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Just like any festival is incomplete without a wholesome dosage of ‘mithai’, they also share a special bond with jewelry. This week we delve into the Kalyan Jewellers advertising journey paying an ode to the shining beauty.
Trust Big B to give you as many reasons to drool over his wit, humor, and nostalgic tales on social media, and the veteran actor doesn’t disappoint at all. Earlier this week, he shared a still from a jewellery advert starring him and leggy lass Katrina Kaif. Within seconds the post went viral garnering a million likes and what caught people’s attention more than the stunning visual was the caption where he wrote – “I did not search for this picture, but found it while flipping through the pages. Referring to Katrina as ‘Devi Ji’ the actor further hails the jewellery clad actress for her beauty and identifies himself as the man in the photo. Although he refrained from mentioning the brand, viewers were quick to recognize it and hence we too couldn’t find better timing to laud the Kalyan Jewellers advertising journey.
The Journey- From Kalyan Textiles to Kalyan Jewellers
It is the saga of one of the oldest business families in India with a legacy of over a century in business, starting from as early as 1908. Although Kalyan Jewellers took birth as a showroom in 1993 in Thrissur, Kerela, a few are apprised that the business was first formed as a textile mill where T S Kalyanaraman, now the Chairman and Managing Director of Kalyan Jewellers, was put to work at the age of 12.
Sharing a little backstory in the media, he was quoted, “My grandfather and father were in the textile business. In Thrissur, there is a lane of jewelry shops where people come to shop for jewelry and we had our textile retail shop adjacent to that lane. My father always thought of entering the jewelry industry and some of our regular customers too encouraged him. Thus, aspiration and influence, both led him to start Kalyan Jewellers.”
After forming some inbound links with the goldsmiths and business minds outside, Kalyanaraman moved on from textiles and ventured into jewellery retailing with Kalyan Jewellers with an investment of Rs 75 lakh. Today, the business worth a thousand crores is prospering in South India and has showrooms spread across the homeland and GCC.
Kalyan Jewellers Advertising Journey
Before concentrating on the big goals of investments and returns, the proprietors had to strategize about luring the masses to the big fat jewelry store who were then accustomed to doing local shop deals. Built on the pillars of transparency, honesty, and ethical proceedings, Kalyan Jewellers marketed itself as the one that can be trusted and thus was placed as the one-stop-shop for ‘Vishwasam’. And thus started the Kalyan Jewellers advertising journey.
The business sowed its seeds when the jewellery segment was unorganized and had to be established as a category and as one of the early disruptors in the category, Kalyanaraman took it upon self to build a benchmark for the industry. With no existence of gold standard and hallmarking, to win over consumer’s trust, Kalyan Jewellers launched a campaign titled ‘My gold, my right’ with an aim to change the ethics of the jewellery business.
As part of the campaign, the brand educated the people about gold standards and introduced BIS certification, rate tag, loyalty program to cut the competition.
Since its inception, Kalyan Jewellers has adopted a hyperlocal strategy to execute its marketing and advertising plans across South India and then expanded its base as a national brand. It is also said that the strategy has worked in favor of the brand and served as a foundation for its success.
Through adopting local tactics to reach out to the target audience, Kalyan Jewelers aimed to bring out a disruption in the Indian jewellery market by not only altering the way people bought gold but also bringing a change in the ways it was sold.
The customer is the king approach and listening to minute feedbacks and advice from them has been a usual practice carried out by the company to carve the variants around consumers' wants and demands. The strategy has been to give what consumers wanted and let them choose from all kinds of jewellery to choose from. Therefore to break the traditional model of a small setup, the company laid stones for a store spreading over 4000 sq.ft area fully air-conditioned with ample sitting capacity, clean toilets, and enough space for car parking.
Kalyan Jewellers focused on a customer-centric model harping on integrity, trust, quality, transparency, and innovation. The brand’s road to this leadership position in the industry is defined by its knack for setting industry-level benchmarks in enhancing customer experience through innovations. Since the brand’s inception in 1993, it has claimed to have been pioneering various business practices to promote and implement ethical conduct in India’s jewellery industry and continues to communicate the same through its advertising.
A
multi-starrer - The tale of Brand Ambassadors
The Kalyan Jewellers advertising journey primarily imbibes nuances of celebrity endorsement at its core and time and again roped in various know faces to market the brand and make it one of its own. It started by bringing board veteran South actors like including Manju Warrier in Kerala, Nagarjuna Akkineni in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Shiva Rajkumar in Karnataka, Prabhu Ganesan in Tamil Nadu as its regional brand ambassadors.
With a deep understanding of local tastes and preferences, Kalyan Jewellers mandated the ambassadors with a distinct voice to offer an array of traditional and contemporary jewellery designs in gold, diamonds, precious stones, and other precious metals crafted by the brand.
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In 2011, the Thrissur-based brand has roped in former Miss Universe and actor Sushmita Sen as its brand ambassador for their bridal jewellery collection ‘Sankalp’. Simultaneously, a top star line up of Mammootty for Kerala, Prabhu in Tamil Nadu, Shivrajkumar for Karnataka, and Nagarjuna for Andhra Pradesh were doing their job as the face of the brand raking in regional eyeballs.
The Kalyan Jewellers advertising journey followed a 360-degree approach spread across print and primarily focused on television and outdoor. With mass hoardings of celeb brand ambassadors and constant golden hues painted on the portrait frames covered different touchpoints of the cities for visibility. The print advertisements too carried glamour filled portraits of female celebs adorned in jewellery set prepped for some occasion or an auspicious ceremony. The grandeur and larger than life formula to present the brand offerings while being very selective in advertising touchpoints have a boost to the brand’s trust in itself.
Also Read: Kalyan Jewellers ad featuring Big B faces flak from bank union
Kalyan Jewellers, being the firsts of many initiatives, also believed that the customer needs to be educated and aware, as this is the first step in preventing malpractices in business. As a part of this philosophy, the brand has conducted several campaigns over the years, to educate customers about purity, pricing, and other aspects leveraging the known faces so that the consumers get a relativity sense and a better understanding.
From promoting the ‘trust’ factor to marketing the ‘chit
scheme’ to spreading awareness about the MRP tags, the brand has touched upon
little details and conveyed the same by staging plotlines in its communication.
In 2012, Kalyan Jewellers announced the appointment of Amitabh Bachchan as its first national brand ambassador. Signing on Bachchan was a step towards the evolution of the Kalyan brand and in line with its brand philosophy of trust and credibility. Kalyan’s products are known for its combination of style and performance and world-class quality. Bachchan embodied an exemplary blend of both style and performance, making him the ideal choice to endorse the products.
With his remarkable appeal across all sections of people in the country, the brand was confident that the Senior Bachchan will communicate Kalyan Jewellers’ attributes to its consumers effectively. Since then the actor has been a part of every major campaign by the brand advocating the brand’s philosophy’s schemes about its varied jewellery set in a few while enjoying the festive mood.
Under his presence, the brand went onto launch various schemes and offers – from persuading people to identify the real gold and be aware of the malpractices in gold and be together with Kalyan Jewellers. Bachchan endorsed Kalyan jewellers not only in North India but also appeared in commercials in the south highlighting the Kalyan qualities like 100% BIS hallmarking, rate tag.
Thereafter, many BTown beauties like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor represented the brand bringing in the glamour and trust quotient along with the much-needed grace in the jewellery segment. It was not only the commercials that featured these faces but exclusive print photoshoots added a traditional twist to the modern looks clad in different jewellery pieces. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was paid ₹100 million (US$1.4 million) per year for a two-year deal with Kalyan Jewellers to be a nationwide brand ambassador, which was formerly Sushmita Sen.
The endorsers were roped into market different product line ups including Muhurat (Wedding jewellery), Mudhra – (Handcrafted antique), Nimah (Timeless heritage), Anokhi (Uncut diamond jewellery), Rang (Precious stones jewellery), Tejasvi (Polki diamonds), Ziah (Diamond jewellery collection), Laya (Contemporary gold & diamond jewellery), Glo (Dancing diamond jewellery), Vedha (Heritage jewellery with Uncut diamonds), Apoorva (Diamonds), Hera (Daily wear diamonds) and many more according to their personalities. The advertising and marketing budget of Kalyan is reportedly around ₹900 million (US$13 million).
In 2013, Kalyan Jewellers entered International markets by opening six showrooms on the same day in UAE. Since then it has grown to operate 30 showrooms in the Middle East across UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman. The brand roped in Shah Rukh Khan to promote the brand in the Middle East where he amasses an equally larger fan base.
Jaya Bachchan joined Big B to represent Kalyan Jewellers nationally in 2015 to mark the launch of its Mudhra collection complemented by a marketing campaign. It was also the time that the duo was acting together after four years. The appointment was in line with the strong and timeless appeal of the Mudhra collection.
Apart from TV and radio commercials, hoardings, and print ads, Kalyan Jewellers also conducts various on-ground activations stationed either in the showrooms or the brand associates with various events happening in the key markets. Additionally, the company also ties up with various entities like airlines, banks, and publications as part of the many loyalty programs that Kalyan Jewellers has.
In 2018, to mark its silver jubilee in the Indian jewellery market, the brand roped in Shweta Bachchan Nanda alongside Amitabh Bachchan (brand ambassador). The TVC showcased Big B as an honest retired government visiting a bank along with his daughter to return the extra money credited to his pension account and his bitter encounter with bank employees in the process.
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The advertisement garnered flak online and came under fire from the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC). The bank union termed the advertisement as ‘disgusting’ and accused it of attempting to create distrust in the system. The campaign was immediately withdrawn by the jewellery brand.
In the same year, Katrina Kaif was signed as the global brand ambassador and appeared in various advertisements promoting various offers and jewellery in an eloquent manner especially in the Northern and western markets. Katrina personifies style and elegance which built the base for her ambassadorship. On her appointment, the company had stated that she epitomizes the quintessential woman of today –confident, progressive, and with the courage of her conviction. The new association will enable the brand to explore new avenues to engage with its customers as it scripts its future growth strategy in India and globally.
The latest bridal jewellery collection from the house of Kalyan features Katrina with other ambassadors starring as the ultimate queens in the quintessential look.
Recently Kalyan Jewellers has signed a number of regional brand ambassadors like Pooja Sawant in Maharashtra, Kinjal Rajpriya in Gujarat, Wamiqa Gabbi in Punjab, and Ritabhari Chakraborty in West Bengal.
Festive and occasion-based advertising
Successfully challenging conventional beliefs and creating a strategy that has brought a noticeable shift in industry-standard, Kalyan Jewellers advertising journey is equipped with every spot for every occasion. The brand has been creating compelling creative campaigns and building preference for the brand in a highly competitive category.
It celebrated Mother’s Day last year with the #HerHeartOfGold campaign wherein many bloggers, social media influencers and brand ambassadors including Katrina Kaif, Shweta Bachchan Nanda and Prabhu Ganesan shared moments and stories of the bond they share with their mother.
The 2019 #DilRoshanTohDiwaliRoshan multilingual digital campaign showcases the essence of long-standing Indian traditions, cultures, and rituals that have been followed through generations. The videos encapsulate the various customs and traditions such as lighting up the house with diyas, wearing new clothes, gifting jewellery and celebrating the festival of lights with family and friends. The video depicts candid moments which are a common sight during the various festivities.
Keeping the new normal in mind, Kalyan Jewellers in May 2020 rolled out the #MuhuratAtHome campaign focusing on lockdown weddings. #MuhuratAtHome is about going back-to-basics – to a time and an age when weddings were home affairs. When the invitee list was compact and the wedding itself a simpler, more scaled-back, easier-to-plan affair that involved the participation of every family member.
Kalyan Jewellers continued with a hyperlocal approach and multiple ad films encapsulate this concept is released regionally across India. Shot in Malayalam, Hindi, and Tamil, the campaign features a series of short ads highlighting the rituals practiced in a simple, homely wedding setup.
Whether it be celebrating Gudi Padwa in a true Maharashtrian style or reveling in the red hues of Durga Pujo to celebrating the sacred bonds of Raksha to diving in the joys of the festival of lights, the brand has delivered a masterpiece for each occasion.
Apart from promoting the functional aspects of the product like introducing the concept of neighborhood customer service centers in the jewellery industry under the ‘My Kalyan’ brand, it also has been actively involved in creating everlasting bonds over emotions and stories worth telling on various events. Additionally, the celebrations feature attractive packages, new designs, and exclusive privileges to fulfill the distinct needs of customers with enhanced savings and shopping options.
The latest Ameya collection for Diwali was complemented by the roll-out of the #TraditionOfTogetherness campaign while also saluting frontline warriors for selfless service in the fight against COVID-19.
With the campaign, Kalyan Jewellers reiterates the message of the need for each of us to support one another while also keeping alive the festive spirit, albeit on a more intimate scale.
Whether it is about purity in gold jewelry, fair trade practices, availability of variety in designs, all the ads have become memorable due to the creative and innovative narration styles.
Kalyan Jewellers Digital Play
A significant part of Kalyan Jewellers' digital presence is amplified by its brand ambassadors like Katrina Kaif and Amitabh Bachchan who occasionally post some BTS photos from the ad shoots, a few of them which went viral early this year.
T 3419 - - Historic moment for Jaya and me .. 3 superstar sons of 3 Iconic Legends of Indian Film Industry , work together with us .. what honour ..
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) January 24, 2020
Nagarjun - son Akkineni Nageshwara Rao, Telugu
Shivraj Kumar - son Dr Raaj Kumar, Kannada
Prabhu - son Shivaji Ganesan, Tamil pic.twitter.com/Plvtd372ZH
Apart from the above, the brand is actively involved in creating topical creatives around various occasions and staying relevant to the digital population in the form of greetings and festive collabs.
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The brand’s Youtube page boasts of regular campaign posts with a multitude of videos serving various purposes- from educating, sharing tips, guidelines to information.
Wherein on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook the brand frequently talks about campaign launches, offerings, schemes, discounts, and newly rolled out product line ups.
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Built on trust and credibility for almost three decades now, Kalyan Jewellers advertising journey is a reckoning one.