It’s been a while since fashion/apparel major Esprit has made its presence felt
in India. However, till now their mode of communication with the public has mostly been advertising led. And one would think rightfully so, given that fashion has a lot of visual appeal to titillate its audience. Also given that Esprit as a brand has a certain amount of “snob” value associated with it, print /AV advertising, utilising target media would seem like the right marketing strategy for them.
But the world is changing and it’s forcing brands to change the way they communicate with “us” the people. And India is no different. Facebook’s unprecedented growth in this country has made many a brand sit and re-think their communication and PR strategy. Hence it comes as no surprise that Esprit itself has joined the Facebook bandwagon and that too for an India specific campaign.
Titled ” It Takes Two”, this Facebook campaign is aimed at asking Indian couples to submit a picture of them which reflects their “style sensibility” (whatever that means!) on Esprit’s India Facebook page . Esprit would then adjudge the couple with the best picture, and award them a free trip to California along with free Esprit apparel and goodies!
Though the campaign till now has only 252 fans and there does not seem to be too much of activity around it, at least on Facebook ( I mean couples are not yet feverishly rummaging their digital archives and sending in their best moments for Esprit to mull over) it is interesting to see the “Facebook-isation” of Indian brands.
From a larger perspective what is even more interesting is the Aditya Birla Groups fascination with Social Media. ( Esprit is owned by Madura Garments which is a group company under the Aditya Birla Corporate Group) Here is one Indian corporate house which seems to have finally got it right with Social Media Strategies. Starting with the hugely popular IDEA Campaign for their telecom service, IDEA Cellular, the Birla group seems to be tapping the social media in the right way to reach out to their Indian customers.
Esprit India's Facebook Page
