Today in 1997, if an executive in one of the countrys top corporations comes to the office in a washed blue denim shirt, no eyebrows would be raised except in appreciation. This is in no small measure due to a brand painstakingly built over the last four years -- Allen Solly. Having ridden the changes brought about by liberalisation and globalisation in the 1990s. Allen Solly has emerged as one of the truly distinctive brands that have been launched in the 90s.
In the late 80s when Madura Garments, a division of Coats Viyella surveyed the market for ready-made garments, it was already showing signs of undergone a great change over the earlier decades when tailor-made clothes were the order of the day. Ready-to-wear was the emerging trend with the early adopters paying premium prices for the new brands in the market.
Madura Garments themselves introduced two of the leading players, Louis Philippe and Van Heusen taking advantage of the changing economic and consequently, the corporate milieu, where clothes were becoming an increasingly important statement. The formal dress code at work was a means of implying upward mobility, respect for the corporation and seriousness. It became the in thing to be fashionably dressed in plains and pinstripes. Other national brands like Zodiac and Park Avenue rode this early wave along with the Madura Garments brands.
Franchised boutiques were established as the key to building brand image and marketers set up chains of exclusive showrooms with an ambience suitable for a premium product. Advertising focused itself on the corporate citizen and on what the shirts delivered -- a quiet understated look that was the order of the day in a world still under the influence of conservatives. Other brands like Stencil and 9 am also addressed themselves to the same segment albeit at a lower price. The brand choice in the formal category was growing and with the impending entry of Arrow was all set to for an era of high competition. It was now that Madura Garments with its vision of being present in all segments of the ready-to-wear market, began to look at the market afresh.
During the same period, the market in the casual segment had developed equally fast with brands like Wearhouse and Weekender, to be joined later by Benetton. The market thus consisted of the casual segment on one extreme and the formal segment on the other. It was in 1993 that Madura Garments identified the need gap for a brand positioned as relaxed formalwear, keeping with the international trend towards wearing relaxed clothes to work. Allen Solly, a brand from the Coats Viyella Plc portfolio, with an Anglo-American heritage was chosen to launch the new concept in India. The timing was also very appropriate. In the early 90s the consumer was looking to express himself as a distinct individual and this trend lead to marketers to launch products aimed at satisfying this drive. In India, Allen Solly identified the opportunity to target the dress conscious maverick, who was happiest when he was doing his own thing. Everything that Allen Solly did thereafter was in keeping with this audiences values and approach to life.
To be able to occupy this position merchandise had to be distinctive. The shirt collection is cotton-based and colour driven as opposed to the whites, blues and pinstripes of the other more formal brands. The shirt is cut to give a looser fit, with wider armholes and broader yokes for more room. The range also consists of pre-washed garments further enhancing the relaxed feel.
The same concept was also extended into trousers, ties and jackets, each with a difference from the ordinary. The relaxed fit trousers came in a more comfortable, looser fit, cotton rich fabrics and in a range of distinctive colours. A part of the range again was pre-washed for softness and a lived-in feel. Allen Sollys Conversation Ties feature uncommon motifs -- like animals and Walt Disney characters. The jackets are uniquely unstructured with a half lining giving them flexibility in use and look.
To keep the brand at the forefront of fashion, special collections are launched every season. These new collections are developed by the world class in-house design studio and are in keeping with international fashion forecasts and trends.
The retail identity is another important pillar used in the positioning of the brand. The stores sport an Anglo-American look and have an open, interactive design encouraging the customer to touch and feel the merchandise. The merchandise is displayed open i.e. without boxes and polybags in colour blocked co-ordinates. The retail concept has been designed by an international renowned European retail designer, Jean-Claude Panighetti.
Allen Solly is sold either through exclusive franchise stores on the high street called Studio Allen Solly or at shop-in-shops in premium department stores like Shoppers Stop. The in-house visual merchandising team endeavours to enhance the interactive shopping experience by developing special displays for collections, promotions and so on.
Allen Sollys progress from launch to its achievements today can be best explained through its advertising. In the launch phase the challenge was to change the way people perceived formals and the task was to get them to accept Allen Solly as clothes you can wear to work. To be able to do this, the strategy adopted by Madura was to re-engineer consumer perceptions of formal-wear itself. No longer should formal mean only whites, stripes and light blues -- the perception needed to be extended to fit Allen Sollys distinctive merchandise. Apart from this it was necessary to build an aspirational fraternity of users who would give the brand greater visibility and therefore accelerate growth.
The source of business was clearly defined as current premium ready-made users which meant that the target group was evolved and the generic need for a ready-made garment did not need to be addressed. It was recognised that the early adopters would come from those who work in relatively more relaxed workplaces like software companies and advertising agencies or those who are self employed. These people would be experimentative, ambitious and self-assured with a lower need to be seen as different from the ordinary.
The launch campaign was a stark contrast to the existing advertising in the PRMG (Premium Ready Made Garments) category. While the typical PRMG advertisement implied the importance of a shirt to make the right impression. Allen Sollys advertising was positioned as formals that questioned the conventional dress codes and conventional attitudes. With the baseline Formal shirts. Loosely speaking the objective was to appeal to the non-conformist attitude of the maverick linked to the brand positioning of relaxed formalwear.
The launch campaign gave the brand a headstart with its distinctive and memorable headlines. However, one of the problems was that the brand was perceived as being more casual than formal. The other insight gained from post-advertising research was that the personality of the brand was seen as a bit rebellious. The learning, therefore, from the first campaign were that it was critical to keep the formal (for office) context upfront. The other was to give the personality a more mainstream feel -- i.e. of someone who would be willing to bend rules not break them.
In the campaign released in 1995, Allen Solly introduced the consumers to the concept of Friday Dressing. Friday Dressing is an internationally established term (originating in the US) for the dressing down work culture sweeping corporate corridors across the world. The reasons for wanting to own this term and build a close association with it were that it would position the brand firmly as a new dress code for work in the mind of consumer. He would be able to label it and hopefully aspire to dress this way. It would also be possible to ascribe an attitude to the Friday dresser as opposed to the squares.
Research conducted after the advertising broke revealed that the relevance of Allen Solly at work was being accepted and the consumer was beginning to look at it as the new code for dressing at the office. The term Friday Dressing was understood and internalised.
Though the communication established Friday Dressing, the brand name itself was underplayed. It was now essential to bring a linkage between Friday Dressing and Allen Solly and also coin a single phrase to explain Friday Dressing. Thats how Its time you stopped wearing uniforms to work was invented for the 1996 campaign.
The objective of the third campaign was thus to enhance Friday Dressings acceptability at the workplace. Secondly to strengthen the brands link with the concept.
The 1996 campaign used extremely strong body language representative of the Friday Dressers attitude. The stark white background of the advertising and the distinctive photography made it one of the most visible campaigns of the year.
The present campaign is a continuation of the same creative. The results were stunning. Allen Solly recall was up, to about 60 per cent among the target audience showing approximately 100 per cent increase over the earlier tracks. The media delivery was focused on the target group by taking both demographic and psychographic factors into account. The environment wherein the message is carried is as important as the message itself as there is a rub-off from the medium onto the image of the product. A substantial part of the budget is reserved for options which may not show up as obvious choices but are likely to have a preponderance of the Allen Solly type of readers.
The brand building exercise was not restricted to advertising and merchandising. It is crucial for the brand to be seen as innovative, modern and stylish. So enormous care is taken to organise special events that appeal to its consumers.
A special promotion called Allen Solly for a greener world was run which carried gifts that were environmentally friendly like CFC free refrigerators. Each individual customer was also given a free sapling during the scheme period. Allen Solly has always demonstrated its concern for the environment and strives to be eco-friendly in its packaging also by using recycled paper for its carry bags, price tags, etc. Other events included The Wildlife Tie Festival and the Just For Her Month
Allen Solly has been one of the first brands in India to set up its own home page (www. allensolly.com) on the Internet and the first brand in India to sell off the web. Allen Solly plans to increasingly go into the area of one-to one marketing and has built up a database of loyal customers, who will over time, get special benefits and news of the newer ranges. The launch of its loyalty programme is planned in the near future.
What have all these activities achieved? How is the brand performing?
To start with the bottomline, the brand has registered a 238 per cent value growth in 1995, 92 per cent in 1996 and is targeted to record a 100 per cent growth in 1997.Friday Dressing as a concept has been established and is firmly associated with Allen Solly. With the world-wide fashion trend moving in that direction, it is a property thats extremely valuable.
A target profiling study shows an ever-increasing acceptability among traditional PRMG (formal) users. The usage is higher among MNC/Professional houses compared to a similar profile in other organisations.
Some important learnings from Allen Sollys success: It is important to anticipate the changing trends and act quickly to take advantage of them. The effectiveness of delivery depends greatly on sharply defining a personality that differentiates the brand in a crowd. Thirdly, a package of activities integrated by a central or core thought is essential to effectively leverage the budget.n
(The author is an account director at Ogilvy and Mather, Bangalore)
Post-advertising research revealed that the relevance of Allen Solly at work was being accepted and the consumer was beginning to look at it as the new code for dressing.
