Raymond: A hundred styles of white

The latest TV commercial by Raymond represents a marked departure from its strategy so far

As an audience we have been long familiar with television commercials of textile major Raymond - films that show what an archetypal gentleman, or "the complete man" to borrow the brand's punch line, looks like. A constant in all the ads are the suave men clad in suits and jackets, a voice-over and a signature classical piano tune.

A new TVC launched by the company sheds the recognisable executive look for a bearded man wearing a gleaming white shirt. The advertisement, created and conceptualised in-house by the company while roping in a freelancer to shoot the video, is also entirely in black and white. A voice-over communicates the brand's message on white, tweaking the symbolism around the colour such as claiming how it doesn't just stand for purity but for "pure power".

The length of the ad, at 95 seconds, along with the number of words spoken may appear long-winded. However, the clear shift from laying stress purely on bespoke suit to a ready-to-wear white shirt is indicative of the brand responding to the growing preference among men for readymade garments. No surprise, the TVC presents Raymond Whites, the new collection for this season with "100 styles" and "one colour".

Madhu S Dutta, head of marketing, lifestyle business, Raymond Ltd, says, "This campaign is around ready-to-wear. We have designed multiple styles of the white shirt, and the reason for getting into this is that it's something in every man's wardrobe - whether you wear it in a corporate scenario or for any formal-informal occasion. Taking that consumer insight, we have developed from a business and design point of view multiple designs and brought in innovations around categories of formals, semi-formals or casuals."

Raymond has newly designed multiple styles of the white shirt for different occasions, from a tuxedo look in a red carpet event to casuals with various inner layers of different fabrics including in prints or stripes. The white shirt for a man, Dutta adds, is analogous to "the little black dress" for the average woman.

The Indian textiles industry is worth around Rs 7.2 trillion, and it is projected to reach nearly Rs 15 trillion by 2021. In the last financial year, Raymond reported a growth in textile sales of 5.82 per cent, with the increase in sales being led by growth in its business-to-consumer shirting business. The 91-year-old company enjoys over 60 per cent share in the worsted suiting market in India, apart from being the country's biggest woollen fabrics maker.

Raymond ads have always featured models and avoided celebrities. Dutta says, "Raymond is a personification of the complete man. The brand itself has a celebrity kind of stature around it. The recall and the affinity of the brand among consumers are enormous."

However, despite being a leading men's fashion brand, the need to involve is felt strongly by the company. Dutta points out that in the last five to six years, men's fashion and apparel category has become more niche, although not as developed yet as in case of women. "Men are going beyond looking at apparel from a functional point of view. Even in offices, many organisations allow a lot of flexibility in terms of dressing."