Nakshatra's 'Goddess of Luck'

When Katrina Kaif danced to A R Rahman’s tune at the closing ceremony of the Indian Premier League II in South Africa, her glittering earrings were hard to miss. She sported Nakshatra – the diamond jewellery brand she endorses for the Rs 3,500 crore Gitanjali Gems.

Chairman Mehul Choksi is quick to clarify that the film star was present on the occasion as the brand ambassador for the Bangalore cricket team but admits that her presence in South Africa proved “lucky” for Gitanjali. “We bagged a couple of deals from retailers in South Africa who will now stock Nakshatra,” adds Amrish Masalia, COO, Nakshatra, Gitanjali’s second largest jewellery brand after Gili.

Gitanjali group’s top executives claim that Katrina is living up to her’s new tagline – “Goddess of Luck” – for the Rs 250 crore brand. Ever since her appointment as the brand ambassador in August 2008, Nakshatra has clocked a 60 per cent growth rate. Says Choksi: “However, between April 2008 and April 2009, the brand has actually grown almost 100 per cent.” Before Katrina, Aishwarya Rai endorsed the brand for seven years.

According to marketing experts, Katrina offers a perfect fit to the brand. Jagdeep Kapoor, promoter of Samsika Marketing and former consultant to Nakshatra explains: “Nakshatra is an aspirational brand. So is Katrina. Both the ambassador and the brand have evolved.”

Clearly, the brand’s revised positioning and its new ambassador are paying good dividends. However, according to Masalia, part of the new-found growth at Nakshatra can be attributed to the company’s efforts at expanding its distribution to include more points of presence.

Between 2008 and 2009, the number of outlets that retail Nakshatra went up from 350 to 700. Seven stand-alone Nakshatra Universe stores were also set up in the metros. During the same period, the company expanded its international operations, too. The brand is now present in 20 cities internationally including in London, Singapore and Kathmandu. “Katrina is very well known internationally. We feel our acceptance in London has also increased because of her,” says Masalia.

Nakshatra also focused on television campaign, print ads, bill boards and spots on FM radio stations. “The ad spends have been going up by about 20 per cent every year,” says Choksi. A couple of years ago, Nakshatra’s advertising budget was close to Rs 20 crore.

To be sure, Gitanjali has put all its effort behind Nakshatra after it bought the brand from Diamond Trading Company (DTC). DTC, the marketing arm of DeBeers, created Nakshatra in 2000 and later gave it to a consortium of site-holders under Brightest Circle Jewellery Private Ltd to manufacture and retail it in India. Gitanjali bought 100 per cent stake in Brightest Circle.

Today, Nakshatra is totally owned by Gitanjali. Little surprise then that at the time of acquiring the brand last year, Choksi had promised line extensions of Nakshatra into other lifestyle products such as bags, watches and scarves.

“You can certainly watch out for them this year,” says Choksi.