Transition Works Best For Gen Z: Mohammed Shahbaaz
From the house of cure.fit, cult.sports aims to simplify health by offering practical fitness gear for the everyday athlete. The cult.sport product line comprises sportswear, at-home fitness equipment, bicycles, and nutraceuticals, which are intended to provide you with the finest workout experience.
In an exclusive interview with BW Marketing World, Mohammed Shahbaaz, Brand Marketing Head at Cult.sport shares insights on the brand's USP, marketing strategy, new initiatives, leveraging digital platforms to engage with the youth, sustainability goals, and future marketing trends.
On the brand’s USP and how it sets them apart from competitors in the market, Shahbaaz emphasised the significance of addressing India-specific problems and catering to the diverse needs of the Indian audience. He told us that Cult.sport's USP revolves around creating products that are specifically suited for Indian conditions and usage. For instance, they take into account the multiple ways sports shoes are used in India, from sports activities to everyday tasks like commuting. Shahbaaz stated, “I think most international brands that operate in India, they operate from the perspective of sporting excellence. Whereas our view is that we are a very large country that has a lot of potential to firstly play sport. Therefore, our whole call to action is for people to just play sport and experience the joy of it as opposed to sporting excellence.” He further explained the importance of designing the outsoles of shoes to be suitable for different surfaces, rather than solely focusing on sports tracks, thereby ensuring maximum comfort and functionality for users.
On the brand's marketing strategy, Cult.sport aims to nurture a sporting culture in India and make the country a sports-playing nation. Shahbaaz highlighted the use of everyday influencers and localised content to engage with the target audience, including Gen Z and Gen Alpha, to connect with them on a personal level stating, “We want to create sporting products for the everyday athlete. So, to talk to the everyday athlete, we use everyday people as opposed to using megastars or celebrities. We use a lot more influencers who talk about relevant problems that people face and then how to solve them using our products. Purely from a marketing campaign perspective, we do create content that is a lot more localised. For instance, our latest campaign will also break in Kannada because Karnataka is a key market for us. So, therefore, regionalising, the content plays a key role.”
When questioned about partnerships and collaborations, Shahbaaz emphasised their objective approach to working with influencers and fitness enthusiasts stating, “We filter on what fits our brand's narrative better so we do work with a lot more sports people as opposed to working with just fitness influences.” Moreover, he highlighted that they evaluate influencer partnerships based on cost-per-view metrics, ensuring maximum reach to the target audience.
Discussing their connection with the younger generation and Gen Z consumers, Shahbaaz highlighted the importance of understanding core human truths and tailoring content to different media platforms. Giving an example of social media, he stated, “The influencers that you pick and the kind of content that you put out on Instagram is reflective and targeted to a particular segment but at the same time, your Facebook content does not look the same or your YouTube content does not look the same because it's targeted to very different audiences. We customise by media and by language.” He further added, “Our current creative campaign has a lot of transitions from one state to another, from everyday sport to event sport, from one sport to another sport as well. A lot of people look through transitions so it was intentional to create a music video kind of thing with transitions so that it's a language that caters better to Gen Z's and Gen Alphas.”
When discussing future marketing trends and strategies, Shahbaaz revealed that the brand's focus is on working with everyday athletes to create products that cater to their needs. By collaborating with local sportspeople and influencers, cult.sport aims to build a brand that resonates with the everyday athlete and reflects the diverse sporting interests of India.
Moreover, sustainability is an integral part of Cult.sport's marketing initiatives. Shahbaaz highlighted the brand’s aim to reduce its carbon footprint in terms of delivery. He said, “In our top six cities, you would see that from Cultsport.com, you get next-day deliveries. We are not moving shipments from Chennai to Delhi. We are having shipments moved from Delhi to your place in Delhi itself, reducing our carbon footprint in terms of how we deliver products to you.” Talking about sustainability, he further added, “Cycling is a big category for us. We work with partners that encourage people to cycle to work. These initiatives help not just us as a business, but overall helps drive up the sustainability agenda.” As they continue to mature their supply chain, they also plan to implement sustainable packaging and manufacturing practices, aligning with their commitment to environmental responsibility.
On the diverse audience Cult.sport caters to with personalised marketing experiences for different customer segments, Shahbaaz highlighted an interesting upcoming initiative – an activewear kurti designed to cater to the needs of Indian women, making it comfortable and suitable for physical activities. He states, “The idea is that can we create their apparel in a material that is more suitable for activities. So, therefore, what people want to use for activity and what sports fans want, we cater to those across different categories.” This unique offering showcases cult.sport's commitment to solving user-specific needs and promoting inclusivity through its product range.
Moreover, Shahbaaz also shared the brand's latest campaign, executed by Wunderman Thompson which had been shot in Mumbai, standing out for its creative use of shoe trebles to compose the music. However, beneath its captivating visuals, the campaign truly resonates with Indian audiences by celebrating the joy of everyday sports and the brand's commitment to providing products that cater to the unique demands of the nation's sporting community.
In conclusion, Shahbaaz shared valuable advice for fellow marketers and aspiring professionals stating, “I think two things that really have helped me over a long period is one, data is the final opinion. Have your gut feel, have a hypothesis. Please test it with data. The user knows better than you know. The second part is whatever you start on, I think start with what is the consumer need and what are you solving. What is relevant and solves a problem, is something that people engage with and use over a very long period of time. So as a marketeer, your job should be to understand a user problem and solve it and not just try to be cool as a brand.”
