Brand Stories Unfold: Booth Experiences At Bharat Tex 2024
At Bharat Tex 2024 which was held from 26 – 29 February 2024 in the capital, a convergence of leading fashion brands like Killer Jeans, Octave, Arvind Fashions (Club A), Westside, Fabindia, and Biba showcased a display of experiential marketing strategies. These brands ingeniously transformed their exhibition booths into immersive realms, inviting visitors to embark on sensory journeys. With a focus on tactile engagement, patrons were beckoned to touch, feel, and intimately interact with the fabrics, designs, and narratives these brands weave.
Each booth became a microcosm of the brand's ethos, inviting exploration and discovery – where they transcended mere displays, becoming experiential landscapes where visitors were not just spectators but active participants in the narratives of fashion, style, and culture.
Everything Experiential spoke to brands which were present at the Bharat Tex 2024 about aligning their booth experiences with their brand identity, incorporating sensory elements such as touch and feel and more.
Killer Jeans:
Killer Jeans, a denim brand, was at the Bharat Tex – 2024, and its collection was presented as two distinct stories - Authentic (jeanswear with various interesting original treatments) and Swagger (the streetwear story with military-inspired cargos).
Ensuring that its booth experience aligned with its overall brand identity and messaging, Sanjeev Wadhwani, Creative Head, of Killer Jeans mentioned that has Killer Jeans always been a hyper-creative brand and it was time to showcase its creativity with respect to the retail experience of the brand. “But it all needed to start at the B2B level. Hence we chose Bharat Tex as the ideal platform to exhibit our vision for our next-generation stores.”
The specific sensory elements and touch and feel activations that Killer Jeans incorporated into its booth this year to create a memorable and immersive experience for attendees involved choosing a very minimalist look for its booth, to begin with. “With a large screen at the entrance, we showcased our AW’ 24 Lookbook and we had three user-friendly interactive touch screens within the booth with a huge content bank, offering extensive information about the brand Killer, the company KKCL, and the collections,” reveals Wadhwani, about using beautifully designed displays, for ease of browsing.
Apart from this, the brand had a large central seating area for business discussions and minimal display racks with the brand’s high fashion garments, which were colour-blocked and presented as complete sets or ensembles.
From the point of view of personalising the booth experience to resonate with different target audience segments and their preferences, the booth was rather generic because it was a sharing of the brand’s vision for the future of Killer retail.
“However, we had wonderful discussions with prospective retail partners wherein we addressed their queries and offered personalised prospects and customised opportunities for them to be a part of our vision moving forward,” said Wadhwani.
Octave Apparels:
One of the many brands that took part in the Bharat Tex 2024 event, was Octave Apparels. For the brand, aligning its booth experience with the essence of the brand as a casual streetwear brand was paramount.
About ensuring that its booth experience aligned with its overall brand identity and messaging, Balbir Kumar, Chairman, Octave Apparels points out, “Drawing inspiration from our exclusive retail stores, we replicated the vibrant and contemporary ambience within the booth. The layout, colours, and design echoed the dynamic and urban feel of our brand, reinforcing the connection between the booth and Octave's overall identity.”
Discussing the sensory elements and touch-and-feel activations that they incorporated into their booth to create a memorable and immersive experience for attendees, Kumar brought out, “Understanding the importance of tactile engagement in streetwear, we incorporated sensory elements that resonate with the essence of our brand. From textured fabrics that embody the comfort and quality of our collections to ambient beats that mirror the energy of street culture, every element aimed to immerse attendees in the urban spirit of Octave, leaving a lasting impression.”
The brand had displayed its brief merchandise covering all categories like polos, sweatshirts, sweaters, shirts, jackets, denims, etc that it specialises in ensuring that visitors were well-introduced to its design and quality delivery capabilities.
Talking about personalising the booth experience to resonate with different target audience segments and their preferences, Kumar mentions that recognising the diverse tastes within their consumer base, they organised their booth into distinct sections mirroring our product categories – Menswear, Womenswear, and Junior Wear. “Each section was curated with the unique style preferences of the respective demographic in mind. This personalised approach ensured that our booth resonated with the varied interests of our audience, fostering a sense of inclusivity that reflects Octave's commitment to street-style diversity.
We ensured that our booth always remained hygienic in terms of visual merchandising and a category-wise product placement.”
With regard to using technology, such as augmented reality or interactive displays, to enhance the touch-and-feel aspect of Octave’s booth, Kumar says that they had created a video wall towards the entrance of their booth showcasing different ad campaigns and their in-store videos enabling visitors to get a feel of the brand.
