One of the leading players in the ceramic industry in India, Somany Ceramics, has just celebrated its 50th anniversary. The brand has also announced its association with on-ground cricket for the second time. The brand has also launched many products, which they have considered massive advertising procedures.
Minal Somany, Brand custodian, Somany Ceramics is in conversation with MI, as she speaks on the brand position and marketing campaigns.
Excerpts here:
Q) How are the different segments performing in these times, especially after the pandemic?
Minal: The pandemic was challenging for many industries. We didn’t have an idea how to deal with it. As soon as the country was unlocking, we saw a surge in sales. The demands had gone up as people wanted to finish their pending and unfinished projects soon. Nobody knew when another lockdown was going to happen in the nation.
Q) The real estate sector has produced robust numbers in the last two quarters. Somany Ceramics is directly related to the sector. How are you seeing the growth in the industry?
Minal: The real estate sector was a lull for almost ten years. Now the industry has turned a new leap. The sector has been filtered through which the strong and good ones stand tall. In a few years, India will see a significant surge in the commercial and residential sectors in terms of development. As a result, we also see a surge in the segment. We are already witnessing a surge in demand.
Also Read Somany Ceramics and Salman Khan comes back in ‘Zameen se Judey’
Q) What is the position of Somany in the market currently, considering the number of competitions in the segment?
Minal: We are positioned at number 2 in India.
Q) What are your recent marketing campaigns?
Minal: We have completed 50 years this year. We collaborated with the top 3 Indian Idols to create an ad film to celebrate this. It is about an anthem for Somany. We organized an event to celebrate our anniversary with our top golden and platinum dealers in Goa. We played this anthem live along with the singers at the event. We further amplified this anthem on our digital platforms.
We also launched a digital campaign for our products called Temp Shield and Slip Shield. After that, we created very innovative POSMs for our franchise stores. For our Slip Shield POSM, we displayed the products in our stores, where customers can try and feel these tiles and compare them with regular tiles.
We also have a new tile for which we did a mega launch in different metros like Mumbai, Kolkata, and Bangalore. We are constantly doing a lot of ATL initiatives from November to March. Some of them are airports, hoardings, and brandings.
We are also campaigning on the ground of cricket. Though we have already done one campaign, this is the second time we are doing a cricket campaign.
Q) Are you considering print mediums also?
Minal: After the pandemic, magazines and print media have taken a back seat. Mainly because of a drop in sales and circulation. So we only amplified in the digital medium. But off-course, we can’t ignore the on-ground marketing campaigns. We do it through our franchise stores. Many of our brandings happen through these stores and dealers, like hoardings and local television. We concentrate 2/3 on digital media and 1/3 on other channels, including on-ground advertisements.
Also Read Somany Ceramics forays into the world of cricket with India vs New Zealand Series
Q) Consumer choice is changing drastically over the years. How do you see it when people consider preferences and needs collectively?
Minal: The market is changing drastically. We have seen the consumers become more aware now. All thanks to social media and the information we give on our website. For consumers, tiles and sanitary ware are becoming more like a lifestyle products. They want to choose sanitary ware from different designs and qualities. They want to live with practical yet beautiful things. We are focused on retail sales. So we see the shift of people walking into our showrooms and making choices about our products.
Q) What about your availability in pan India?
Minal: We don’t retail directly. We have 12000 to 13000 touchpoints pan India. Of these, around 3,200 are our dealers, of which 400 are exclusive. We are growing heavily by adding 100 dealers a year. So, we are available in every city. We also have our company-owned showroom, which is about 20-25 in numbers across India, for customers to have a feel of our products. We don’t sell from these showrooms but through our dealers only.
Q) How are the sales in different segments in the market currently?
Minal: Sales are growing. I won’t be able to comment on these figures right now. But our tiles and the sanitary ware segment is growing reasonably. We just added a new factory in South. There is a good demand in the market currently. There is an unorganized sector present in India. But people gravitate towards organized sectors primarily because there’s a brand presence, reliability, product standard, and quality.
Q) What are your plans and programs?
Minal: Our plan as an industry is to increase our footprint in the market. We are adding 350 dealers a year, including sub-dealers and 1000 touchpoints. We want to be available everywhere and to everybody. We are collaborating with our dealers to do in-shop branding and ATL branding. We continue to make a presence in all sorts of media in the form of television, radio, and social media. We are also doing 40-50 mason training in the country. We have our tile master training program as well. These are indirectly the branding exercises that help us build standards and brand stability.
