What Smita Murarka teaches about brand purpose

So I think it's very important to reinvent as brands but still be true to what your core promises. Hi Smita, so how does a brand stay relevant to consumers across generations? Yeah, you know, while brands look to build consistently and durably for a long time, that's also one of the challenges. Because with every new generation comes across a new way of thinking. However, it's very important for brands to stay true to what they are all about.

And even if generations change, the language changes, but what they have to offer, if that's consistent, it finds meaning. So I think the promise, the core promise, you know, for a brand like Amante has always been on how to make women confident inside out. So I think it's very important to reinvent as brands but still be true to what your core promises. And I think if you're able to find that balance, that's something that you'll be able to offer to different generations.

Interesting. So tell us about the modern millennial woman, you know, as a category, what defines her? I think this millennial audience is very discerning, very aware because whether she is a value conscious consumer or a premium brand consumer, she's aware, right? Because she has digital at her fingertips. She's reading a lot. She's educated. She has come from a small town to an urban city or grown up in an urban city.

Either way, she's very aware. So she's demanding a lot from a brand, even if it's a preferred brand of yesterday or a brand choice that she's going to make for her tomorrow. She's researching a lot. So we constantly need to be at her level of awareness ahead of it. She values brands which have purpose and authenticity. So you really cannot afford to be non-authentic. So this millennial audience is an extremely intelligent audience. And now we have Gen Z coming in, which is again, a very, very evolved mindset of going back to roots.

And so we are waiting to see how we cater to her. But yeah, it's been an interesting journey to cater to the millennial woman. Okay. So do you think digital has helped you in targeting or reaching the reaching your TG? And how do you use storytelling and content to establish a deeper connect with your consumers? I think digital has been great for a brand like ours. So, you know, I came into this brand about five years back. And at that point, posters and hoardings were the only way probably to communicate that also in a limited way.

And what can you say in that medium? Right. There's a lot of education, which is still required in this category because the consumer knows no better, doesn't want to pay more. So you really need to make her understand that what it does as a product, what better products does to her life. Now, this sort of a conversation within a few minutes or less is possible only in digital. And today digital, there's data which is being pointed out that digital is not only used for shopping on digital, but also researching.

So almost 60, 70 percent of consumers are researching online and then, you know, converging shopping offline. So either ways digital is becoming a big influencer. So I think, you know, definitely connects us with our consumers really fast and we're able to see a lot more in lesser time. So, you know, we talk about durable brands, but do we also have durable customers? I mean, do you think consumers today are becoming very fickle given the paradox of choices?

I think both things are happening today. A loyal consumer, if the brand continues to offer what she's seeking, which is probably keeping the core of the promise intact, but still reinventing because she wants fresher things. She wants newer options. She wants the future of the category that she's seeking. She wants more out of her current brand. So actually fueling loyalty is not so easy. At the same time, you cannot rely on your loyal consumers only you need because there's so much more opportunity out there.

You need to get a new force of consumers in. So convincing the consumer, why is our brand better versus so many other brands out there is not easy either. Right. So, but in a category like ours, the loyalists also have an influence over the new consumers that we can create. So while it's difficult, it is the most advisable thing to do because your ROI on a loyal consumer is going to be great. Right. Yeah. So and what role do you see for like e-commerce, you know, for the growth of your brand? Do you think it's going to help your brand grow?

See, about 10 years back, the organized retail came into India, you know, our channel partners like Shopper Stop, Lifestyle, they all came about, they grew about a decade back. At that point, everybody said, OK, you know what, there's a new age phenomenon. We don't have supply of organized retail. But today that's that's a basic format where people shop. Similarly, five years back when e-commerce started, everybody questioned it and said, you know, it's not going to happen.

And then for categories like ours, especially definitely the touch and feel is important. It's not going to happen. But today we see that changing. Right. So I think as brands and marketers, we really need to adopt new age ways of reaching out to consumers to communicate to them, to sell to them, because the future is what's important. You cannot, while your current state of growth must be coming from a particular type of channel or business, you have to really look out for what's the future.

And of course, the benefits that e-commerce offers with the easy exchanges, you know, sitting out of your home and ordering, that's really unmatched. So, you know, what are the three pieces of advice that you would like to give to budding marketers? I think the three pieces of advice, something that I've found my happy medium at work has been and that's something that I'll advise has been to be completely authentic, to know what your strengths are.

And if you're in a B2C kind of a segment, you should be a consumer first, you should or you should want to be the consumer of the brand. You should totally love the brand. So I would always advise people to be authentic and really be passionate about the brand or the category they're working for and be immersive. Never stop learning because, you know, no matter how many years of experience you have, the consumer changes, technology changes and you cannot really rest on what you've done in the past because that's not the future for marketing.

Never stop aspiring. Don't settle for what you're doing as the best version, whether in your existing scenario or in a future opportunity, always aspire for more. You know, so don't settle and don't be happy with what you're doing. Just make sure you aspire for more.