The complete Man suit, Raymond always has found their position in men’s wardrobe not only in India but also across 55 countries including US, Canada, Japan, UK and Australia. When Singhania’s opened the exclusive retail showroom for Raymond suits at Ballard Estate in Bombay in 1948, it created history being the first brand to start counter sales of suiting. Today the brand can boast of 650 exclusive The Raymond Shops and availability of suit over 20,000 multi brand outlets. Even though there are new players in the market, The Complete Man Raymond sits on the top of Rs 1600 crore textiles market.
Over the years, the brand have evolved with a series of product ranges, they have always made it a point to cater to the different faces of their slogan The Complete Man- who is caring and sensitive and who gives premium feeling for relationship. This is also evident in their advertisements also. With new products, their advertisement has also evolved with time, but in all their advertisements they sent their message of “The Complete Man”. The ads always gave the dignity feeling to the suit.
1950- early 1990’s Raymond Man
During its early stages, the brand advertisement focused on men’s focus on higher end, upwardly mobile market. The advertisements were trying to connect with the aspirations of the youth then. In 1970,s the strategy was changed to connect with the common man of the country. But both these efforts did not give the desired result for the premium brand.
It was the advertisement that was created as a guide to well dressed man gave the spotty attention for Raymond. It can be said that the advertisements that were released between 1980-1990 sparked the essence of The Complete Man. The advertisement with tag line “In life lighter moments” which features a well dressed man who surprises his wife with tickets to concert really has some essence of The Complete Man.
Birth of The Complete Man
It was in 1992, the brand felt that they need to portray a different man from what they have showcased so far. This is because the new generation men were soft, caring and sensible, while the ads portrayed men of angry young man era. Rajiv Agarwal of Nexus Equity took up the challenge and thus the protagonist “The Complete Man” was born. The ads portrayed the man as more caring, family man and softer. They sometimes appeared as caring father and sometimes as a caring husband in a Raymond suit.
When the ad reached Shekhar Swamy, the CEO of RK Swamy BBDO in 2002, he felt that the ad was centered on the man only and the focus on the suit was gone and so he added the lines “ Feels like Heaven…Feels like Raymond” .
What made Raymond ads special
What connects the consumers to this 87 year old brands’ The Complete Man ad is the emotions and relations. Even though the ads gives a feeling that it is for Upper middle class people, the ad succeeded in connecting with consumers across all economic social strata. This is because the feelings and emotions of caring, family man and relation are same for all people.
The notable feature of the ad is the jingles that have been playing for the brand since 90’s. Sometimes images or a catchy music speak more than words. The soothing tune and absence of words have enabled them to connect to local TV consumers.
Raymond which has been in the advertising world since 1950’s has never endorsed celebrities. They have tried to keep the communication same and freshness in every new ads. The latest ad that portrays the relationship of a son and mother has got the same freshness as the ad that pays tribute to the teacher by his former students in a marriage ceremony.
Now what remains to be seen is that how Raymond would distinguish itself from other brands that have followed the footpath of “The Complete Man” and bring back the lost dignity.
[message_box title=”MESSAGE TITLE” color=”red”]The case is prepared based on secondary data and the purpose of this case study is to just bring out the key marketing strategies and techniques deployed by different firms from our perspective.[/message_box]
