Triumph's Bhavin Devpuria Talks Experiential Marketing Strategies

In the vibrant landscape of India's lingerie market, experiential marketing has emerged as a dynamic force, captivating consumers with immersive brand interactions. Triumph International, a global leader in intimate apparel, has ingeniously embraced this trend. By orchestrating unique and sensorial experiences, Triumph transcends conventional marketing, inviting customers to engage with their products on a personal level. In a country where cultural nuances play a significant role, Triumph's innovative approach not only showcases its lingerie collections but also fosters a deeper connection, redefining the lingerie shopping experience in India.

In our BrandCraft series, Bhavin Devpuria, Marketing Head - India & Sri Lanka, Triumph International talks to Everything Experiential about the brand’s experiential journey in the country, utilising experiential initiatives to connect with its consumers and more.

Edited excerpts:

To begin with, experiential marketing has been a big chunk of any brand's plans for quite some time. Triumph has been present in India for more than two decades and connecting with over 4 million customers across the country, how has the journey been for the brand since it stepped into the country and how has the brand's experiential journey evolved over the years? 

I'm not too sure that if two decades ago you were able to do a lingerie ad, through the traditional medium. Over time with urbanisation, I think the bit of acceptance has come in, in a way that talking about lingerie is no longer a taboo. I mean, it's a part of your body.

I do understand that we are a conservative market. We cannot talk about lingerie upfront like any other FMCG brand. So yes, it has been a bit of a journey for both the industry, the consumer, and the brand itself.

At every different life stage, with every different evolving year, the experience is different – the product remains the same, but it's a different experience. Today you go to a store, you do not end up buying without experiencing your product. If once upon a time you wanted to buy a piece of furniture, you would never buy furniture without the touch and feel. Forget buying furniture, you would never buy an air conditioner or a refrigerator without the touch and feel.

You still wouldn't buy a refrigerator because it needs a specific space to fit in. Obviously, for bras also, unless until you don't try it, you don't try the fit, how would you know that you're wearing the right size? So hence it is important – the experience and the moment of truth at the store are the key factors with evolving times.

While we've also evolved, we've also realised that it is imperative that there will be customers who might know the sizes, they would want to buy online. But just to be sure, we have a size calculator online as well. So with our intuition and experience, if you go on the brand’s website, you will find a fit calculator that will tell you what exact fit would be appropriate for you.

And at the same time, we realise that we live in a country that has different sizes and shapes. And, women, go through a lot of changes throughout their entire life cycle. That is starting from hitting puberty to turning into an adult, a proper 18-year-old, to getting married, to having kids, to moving on to a level of menopause. These are different life stages. And at all these life stages, it is one thing that always ends up driving a woman. That is confidence. We are a brand that talks about each individual. For each uniqueness, we are a brand. It's personal. So for us, it's not one too many approaches. It's a one-to-one approach.

Hence, we have things called a #Brafitchallenge, where instead of saying, hey, listen, you're not wearing the right fit - many people would not like to hear that because according to you, you do wear a right fit. So we came up with a different way of having that communicated. We said that, well, if you think you're wearing the right fit, let's take a #Brafitchallenge. If you win, we'll gift you, we'll gratify you, we'll give you something. If you don't, then here's the process. Here's how we created a fit card. We mentioned that how to take care of yourself.

And that particular insight made us understand that we have different diversities. Each market within India is very different. Within a place like Mumbai, many various districts are different.

That's where we see, that online sales for lingerie are increasing because of education, because women are out there, they get to know about the product, they get to know about their right size, and they buy online on the ground. Experiential conversation helps us online, translating it into an entire purchase journey. 

How much do you allot to traditional marketing, digital marketing and experiential marketing? 

There were times when traditionally used to take almost 70 per cent of the entire marketing. But, now, the traditional market has a certain boundary.

You cannot have outdoor communication at Agartala, but I can reach Agartala through a geo-targeted campaign. So experiential, I would say, would be around 10 per cent. Digital would be a little more - would be somewhere around 55 per cent, 30-35 per cent would be towards traditional.

But I'm not still giving away or I am not still saying that it is not a relevant medium. I think, OOH has become more experiential right now with digital out-of-home, especially that is in your Bombay and Delhi's of the world. Bangalore is not that strong. Bangalore, Tamil Nadu and Chennai are not that strong in terms of OOH media. But with the digital influx, it is getting better. The emergence of outdoor and digital ended up starting in a place like Kolkata. Then it got into your Bombay-Delhi's of the world. And those are more experiential. And those guys also realise that instead of having one hoarding, might as well I can have a hoarding play like a spot and end up making more bucks than anybody else can.

There are ways of doing a particular campaign that we would do first in terms of strategy, we would want to always look at whether we want to impact or we want reach. For us, it becomes imperative that during a season launch, which is SS’ 23 – SS’ 24, that's where we want to have an impact, which is talking about a new season, that's where we do an outdoor with that. Our idea of launching a collection with an outdoor is just a reminder medium.

Digital remains constant. Having a campaign which is always on, you're supposed to be visible out there - be it on Google, be it on Meta. It's most important to be visible.

Also, getting somebody's attention only through digital becomes difficult. So you have to hammer with all different mediums as well to bring that attention back. So, when it is a super cluttered medium, what is it that you do? You do small burst campaigns. You be visible. Instead of having an entirely staggered approach of having a campaign done in months, you do a 15-day campaign, move out, and have an extension through our digital that helps us sustain the campaign.

How does Triumph leverage experiential marketing initiatives, such as the #ItsPersonal campaign and #Brafitchallenge, to increase awareness and engagement with its target audience? And what are you looking at for 2024?

So 2024, I would say is a year not only for Triumph, but I think for entire retail and apparel, it's a year of consolidation. It's important to know your customers and, most importantly, your loyal customers. And it is most important to have to consolidate this entire customer base so that they come back and shop with you, which means different experiences are to be created.

Saying that, we've launched a membership, our loyalty program, that we launched on our e-commerce. And soon we are going to be launching anytime at our stores as well. So if you become a member, you enjoy member benefits, which are birthday discounts, and anniversary discounts, you get vouchers, get special invites to events that would happen maybe to our trade shows. And most importantly, you get the first preview of the new launches.

Today lingerie is need-based and comfort-based. Who would look at it as something that would translate into a lifestyle product? But that is changing.

We see that with more and more education, more and more urbanisation, more and more self-care, and self-love, all of these are changing. The way one looks at or women look at intimate wear is also changing. So hence we see a lot of innovation that is within the product that comes in.

We have a couple of products that are smooth-wired because a lot of women would not be comfortable with an underwired one. But they might not even know that that underwired would make their life the easiest. Hence, to bridge the gap between the minds.

With underwired, there's something called a soft wire where you would not even realise that it is a wired bra. So these are the kind of innovations that we come up with as one of the industry experts. And yes, it is imperative to communicate that. How would we do that? With the help of membership, with the help of the AI tools that we end up having, creating different parameters.

Hence it's imperative to communicate and educate the customer. The digital world is something different. And it keeps on teaching you every step of the way in terms of how to know your customers the most. And I think customers are the ones that keep teaching you every step of the way you communicate.

How does Triumph incorporate the concept of personal journeys and individual lingerie choices into its experiential marketing efforts?

Starting from the traditional ways of doing things, visual merchandising plays the most important role. That's the first moment of truth for any consumer, because a consumer looks at your communication, reads your communication, and comes to the store. We've got over 1100 plus these points where we are present in Lifestyle, ShoppersStop, mom-and-pop stores, the traditional retail, and we've got around 18 odd franchise stores as well.

The moment of truth happens at each of these stores with our customer service associates. Going down to the store and directly talking to a customer service associate, you might be a bit hesitant looking at people around, still with that awkward silence. But what ends up helping you or assisting you? It's a silent communication that is visual merchandising.

We did a bit of research and we got to know that the potential we have is in getting plus size. Talking a little more about plus size or a heavy bust is something which a lot of brands miss out on. We don't want to miss out on this fact because like I said initially, it's one to one approach.

It's for every individual. Within our research, at any given point in time, these conversations have come up where customers or we do Facebook Live or Insta Live with Amazon, and Myntra, always these questions keep popping out. What about a heavy bust? What do we do about it? What is it that you have? So hence we have a clear communication that is put out on a shoulder tag.

Just looking at the facade of the product, women might think, oh, these guys might not have the product available in my size. But we've changed. We're looking to change that. Our stores look a lot fresher. Our visual merchandising ends up communicating more powerfully and drawing that particular experience.

In India, marketing, to some extent, is not about the product anymore. It is about the mood and occasion. Lingerie is technically considered a need-based product. How does Truimph create particular occasions for people to be willing to buy its products?

We live in a country of occasions and experiences come with occasion, where resonance is something that women or people feel conversing more with. We did a wedding campaign. You end up either buying your bras and lingerie once or you buy twice a year. We're selling it every day. So hence it is imperative to create these occasions. So having a wedding campaign where we did a trousseau - it's a pure play consumer promo.

You get a nice trolley bag as a wedding campaign. A lot of brands also give you how to use a bra case while giving a bra case. And everything is given, done and dusted. But we would want to give you that experience while you're getting married. You would do trousseau shopping and we would end up creating a trousseau package kind of a thing that these would be your go-to bras for your trousseau or you would want to have these created in terms of another way of doing experiential while at a speed dial.

Right now, we just had an occasion that went by which was Valentine's. There's always an increase in influx in buying the reds and the pinks during that time, irrespective of the product, the natural colour is always red. We do have a range in that.

Then you move into summer, we do have a range for that from summer. So Triumph is also known for mature women's bras, which means during that time, summers are when kids also get holidays and vacations. There are vacations planned. There is lingerie for vacation as well. Yes, there is lingerie for traditional wear as well.

Then you get straight into Diwali. Diwali, also you would want to buy a lingerie. So during that time, there were corsets, and corset bralettes that we have. And it's a part of a fashion that you also see amongst consumers. Or maybe we start believing that 50s are the new, are the new, are the new 20s. Having a corset with a sari that is styled, is something that we put in the occasion wear. You move into glam and party. There are also certain shiny essentials, which have a glitter or a shining strap which also can be worn if you are wearing an off-shoulder. So hence, you wouldn't mind flaunting off that strap.

We would love to get into the space of styling or be that friend or a partner who would say, you can try and style this particular lingerie this way so that you're comfortable and you also look stunning.

Collaborating with events, with influencers collaborations, and also, like you said, music collaborations. How do you look at this sphere of building consumer engagement and enhancing consumer experience through all of this? 

As a brand, as a personality, the other way of looking at it is music. Music is something that we all connect with. So soon we are going to be launching our SS 24 campaign and music has been at the forefront of it. And I feel music is something that connects every individual, be it somebody is an 18-year-old, a 25-year-old or a 40-year-old.

The campaign music that we've created this time, gets the tune.

And I would see the brand as a person. Like you have friends, you collaborate with your friends so that you have more friends. I would see a brand as a person collaborating with individuals or brands so that both come together and have these synergies of having more friends. When I say more friends, I mean to say more consumers. So that's what infuses life into a brand. That's how I would take it.

In terms of collaborations with influencers, we keep doing that. A lot of influencers we do not even realise. I mean, that's the kind of credibility that we've earned for the brand. These are our advocates who talk about the brand, and who want to be a part of the brand, and we nurture these individuals as well. So that kind of conversation going forward 2024-25 is looking very interesting.

A lot of AI, AR, and VR are being utilised for experiential marketing initiatives by brands. What is Truimph’s approach towards implementing this kind of technological innovation in providing effective consumer experiences?

I think innovation is part of our product offering also. It might be, but not that sooner because at the end of the day, we are selling bras. Bras need a little more personalised attention.

So having an AR or a VR can get you there. But the moment of truth is just touching, and feeling the product only then is where you decide. So to a certain extent, AR and VR would not be that. It will be very fancy. It'll be very interesting to come up with something, a feel-good factor for me.

But for a consumer, it's still the touch and feel that is going to be the moment of truth.

Our idea is to not only get people to shop, and buy, but to get educated and also to educate. Most importantly, trust me, at this point, it's the most important thing for any woman to be confident and comfortable is to wear the right size of bra that she is wearing.

What are the trends that you see that are expected to shape the future of experiential marketing when it comes to the lingerie industry and specifically for the brand? And how do you see Triumph adapting to those changes?

I think we are getting there. Like I said one bra at a time, we are adapting to those changes as it comes. Most importantly, it is about embracing, then it's a simple thing - post embracing. We get into a mode of testing, building and scaling it up. So we tested a couple of franchises, we saw them do good, we built on them and now we're looking to scale them up.

Secondly, in terms of marketing, I would say that we're still going to be a bit conservative as a market today, and tomorrow as an industry. So, if you see any of the lingerie ads that are there in the traditional medium at this point, there will always be two creatives. One creative which is with a cover-up, and one without the cover-up.

With technology, a lot of things can be much quicker. The current lead time, especially with imagery, the shoots, model selection, all of that is going to become much easier.

In today's world, it is all about agility. And India is the most agile nation I would say in terms of implementation and execution. So hence we're getting into that space where as an industry, I would say that AI is something that is going to move a lot. Most importantly, in terms of fashion, and lifestyle, it's with the models.

Models are going to be AI models which are going to be quicker. I mean, all these small nuances and the turnaround times are going to be much quicker and faster. Today you think of a campaign, and by the end of the week, you have a campaign with an entire photo shoot on an AI model and it's out.