Orient Electric's Anika Agarwal on importance of IPL and general elections, digital spends and more

Orient Electric Limited, part of the CK Birla Group, has launched a new TVC campaign to promote its premium range of BLDC fans. The TV commercial, featuring brand ambassador MS Dhoni in a never-seen-before avatar, takes the viewers on an electrifying journey through time to unveil the ‘Future of Fans’. Anika Agarwal, Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer, Orient Electric shares what makes MS Dhoni the ideal brand ambassador for Orient Electric, talks about Orient being present for both IPL and general elections, and more.

What led to the genesis of the campaign? What makes MS Dhoni the ideal brand ambassador for Orient?

The genesis of our campaign stemmed from a desire to reimagine fans in the context of modern homes, embracing cutting-edge technology with future-ready features, designs, and finishes. Today, fans have become integral to our lifestyle and home decor, reflecting consumers’ desire for smart, stylish, and technologically advanced solutions. Through our campaign, we wanted to not just showcase our premium BLDC fans differently but present an exciting narrative that encapsulates the evolving preferences of new-age consumers. We sought to break through the clutter of a heavy media investment period across categories, particularly within the fans category.

Now, why MS Dhoni, you ask? Well, it's a natural fit, as he has a longstanding association with Orient Electric. A legend in his own right, Dhoni is at the peak of his popularity and with his future in cricket sparking intrigue, we saw an opportunity to marry his iconic status with our concept of reimaging fans to come up with an interesting narrative around future of cricket juxtaposed with futuristic fans. Through our campaign, we're not just presenting a product, but showcasing a vision of the future, where premium Orient BLDC fans redefine the way we think about comfort, convenience, and style.

Take us through the behind the scenes and making of the campaign? How did the entire process pan out?

The journey behind our campaign was a rollercoaster of excitement and challenge. While we were brainstorming ways to showcase the futuristic appeal of our fans for modern homes, the idea of intertwining it with cricket during the IPL season piqued our interest. When we decided to go ahead with the futuristic narrative for the campaign, the challenge became clear - creating a future world that’s not intimidating but captivating and one that resonates with cricket enthusiasts, ensuring engagement as IPL fever takes hold this summer.

And then another creative conundrum emerged - how to maintain Dhoni’s iconic ‘Captain Cool’ persona while giving it a fresh, futuristic spin? It was a creative tightrope walk, blending the familiar with the novel to capture his charisma like never before. From brainstorming sessions to storyboard sketches, every detail was meticulously crafted to ensure that our message resonated with our audience.

A significant aspect of our campaign was the extensive use of VFX, which brought the futuristic aspects of our narrative to life, resulting in a visually stunning depiction of the imagined future. As for the shoot, the energy on set was palpable, with everyone including MSD, super excited about the concept and the outcome. Through it all, we learned the transformative potential of storytelling in weaving captivating narratives that not only engage but also inspire viewers in exciting and innovative ways.

Can you share some interesting market trends and consumer insights you are observing currently?

One key trend we're noticing is the increasing demand for premium and energy-efficient products across categories like fans, air coolers and kitchen appliances. Consumers are upgrading their lifestyles and are choosing to invest in high-quality, premium products that that enhance their living spaces while giving them the pride of ownership. Moreover, with the increasing environmentally conscious consumerism, the demand for energy-efficient products is also growing fast. With new-age consumers upgrading their lifestyles, brands that deliver innovative solutions resonate well with them. In this context, we at Orient invest heavily in research and development and continue to embrace emerging technologies and trends to deliver groundbreaking solutions that meet and exceed customer expectations.

From a content perspective, we're observing a notable surge in video content consumption, with short-format videos and influencer-generated content playing a pivotal role in shaping consumer preferences. Leveraging this trend, we'll continue to use it to drive consideration as shoulder content. Moreover, authenticity remains paramount, particularly for our digital-first audience. To cater to this need, we'll focus our efforts on platforms like native advertising and product reviews.

We're a mass-premium brand in a heavily penetrated category and we employ an integrated marketing approach. While TV remains our primary reach medium, we're now allocating more than 25 percent of our total spends to Digital. E-commerce is integral to the customer journey, and so we’re using various digital channels including social commerce and DSPs to target younger audiences and women.

What's the crux of Orient's advertising and marketing strategies for the IPL this year?

The IPL holds significant importance for us beyond being just a media property. It's an impact property serving as a key platform for contextual conversations with our brand ambassador, MS Dhoni. Our advertising and marketing strategies during the IPL season are centered around leveraging the tournament's popularity to reach a wider and diverse audience, contextualize our campaign messages to cricket, and engage our audience with relevant digital content. In addition to the IPL, there's a substantial portion of consumers that has interest in general elections, which results in increased news consumption both online and offline. We'll maintain our presence across both these platforms, ensuring visibility in both digital and traditional media channels.

What's your media mix? Where is the business coming from the most?

Our media mix includes a healthy balance of offline and online channels. Considering the fact that a significant number of customer decision journeys start on digital today, we have done audience mapping across media and are using a healthy mix of TV, CTV, Meta, and OTT for broader reach for building top funnel awareness and consideration. For targeting customers who are actively looking for our products, we allocate search spends on Google, Amazon, and Flipkart. Additionally, we are exploring the potential of Q-commerce as a sales channel to provide our customers with quick and convenient shopping experiences. Our summer spends have gone up by 20 percent compared to last year. This increase is to target the premium audience interested in our BLDC Pro fans and to support the exciting media events planned for this season.

While our majority business traditionally comes from general trade, we're experiencing a significant uptick in online sales, with digital channels now contributing to a double-digit share of our sales.

Take us through Orient's growth trajectory.

The growth has been faster than the market last year, driven by product portfolio expansion and the product availability in various designs and across price points, catering to varying consumer preferences. As a consumer-centric brand, we aim to unravel what consumers want and provide them with the right solutions that meet and exceed their expectations. We leverage data analytics to gain deeper insights into consumer behaviour which enables us to deliver innovative, differentiated, and first-to-market products.

With a robust presence nationwide, we rank among the top-tier brands in most states. We are among the Top 3-4 players in the fans category and will continue to build market share across our preferred segments.

How is Orient planning to grow and evolve?

Customer centricity, embedded in our DNA, guides everything at Orient, from product development to marketing strategies. Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on differentiation within our portfolio, increasing accessibility across channels, enhancing customer experience, and building a robust digital strategy to guide consumers through their research journey, increasing consideration for our brand.

As for marketing efforts, we deploy comprehensive 360-degree advertising support during the summer season to maximize our reach and impact. Alongside, we remain committed to investing in the growth of our other product categories including air coolers, water heaters, kitchen appliances and lighting. Our aim is to establish ourselves as a top-quartile player in Lighting and Appliances segments