore. Hence, we will continue to reach out and use the Digital marketing medium quite effectively across social, and paid channels as and when required. This will be coupled with a strong out-of-home presence across these markets so that we can carry that visibility and that scale across critical markets. We will also have retail for last-mile buying and set up dummy displays targeted at close to 1300 stores to influence last-mile consumer buying. As we move closer to peak season, which is April–May, we will look to expand further.
Q] What is the ‘star category’ of V-Guard? Can you give a rough breakdown of sales across different categories?
Arif: Every category we have is a ‘star category.’ In terms of perception, V-Guard was always known as a stabiliser company. But now, stabilisers makeup around 15% of the total turnover of V-Guard and many other categories have grown. Fans are doing a considerable amount of business, and we have wires and cables doing fantastic business for us. Further, we have forayed into kitchen appliances and have also made some acquisitions. We have recently acquired Sunflame, and we give equal focus to all categories and intend to make every category a ‘star category.’
Q] What is V-Guard’s approach to targeting different sets of markets?
Arif: India is a big country, and every state has different ways of working and different regional preferences. Right from the development of a product, we cover these regional preferences so that the products that we make can cater to all segments. As the products are different, your go-to-market strategy might vary. For distributor-oriented markets, which have various retailers and distributors, different promotion and go-to-market strategies are required. Their markets may be down south or in the west where they have modern trade or regional speciality stores. So, you will have a different strategy. Here, too, you may have a different selection of products. Thus, we emphasize regional marketing wherever we want to sell, keeping in mind the area, zone, and preferences in terms of aesthetics and reach.
