 Welcome back, now here's a brand that has been one of the most iconic in India for decades. The Raymond's Tagline, the Complete Man, now that has become a classic in its own right as well. As the brand celebrates its 90th year, Shanti Swaroop Panda, the CMO of Raymond's lifestyle business is joining us to walk us through the evolution of the brand as it were. Mr. Panda, this is a great moment for the brand, you've completed 90 years, congratulations indeed are in order. The Complete Man Tagline like I was saying it has stayed with Raymond since the year 1992. So at the outset why don't you tell us how the brand has reinvented the identity of the Raymond Man over the many years it's been around. See, we started this campaign in early 90s but as you look at the way we have portrayed the whole Complete Man across over two and a half decades, the journey is very clear. Raymond as a brand has always reflected upon the way the society is changing. So it is always an embodiment of what the Complete Man stands for and as you talk about Complete Man, he is a person who is successful but not a person who tries really hard to be there, he is a person who is an embodiment of values, a person who is full of warmth, empathy and he knows his environment really well, a person who really cherishes the relationship that he has around him and derives a lot of strength out of it. So whether you see a campaign which was done in early 90s or a campaign you see today, we try and make this whole campaign really contemporary and reflect what the society has been at that point in time. Also now that we are looking at your latest campaign, the Complete Man knows what's real, what was the thought running behind this campaign Mr. Banda? See if you look at today's age and time, this is my you know I love to use this phrase which is called digital distraction. So even when we are sitting in meeting rooms half the people attending the meeting are actually on their phone whether they are checking emails or on whatsapp and the same is true for the time that we spend with the society, with our families, with our kids. So what we try to do here is get a slice of life out of what is happening in real and put it on screen. People are not enjoying what is happening around them, they are not living in the moment, they are not enjoying what is real but they are living for posterity. And this latest ad campaign was launched during the India-South Africa cricket series, tell us about that. You see it's all about the season, so the way we look at season is festive season which all starts with Desherah, Diwali, Christmas, New Year, so that's how the whole season goes. Cricket is just a big bang start for us, you know it is more like giving eyeballs on one particular day because you have a big event there. But yes the season is more for festival season and we want to get as many footfalls as much consumer into our fold as possible. And if you can color that with some historical context, how well does the festive season marketing really work out for a brand like Ram and Mr. Panda? That's when people are ready to open their wallet and spend much more than what they would do otherwise. Look at the way even pay cycle happens. If you look at most of the traditional Indian companies, most of the people would actually earn and I am talking of people who are living in tier two, tier three towns, they will get their bonuses in this period because that's where most of the spends happen. So this is a good time for us to be present in media and talk to our consumers, why not? What's the kind of marketing mix that you employed for this particular campaign? Is there a medium that you are putting a stronger focus on when it comes to your ad spends? So in today's world you know it's not right to say you know our focus is one medium versus the other. Our strategy at Raymond is to focus at where the consumer lives. So we believe not in throwing party and inviting people but actually you know being part of where the party or the crowd is. So we don't want to be seen as a brand who communicates one way through the mass media. At the same time we want to engage in conversation which is constructive, conversation where people think and believe that Raymond is a brand which tries to understand them and is ready to engage with them to understand what they want from the brand. And then considering all the buzz around it, how much are you investing in the digital medium now? The brand has evolved. So tell us how you're adapting your strategy with the opportunities that now exist in the digital world. See it's a medium where everybody is learning. So even people who are high up the learning curve are themselves learning because this whole medium is rediscovering and reshaping every day. So whether you talk of Facebook or other social platforms, you talk of Twitter, you talk of WhatsApp, everything is evolving and market years as well as consumers are evolving and rediscovering things. So you know to give a ballpark number, yes we are trying to increase our spends in the new mediums versus the traditional medium. It's not that we want to just move spends in terms of money. We want to look at which is the right medium where the consumers are coming, which is the right medium where we can showcase what we have as a brand and which is the right medium where consumers are able to talk back to the brand. And if you look at 2020, I can't predict what the mediums would be. You can't predict what the mediums would be. So we have to be really agile in terms of our investment strategy across mediums. And when you look at your ads, the focus seems to be more on the intrinsic character of the Raymond's man as opposed to the direct message about the product itself that you promote. I always thought this is an interesting approach. How did that strategy really come about? Now actually we are working on a two prong strategy. So we have one overarching umbrella strategy of saying this is what the Raymond brand is and the whole campaign is called the complete man campaign. So that's an overarching theme that runs across the whole lifestyle business which represents the Raymond brand. But beyond that we have different product lines that comes in. And more and more we have started focusing even on the product line and call to action in those mediums. Beyond that we will speak about what our product brings onto the table and how well it is made, what quality it is of. And all these attributes are really important when the consumer is becoming really discerning for choice. They have exposure to media, they know what are the global brands today. So we want to present them what they really would like to see from a brand like Raymond. In today's context Mr. Panda, customer engagement is very crucial with all the retail activities that you do. How have you gone about promoting the brand and getting the customer to engage with you that much better? When you look at Raymond as a brand, I think our retail footprint is really big compared to any other brand today. We have 1000 plus retail outlets where we are dominantly present and we are present across 350 plus towns across India. So that's the biggest footprint we have. So when I look at activation on ground which is beyond mass media, these are big points where I can have activation. So now we are working on a strategy where we actually streamline what we talk online to get it on ground inside our stores. So when a consumer is looking at a TV campaign that's happening in here versus what he is observing inside a store, the look and feel has to be the same. The collection that we want to present on media has to be similar in terms of what is available offline. Also we find it interesting that Raymond as a brand has never really had a huge celebrity endorsement. What's the thought there to stay away from what seems to be almost like a given in today's context for most big brands across the board? See my personal view and then I'll give Raymond's take on it as you need celebrity when you really need high recall on any brand immediately when it is new and people don't know your brand. So you just hook onto the celebrity and take a note of what is being advertised at that point in time. But when you look at Raymond as a brand, we have been in this country for 90 years, 90 glorious years and this is a strong iconic brand that we have. I don't need a celebrity. My brand itself is a celebrity in India. People recognize the brand very well. So I would rather talk about a character that makes the brand which is all about empathy, which is all about the value that is entrenched in the brand. It is all about how the character derives strength out of relationship and the warmth of relationship with people around him. That's what the brand stands for. So that's the celebrity for me. So I don't think we would ever take a celebrity route because the brand itself is celebrity and it's well recalled. So I won't take that route. The idea always no matter how old a brand is in today's context, you have to break through the clutter. And today, competition is growing. So tell us what the current market share of Raymond is looking like and what is your assessment of the marketing challenges that lie before you? See, in terms of market share, we don't have a syndicated study as such. But the rough figures are in terms of hosted fabric, we are 60% plus of market today. So these are very rough figures. We don't have syndicated numbers. But if you look at marketing challenges, all companies have it. All iconic brands have it. As long as you are in a process of listening to the consumers and you are able to decode what they want in immediate future and in near future, and you are able to get that into the brand ethos and the product line that you want to launch, the brand is sorted, and you are able to cater to their needs. As long as that is happening, the marketing challenges are small. But you have to have your ears on the ground. You have to listen to consumers and hear what they are really saying. So for a market here, the challenge is not to get my point of view or my team's point of view on the brand. The challenge is to get the consumer's point of view on the brand. That is what makes the brand tick. 19, of course, is a great age to be, but it also makes you look back, makes you introspect, and do a bit of a rethink, a revamp, perhaps. So what kind of changes are we likely to see in the brand now? So there is no, it's not a straight left or a right turn for the brand, honestly. The brand has been changing over a period of time. So if you look at last year's campaign, we started something which we call be present and let it go. If you look at these campaigns, they are the same Raymond Mann we are talking about, one who has a lot of value, who derives a lot of strength from relationship. But the way we have contemporarized the brand is very different from the way the brand was represented early. So the brand is already changing, and it's changing over a period of time. So this year would be a little different from what last year was. And next year is going to be much different from what two years back we were as a brand. So I think it's a continuous process for us. It's not like an immediate left or a right turn for us, which is very different and discontinuous in that sense. But we will always be reflecting in terms of the changes that is happening in society as such. All right, Mr. Pandey, we leave it there. Thank you so much for joining us. And congratulations again, and good luck for the future.