Vans India head vows to engage and enable creative communities in India
India's growing economy is paving way for more foreign brands to expand in India and street wear brand Vans has already stepped firmly onto the Indian soil.
Vans India business head: 'Vans will actively engage and enable creative communities in India'
Boosted by the Indian government's push towards a cashless economy and Digital India initiative, India's retailing sector has already surpassed China with an expected growth of $1.3tn by 2020, according to a report by Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF).
The Drum spoke with Rahul Ashok, Vans India business head about theVans marketing strategy in India as it skates along the projected boost in commerce.
Vans recently marked the International Women’s Day with its 'Girl Skate India' campaign where it delved deep into the little-known world of Indian female skateboarding.
He says: "Asia-Pacific is Vans’ fastest growing region and India will be a big part of that continuous growth. As a global brand, it’s important for us to have global consistency that can be adapted to be locally relevant. The brand campaign is a key example of that work. As a brand, we want to uplift skateboarding culture around the world.
"Apart from skateboarding, we have built out strong connections in India in terms of the street culture and lifestyle. This plays out through various events and activations in our focus markets, lifestyle influencers and strong public relations. Given that our target demographic is typically between the ages of 18-30, a lot of this content, engagement and amplification is digital."
Vans in India is up against both local and global brands like Bata, Adidas, Reebok and Skechers. As to how it plans to tackle the competition, Ashok says the key is maintaining its purpose.
"Our strategy in India is to maintain our brand ethos of enabling creative expression through action sports, art, music and street culture in ways that speak to the local consumer. Being in business for over 50 years has taught us that when we stay true to our identity and maintain our authenticity in any market, we’ll be able to grow our brand awareness.
"In terms of our product portfolio, the material play and story-telling is highly differentiated with respect to what the competition does. Very few brands have the kind of collaborations that we bring to the market (for example, Peanuts, Marvel etc), and this builds a lot of energy and connect in the market."
Millennials are the biggest audience for brands in India but Vans has a price point that sits on the upper end, compared to some of its competition. As to how the brand is appealing to youths, despite the pricing, Ashok explains that its adding value through personalisation.
"Vans is a youth culture driven brand, and we’ve been driven by youth culture since the company was founded. We are able to connect with our consumer on a personal level through the creative outlets we support and provide. In India, we have consistently invested in platforms and events such as the DIY shoe painting, Custom Culture, Holy DeTour, etc. The feedback from our consumers is consistently strong on how these platforms encourage creative expression of various kinds."
As to the pricing strategy, he said the brand isn't rushing to scale up and that it's important to remain consistent in the value proposition. He also says the brand is strategic in terms of leveraging its e-commerce partners.
"One more change we are in the process of implementing is a clear range segregation between channels. Our e-commerce partners would have a special assortment that would cater to the deal seekers, while our retail stores would carry more of our regular seasonal merchandise and collaborations. This will ensure that we build salience and a sustainable consumer base across channels."
With the brand's International Women's Day campaign wrapped up, Ashok says the rest of 2018 is about elevating creative culture.
"Vans is taking an opportunity to not only talk about creativity, but will actively engage and enable creative communities. Through the 2018 brand campaign, we are committed to inspiring youth culture through a variety of events including skate clinics, vision walks and board drives. Making sure creatives around the world have access to not only the skills but the resources to be creative.
"In an Indian context, some of these sports and concepts are relatively new. But, with each successive campaign that we run, we are seeing the rapid increase in the number of people who engage with us across all media platforms and also the quality of engagement that we are able to drive. A bonus that we are see emerging, is the number of influencers, people from the entertainment industry, stylists, artists and illustrators, etc., who are turning out to be organic brand ambassadors by wearing, sharing and more."
As well as the creative community, sports is a key driver for Vans and it stays true to its roots in skate and surf culture. According to Ashok, the same approach will be continued in India, as seen in its partnerships with Holy Stoked and Mantra Surf Club.
"Over the last couple of years, we have promoted various skate and surf events, especially those that support grassroots initiation and involvement. Our commitment to building such partnerships have ranged from athlete support and product giveaways to athletes who are from less privileged backgrounds but show high potential, and even sponsorships to build skate parks," he says.