Interio by Godrej, the furniture and interior solutions brand, recently announced a refreshed brand identity.

The rebranding includes a new logo and a renewed positioning aimed at becoming the 'ultimate one-stop destination for contemporary Indian homes and workplaces'.

As a part of the rebrand, Interio has also rolled out a campaign, ‘Moments that Matter’.

Conceptualised by Contract Advertising, the campaign comprises a film.

We caught up with Reshu Saraf, head - integrated marketing and communications, Godrej Interio, and Sumeet Bhojani, head - brand and strategic insights, Godrej Enterprises, to discuss the rebranding effort, the insights that shaped it, how Godrej Interio plans to connect with the evolving aspirations of modern Indian consumers, and more.

Edited excerpts:

Godrej is a legacy brand with deep roots in India. How do you balance heritage with innovation in your brand strategy?

Sumeet Bhojani (SB): The balance comes from the way we visualise all aspects of the brand. Today, the consumer is evolving, and there's a certain sense of aspiration and experience that people are looking for. They are seeking more modern and contemporary designs.

As for Godrej Interio, it wants to lead with these attributes. The core drivers of the category, from a decision-making perspective, are the quality, trust, and durability of our products. Therefore, we must ensure that as we continue to build on these attributes, the basic expectations of the consumer are met. It's the differentiators that Interio brings in through the designs and along with the modernity and distinctiveness in the products. That’s where the balance comes in. Godrej provides the assurance of quality, durability, and trust. Built on top is a differentiator that we bring in terms of the design being contemporary and offering something that the consumer of today will appreciate. The balance of building in the differentiators on top of something which is core and hygiene to a category is what is critical to the brand strategy.

Furniture remains a market that is cluttered. How can brands create top-of-mind recall here?

SB: All brands need to be visible in the market, no matter the category. For a category like furniture, more than being top of mind, our research indicates that being part of the consideration set is extremely important. No customer today has one brand in mind, especially when it comes to furniture, because it's an involved purchase. So, for us, consideration becomes extremely important. To enter that set, the primary thing is that one has to be visible in the market. The second part is that one has to understand that today's Indian consumer looks for a blend of things. It's not just that one is providing great quality furniture, but also that people will consider them. Today, it's a blend of aesthetics, functionality, and tech-integration. A brand has to give people reasons for them to put it in the consideration set, and that cannot be done by communication alone. It is done by multiple touch points. So,when people come to visit the stores, the product has to walk the talk in terms of being able to show that it's contemporarily designed. 

The store experience is also extremely important. People need a reason to walk into a store. Also, it has to be accessible. One has to have stores across multiple places because furniture still continues to remain a touch and feel category. 

Reshu Saraf (RS): Furniture buying is not an impulse buy. So, the touchpoints in the consumer journey are multiple. One just doesn’t really walk into the store suddenly and buy it, especially today's customers who want to first browse. They will do their research online, see a couple of websites or social media, hear a couple of influencers, and then they come and experience the store. So, being present on all these touch points becomes very important. One needs to have a very strong product portfolio and a strong online presence. We currently service 18,000+ pincodes through our website. Retail presence is also equally important. We have close to 1,000 stores all over India. All this comes together to build on the consideration. Top of mind, per se, is not very important for us, but having a strong preference in the consumer’s mindset is critical.

What are Interio’s plans for the festive season?

RS: The festive season holds great significance for us, as many look to revamp their homes and interiors. Our festive campaign, 'Moments that Matter,' is currently live, and we are also serving as an associate sponsor for the ongoing Asia Cup. We have adopted a comprehensive multimedia approach, being present across digital channels and social media. The brand narrative will be supported by tactical messaging, and a special consumer discount will be available from 1 October to facilitate purchases.

How do consumer insights drive decision-making at Godrej? Can you share an example where insights significantly influenced strategy?

RS: We have a process in place for capturing consumer insights on a regular basis. There is research that captures where and when we meet consumers to get their understanding, their evolving needs about home decor, and their preferences, which impact our designs. The products that are designed come from the research that we do. For instance, a very important insight that we hear is that homes are becoming more compact, hence the need for having modular and multifunctional furniture, which one can change more quickly, add or subtract, as one’s life stage changes. Another great insight that we have had, especially in metro consumers, is that they are looking at personalisation. They are looking at something that they can call uniquely theirs; it can be a simple colour, a specific fabric, or a design that they like. We have a huge range of modular furniture under the category, which one can customise and personalise, right from picking up the design and the layout to choosing the fabric, colour, and the finish.

SB: As a group, we are very insights-driven across multiple areas of operations. Insights also drive the way we do our communication. For instance, the ‘Moments that Matter’ campaign was also from a particular insight that today people feel a very strong connection to the places that they inhabit, and their connection is built by not just one thing, but small moments that they spend in that space. Whether it is a night-time ritual where one is reading a bedtime story to their kids or a dining table where people get together at least for one meal, or a sofa where they relax and have a nice cup of coffee, the small moments have a very special place in the heart of consumers today. That gave us a springboard into which the creative idea came forward. We did a storyboard testing of this ad as well. At every stage, there is a certain bit of insighting that we do to make sure that what we are doing is something that resonates with the consumer, whether it's a product strategy or a comms strategy. After the ad goes live, we will have analytics on what this ad is doing for us from a media perspective and from a brand perspective. We will look at whether it is shifting the needle on consideration and preference, how the creative is being perceived, and what people like and what they don’t like. So, in the next campaign, we can build on these learnings. As a group, all businesses are very clear that it has to have an insights-backed decision, whether it is for a product or for homes, or any other category.

What marketing strategies will be employed to communicate the refreshed brand identity?

RS: To start with, we have the ‘Moments that Matter’ brand campaign, which will talk about the refreshed identities. It will be live for almost a month. This will be followed up with the consumer offer that we will be launching to enable consumers to buy. The new identity will come to life in all our stores. Close to 200 stores will be undergoing a revamp this financial year. We will also be revamping the complete setup of our 1,200 stores in the next three years. The website and our social media are already live with the new identity. On social media, there will be a lot of stories around product innovations and store experience coming to life. We are going to have influencer collaborations to bring to life the product innovations and showcase the new store experience. It will be a 360-degree approach.

How will Godrej Interio measure the success of the rebranding effort?

RS: We have put a lot of metrics in place. We will be measuring the effectiveness of the campaign a month down the line to see how the ad film has worked and also to get an understanding of the media's effectiveness. Also, eventually, all this helps us in customer satisfaction and delight. There is also a customer satisfaction study that we do once a year, which captures how customers are feeling about the products. At various touchpoints in the consumer’s journey, we've tried to capture their perception of the brand.

SB: While we will be measuring the rebranding success from all the touchpoints, both medium-term to long-term, including the media, the brand, the customer satisfaction, and the actual rollout, in the next three years, one of the things that we will also look at is what's happening to business goals. At the end of the day, the entire rebranding effort is to support the overall brand strategic goals and being able to serve the customers better. If not in the short term, over the next two to three years, one of the key successes that the rebranding will be able to deliver on is how the business has grown. I think that's important.

What’s one major insight about today’s Indian consumer that marketers often overlook?

RS: From a consumer insight perspective, we do say that furniture is a mass consumer product, but personalisation is something that every consumer wants. It may not be to the extent of customising a product where they ultimately get it made through a carpenter. Personalise it in a way that it is uniquely theirs. That is one thing which this category sometimes overlooks, and we end up having similar looking products from a lot o brands. This has been a key insight for us at Interio, and hence, for us, it's very important that we help one personalise with our variety of offerings.

SB: One of the things that we tend to do is pigeonhole customers into looking at their demographics and psychographics. What we tend to miss out, especially in a country like India, which is so vast, is that aspiration is present across all types of customers. It's not just a domain of only a few high income customers. Aspirations straddle across multiple segments. I think it is important for brands to recognise the extent of aspiration that each customer has today, and how they can meet that. Aspiration doesn’t mean luxury. It can be built into the smallest of things, and if you're able to meet those aspirations even in the smallest of bases, then you can win over customers across multiple price points. One has to find the right mix of aspiration built into the product and then offer it at the right price. Making good design accessible is key. The need for aspiration and good design exists across the board—it’s universal. It’s incumbent upon marketing teams to find that sweet spot across different price points and then offer a compelling, well-rounded product.