Every common man can be stylish; every person can be a celebrity: Bata's Badri Beriwal

As India launches into the festive mode, Bata has launched its new initiative called “Every Walk is a Ramp Walk '' campaign which is rooted in the insight that anyone can feel like a celebrity, all they need is self confidence and a stylish pair of shoes. For this campaign, Bata has paired up with popular social media influencers. Bata recently got 500 plus of its stores refreshed before the festivities.

Badri Beriwal, chief strategy and business development officer, Bata India speaks about the new campaigns featuring influencers and says, “Consumers today are high style conscious. This season, as we get into the festivity mode, we have come out with city casual collections and celebration collections. Both these collections are inspired by global style. The idea was to make every common man feel that they can be stylish. Every person can be a celebrity. Influencers are the new celebrities, so Bata decided to show them in an avatar they have not seen before and make them style models."

Beriwal talks about the brand image that he envisions for Bata and says, “Bata has always stood for trust. The fact that you get amazing collection, the fact that you get comfortable shoes at a quite affordable price, these are some of the values that Bata has always embodied. Bata is also ensuring that it is seen as style forward. He sheds light on a past campaign where Bata has harped on the fact that we are trying to bring in global style to consumers across our network of 100 plus stores."

Addressing premiumization, Beriwal says that there is a set of consumers where we have to premiumize and offer solutions and products at the premium end and that’s where our whole approach of bringing brands which are more and more attuned to these consumers whether its Hush Puppies or North Star, brining in global styles and technology is one element. The other important thing is catering to tier 2 and tier 3 towns as well and that’s where distribution and ensuring Bata’s accessibility.

Since the onset of Covid, athleisure has picked up. Beriwal highlights Bata's athleisure strategy and shares, "Bata’s portfolio contains two strong brands – Power and North Star. These global brands are really strong in many countries. As there is sneakerization and casualization happening in the country, we have launched our Sneaker Studio where we have brought all our sneaker collection together. We are bringing in new styles, more global and attuned to youngsters, we are also investing behind some of these brands to make them more known and make them more relevant in the Indian market."

Bata's current gig plans, include distribution and driving store expansion, and ensuring that brand is relevant for the youth.