Zivame Marketing Strategy through Amisha Jain's lens

Founded in 2011, Zivame is an attempt to facilitate easy lingerie shopping for women in India. CEO Amisha Jain takes us through the Zivame Marketing strategy.

Given the digital DNA of the company, digital and social media are a big part of Zivame's effort to reach out to women customers. A large part of their communication has been around building blogs and video content that enables women about product information and questions that pop in her mind in regards to bra shopping — how to select the right size? What style would be a perfect fit? How to wear a bra? We talk to Amisha Jain, CEO, Zivame and dig deeper into the Zivame Marketing Strategy.

Presently, about 60% of all business for Zivame comes from tier-1 cities. One of the reasons behind this is that all of the brand's retail stores are present there. If only digital business were to be seen, the number drops to about 55%. This shows that there is growing popularity of online lingerie shopping in non-metro cities. Further, the age profile of these customers range from 20 to 45 and include college students, homemakers as well as working professionals. These factors play an important role in defining the brand's communication mix.

Tell us about the kind of content Zivame aims to put across. 

We try to create bite-sized content that enables her consumer journey and helps her personalise it according to what she needs. We did a saree shapewear video during the festive season last year and it was able to organically pick up about 15 million views. We try to put across such content regularly. On a monthly basis, we put out 10 to 15 videos to disseminate on social media platforms.

There has been a focus on creating a community, what's happening on that front?

The community we are trying to build is called #ZivameWoman. Here, our customers have come out and talked about what they like about the product and how they are using it. They talk about their experiences. Out of the efforts put in to create this community, we have been able to create 100+ micro-influencers working in their own ways to build the brand. We also have an ambassador program.

Is there a difference in the way you communicate with different demographics?

We take a multi-pronged approach to this. On one hand, we use our social channels to push content that is meant for the all-women in regards to consumption, relatability and information, irrespective of where they are from. We try to communicate in her language where she feels included and feels celebrated for being herself. Apart from the content that goes on our social channels, we partner with influencers.

How and where do influencers fit into the communication cycle?

Our work with the influencers is mostly around body profile and vernacular language communication. When our influencers of a certain body profile are talking to women like them, women are able to relate better. For us, it is less about whether she is in tier 4 or tier 5 town and more about building communication in pockets and communities. It is more about people and personalities you can relate to as opposed to city tiers because even in a Mumbai, there are several tiers.

What is the extent to which traditional forms of media help attract women when it comes to interest in lingerie?

Currently, our largest effort has been digital is nature as we are a digital-native brand. Given the kind of category, we want to have a more personal conversation with her and so, digital is what we predominantly use. OOH, and newspapers have not been something we have actively gone out with. Having said that, we are not averse to traditional media. It's just we try to make sure we use the right kind of medium for the communication we are after.

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How do you find a balance between functionality and sensuality when it comes to selling lingerie?

As a brand, we are not about glamour shot and provocative poses. This is a category that is no innate, core and personal to her that we want to ensure that we give her a perspective that is right to her. Our communication is about creating infinite and exciting personal experiences for her in the lingerie space.

We want her to feel she can have a great look with the various outerwear experiences. That her innerwear can change the way her outerwear looks. In our Pair It Right TVC, we have shown two friends talking about the real issues related to intimate wear. It doesn't feature anyone actually wearing a bra. Our communication is at a very large category shaping and core insight level. We look at what women look at and are thinking about and how they feel about it.