India Prefers Authentic & Relevant Content: Ankit Kapoor

The sleep products industry encompasses a wide range of products produced to boost sleep quality and enhance overall well-being. The products include mattresses, pillows, bedding, sleep accessories, and sleep technology devices.

In an exclusive conversation with BW Marketing World, Ankit Kapoor, Chief Marketing Officer & Operating Partner, Ananta Capital & Springwel, discusses their marketing mix, digital outreach, upholding brand reputation, challenges, and the marketing strategy for the year ahead.

Excerpts:

Springwel offers a wide range of sleep products, from mattresses to pillows and bedding accessories. How do you approach the marketing mix for these diverse product categories?

We are very clearly positioned and focused on our audience who are typically 28 to 35 year olds clubbed with the context of a change in their phase of life such as marriage, house purchase or a festival. 

Talking about any promotions, we typically activate promotions on such occasions, when the affinity to purchase a mattress is high, but it’s not just always about a big sale or value for money, it’s also about bringing the promotion to life in a very relevant and engaging manner to cut through the clutter during the period. 

The second is on the product. The idea for us is to make real innovations and not just do lip service with fancy terms. For example, we have launched a campaign with four of our innovations that are all firsts in the category. We now have a range with molecular technology that actually destroys bacteria, and a range with fragrances in a mattress that give you better sleep.  Or for that matter one that improves body balance, and you do feel surprised that how a mattress can improve body balance, but it works. Now all of these have been developed with deep consumer insights and weeks of work with our internal R&D team and international partners.   

The next bit is the store experience, and we continue to improve on it. This is a clear competitive advantage that we hold in the market vis-a-vis a lot of the new-age players who are purely D2C. Because, how do you sell a mattress virtually? How do you give someone an experience of a mattress virtually? It’s a long-term kind of commitment, right? You buy this once every seven years. So being an omnichannel brand with a clear advantage of having offline stores really helps us to give the consumer far more confidence in their buying journey. 

And of course, the last but very important pillar is the content. India is done with boring content. So content, which is fundamentally correct, yet relevant, engaging and entertaining is what the consumer is lapping up. We recently released a campaign and exactly the thought that we wanted, we got the relevance and engagement.

You recently collaborated with actor Boman Irani for your ad campaign? What was the vision behind this collaboration and the ad campaign?

‘‘Dhang se soya hota toh yeh nahi hota’! Firstly, it’s the kind line that gets stuck in your mind and almost makes you smile.  It comes from a very simple yet relevant insight, that the lack of good and deep sleep leads to absent-mindedness which can lead to embarrassment. Our three films capture exactly such moments of embarrassment. And who better than the Mr. Irani to bring this to life? The films showcase three different consumers, which are the cohorts that we typically target and close with the three innovations that we have recently launched. 

How do you leverage digital marketing platforms to reach and engage with a broader audience with Springwel products?

One of the advantages of belonging to a group like Ananta Capital for any brand is that there is a lot of cross-pollination of information and learnings, and also a lot of synergy in terms of the kind of skill set we have with respect to digital content. Springwel being a legacy brand and not being D2C forward has immensely gained from the Ananta Capital ecosystem. We have gone completely digital forward in terms of how we want to drive awareness and drive traffic to the stores through differentiation of content and products.

How do you manage the brand's online reputation and communicate with customers on digital platforms in the age of social media and online reviews?

You are either there or you’re not at all in the mind of the consumer if you’re not online.  We’ve pivoted very quickly from being an offline brand to launching our D2C platform. The mattress category seems to be getting complicated and cluttered. I don’t think the consumer understands the technical terms that most brands are throwing at them. So how do you simplify the process of purchase? Because when the consumer is buying online, with so many options and jargon, there’s a degree of anxiety. That’s exactly what we’ve tried to address by launching our D2C platform called Springwel Easy in which we will be able to recommend the right mattress to you by asking you three simple questions. The output will be the perfect mattress for the consumer, at the right price and one can experience the mattress at our store, or have it sent to one’s house and get a free of cost experience there.

What challenges do you anticipate in promoting Springwel products, and how do you aim to overcome them? 

The greatest challenge that this category is facing is one of losing credibility. The reason why consumers keep coming back to Springwel is on account of the trust that the brand has earned over the years by delivering consistently high quality. The fact that we’ve been around for so long, is because consumers appreciate the quality that we deliver. We want to nurture and protect that trust. All innovations that we will deliver will be genuine innovations and not just fanciful terms.

Are there different categories of products innovated for children, adults, or the new Gen Z and Gen Alpha that have been coming up?

Like I was talking about bacteria destroying mattresses, a lot of people actually feel curious how does this even work? It works at a molecular level, it’s scientifically proven. This generation has gone through the Covid crisis that has led them to adapt and probably even accelerate this whole idea of binge-watching. So, you’re always snacking while consuming content on the bed. What happens when you consume food on the bed? Some of it drops and over a period of time breeds bacteria. So, bacteria destruction on a mattress is a very real need. Covid, of course, accelerated that need because everyone became particular about hygiene. However, I think it is becoming more and more relevant. Similarly, for a climate like our temperature regulation is a need and we have mattresses that provide optimal body temperature. So, there is always a strong insight behind what we’re doing.

What is your marketing strategy for this year and the upcoming year?

We have just launched a new campaign which will bring a whole new experience for consumers in the days to come. Springwel will see a very rejuvenated look and feel in the stores and a whole new range of innovations. Last but not the least, to strengthen our omni-channel presence, backed by some phenomenal content, we will be sharply focussing on driving brand awareness based through demonstration.

Today, the role of a CMO is no longer just marketing, they have to be omnipresent. How does Ankit Kapoor find time for that innovation for that thought and strategy to come out?

We have a phenomenal team and I make sure that I lean a lot on the team to bring everything to life. Our job honestly is a lot to set the direction and make sure we stay the course to remove the hurdles. But it really is our team, which does the magic and brings all of the story together. So, I make sure that they continue to shine, learn and do what they have to do. The rest of the business typically follows.