In a category long dominated by wedding trousseaus and heirloom pieces, Mia by Tanishq has quietly rewritten the rules of jewellery consumption. Built around the idea of ‘precious everyday’, the brand has championed self-purchase, lightweight designs and 14-carat gold, long before the shift gained mainstream traction. Today, with Gen Z consumers embracing jewellery as a form of self-expression, Mia is scaling rapidly across metros and emerging cities alike, having recently crossed the INR 2,000-crore revenue milestone.

On the sidelines of the brand’s ‘Bee My Valentine’ campaign activation with actor Aneet Padda, Shyamala Ramanan, business head, Mia by Tanishq, discussed the brand’s Gen Z playbook, the rise of everyday jewellery, omnichannel discovery, and why the brand sees itself as a 'curator of culture' in a conversation with Manifest.

Edited excerpts:

How did partnering with Aneet Padda align with Mia’s brand personality and audience strategy? What role do celebrity associations and influencer marketing play in Mia’s marketing mix compared to traditional advertising?

For the last few years, Mia has consciously been talking to Gen Z. We realised that this is one consumer segment we needed to go after, and Mia by Tanishq became a brand we wanted to associate with Gen Z, and we engage closely with their aspirations, dreams and requirements. When we were looking for a face for the brand, Aneet (Padda) had just come out of Saiyaara. We saw a lot of synergies between her and us. She is a hardworking, intelligent, capable young woman who has achieved so much at such a young age and made her dreams come true. She’s also someone a lot of youngsters look up to, and so we felt she was the best fit for Mia as a brand that sees itself as a work in progress, constantly evolving with what women want and what our consumers are looking for. When we presented the brand to her, she immediately felt it resonated with who she is. That’s how the partnership was forged.

Influencers and celebrities help set the tonality for a brand. Every brand has a certain voice of expression, and one of the easiest ways to convey that voice is through the kind of influencers we want to work with. We put a lot of thought into selecting them. For instance, a couple of years ago we launched the ‘This Is Me’ campaign featuring seven very different influencers across body types, skin tones and professions. We even had a specially-abled young woman who aspired to be a fashion model.

Mia is all about being inclusive, speaking to the youth in the language that they understand. We champion things which goes beyond jewellery. If you remember, last year, we had Sheetal Devi (Indian para-archer and world champion), as our brand ambassador. We mean it when we say that jewellery is for everyone, and everyone has a right to look beautiful and express themselves. So for us, selecting the right kind of influencer is very important, as they reflect the brand's personality and its various facets, because the brand is not uni-faceted. That’s also why we take so many influencers—young mothers, musicians,  professionals from diverse fields in our influencer set. We are all about curation of culture. So influencers who resonate with this, we recruit them to spread the message. 

The fine jewellery category is seeing a noticeable shift towards 14 karat gold and even silver among younger buyers. What underlying consumer mindset changes are driving this trend, and how has Mia positioned itself to capitalise on it?

A large part of our offering has always been 14-KT and continues to be so. Even before it became a trend, we were the trendsetters. We chose 14-KT because we wanted to be an affordable and approachable jewellery brand. Now that the market is moving towards 14-KT jewellery, we are already well established in that space, and now we are seeing a jump in sales as more and more people embrace it. Earlier on, where it used to take us a while to convince or educate people, now they come well-informed. In fact, thanks to also the hallmarking of the jewellery, etc, there's a far more comfort. Also, the fact that we are the Tatas - There is a huge trust factor when you're Tanishq, people are more adopting. We also offer the same exchange and buyback policies as Tanishq, which reassures customers. Interestingly, we are also seeing growing acceptance of 9-KT jewellery.

Jewellery advertising traditionally revolves around weddings and occasion-led storytelling. Mia has consciously built around ‘everyday self-purchase’. How challenging was it to reshape that narrative? 

The insight came from a time when women were largely buying heavy jewellery with their families. This was in the early 2000s. Our former managing director, who was the then COO of the jewellery division, believed women should be buying jewellery for themselves. And that’s how Mia By Tanishq was born — a name that stands for the confident, modern woman we first imagined back then. We started this journey of self expression way back when it was unheard of, and we were talking of everyday jewellery for women who were stepping out to work and wanted pieces that reflected their personality — something very different from traditional heavy jewellery. That was the genesis of Mia, and we have always held on to that. Even today, we are largely a sub-INR one lakh brand.  

Over the years, people have come to know us as a brand for self-purchase, gifting and quick purchases. So when pople want to buy for heavy occasion, of course, they look at Tanishq. But when they want to buy for light occasions, gifting, or quick buys, they look at Mia. This has been a consistent messaging that we've been doing over years, and we're known for that.

Its been an uphill task. In fact, at Mia, we call ourselves a 'recruiter brand' of Tanishq— for consumers buying branded jewellery for the first time, we become a great opportunity for them to come and try, because of our designs and affordability.

Are you seeing stronger growth from metro markets or tier two or three cities?

While metros are growing in their own capacity, tier two and three markets are growing phenomenally well. Much of our expansion this year has come from these markets. It’s heartening to see youth across India wanting to be equally expressive and confident. They want the same offering- the same ambience and retail experience - as consumers in metros, and that’s what we deliver. Our stores there are large, around 800–1000 square feet, and we give them the same experience which is offered to their counterparts in the metros.

Markets like Bhagalpur, Salem and Madurai are doing extremely well for us - and it's not limited to certain geographies. We are seeing this pan India. We also don’t differentiate between metro and non-metro product offerings because finally, everybody has a right to express their best versions of themselves.

What factors determine which cities or micro-markets the brand enters next?

It’s always a triangulation of multiple inputs. We look at market intelligence, consumer demand and online signals — how many people are searching for us or engaging with the brand digitally. We also benefit from the presence of Tanishq stores in many of these markets, where Mia counters already exist. Those insights help us identify where it makes sense to open standalone stores.

How important is omnichannel behaviour today? Are consumers discovering designs online but completing purchases in-store?

Jewellery continues to be a tactile category — people want to touch and feel the product. Many consumers discover us online through marketplaces like Myntra and Flipkart, or quick commerce platforms such as Swiggy Instamart and Flipkart Minutes. From our website, customers learn more about the product, understand diamond quality or exchange policies, and then come to the store to actually check us out and complete the purchase. Once familiarity builds, Mia has a high repeatability, because of the affordability, and once they're comfortable, they also buy online. So omnichannel works both ways for us — online to offline and offline to online. Pure digital is still lesser, as retail continues to lead the business.

What consumer insight about Gen Z buyers has surprised you the most in the past year?

Not so much surprise, but I have a deep sense of respect for the way Gen Z thinks. What stands out is their interest in jewellery together with sustainability and long-term value. They want to understand what they are buying. Jewellery remains a traditional category in that many of them still seek parental advice during occasions like Dhanteras to ask which piece they should buy. Jewellery connects all the age groups and brings generations together in that sense. 

We also see young people buying jewellery from their first salary to gift their mothers. In many ways it’s the same life cycle we all go through — it’s just amplified today.  But they’re definitely astute and perhaps one of the generations which has seen the most in terms of changes. Their adaptability is amazing. That is what impresses me about them as a generation. 

From a brand-building standpoint, what marketing bets helped move Mia from a niche ‘everyday jewellery’ proposition to a scale business?

Timing played a big role. People were looking to express themselves and we were in the right place at the right time. We are largely a digital-first brand because we realised people spend a lot of time on their phones. So we focus on being present where they are, and around the topics they care about — music, culture and experiences. We don’t see ourselves as just a jewellery brand; we see ourselves as culture-curators. Traditions like Dhanteras or Akshaya Tritiya still matter, but consumers today don’t necessarily want heavy jewellery. They want pieces they can wear every day. That’s why our positioning is ‘Precious Everyday.’

What are the next big growth drivers that could take Mia to the next revenue milestone? 

We are probably a drop in the ocean in the world of jewellery market. So for us, it is important to keep growing, understanding, learning, and keep giving what the customer seeks. Have our hands on the customer's wrist, because finally, we are in it for them. So apart from 22-KT, we have 18 and 14-KT modern gold jewellery. We have also introduced 9-KT, and we have a Silver line as well, which has always been there, and that’s gaining traction.

So, the idea is to be in the markets that are more relevant, whether it is tier-one, tier-two, physical stores, whether it is with quick commerce, app, or omni. Wherever our consumer wants us, we are there for her -- using digital platform, disruptions, using AI, for understanding inventory and understanding how to give her the right kind of product, strengthening our back end, and so on.

For us, it is more about doing what we do good to better ourselves, and the customer experience we are able to give. Because, everybody can sell jewellery. But, finally, what we make them feel is what differentiates us. That is what we have learnt from Tanishq as well.

With rapid retail expansion and increasing digital discovery of jewellery, how do you see the role of marketing evolving in a high-value category?     

Being a Tata brand with the backing of Tanishq gives us a strong foundation of trust. But marketing today is fragmented, so we do multiple things. Customer-centricity is extremely important, and many of our campaigns are personalised around what the customer is seeking at that moment.

Even when we use traditional mediums like outdoor advertising, we try to make them disruptive. For example, during our October campaign we created a calendar billboard with 31 days and 31 jewellery pieces that lit up each day, bringing alive the idea of ‘Precious Everyday.’ Using a brand figure like Aneet helps us get the reach. Ultimately, it all comes down to the fundamentals — choosing the right kind of influencers, being in the right markets, delivering the right customer experience, and basically, centering the brand around the customer. There is no other ‘new age’ remedy. All that (Philip) Kotler said about marketing still holds true!