“We don’t want to be limited by the lineage of the brand” BCCL’s Sandeep Dahiya in conversation with Jiggy George

On Friday, 20th March, we were lucky to have the man in the hot seat behind extending evergreen brands like Femina, Filmfare & Miss India, brand licensing veteran Sandeep Dahiya, CEO – Times Lifestyle Enterprise Director & business head – Brand Extension, Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd. who was in conversation with Jiggy George, Country MD, Licensing International India and Founder & CEO, Dream Theatre Group

They had a free-wheeling chat on how to extend & monetise one’s company name, logo, trademarks  via brand licensing – a genre worth  $58 billion* globally.

Here are some of the key excerpts from the discussion:

  • Fundamentals of corporate and brand licensing are the same.
  • Awareness has reached a point where consumers are willing to pay a price to own a piece of the brand
  • Bennet Coleman Company Limited – is one of the largest media companies in India. Has one of the largest news daily, largest financial daily, largest network of movie channels, largest chain of radio stations, largest outdoor company – a few brands which have been around for 6-7 decades like Femina, Filmfare & Miss India
  • Brand extensions help unlock a lot of value for the company
  • Step 1 is to look at your brand portfolio and do a risk profiling
  • We decided to start with Femina – and do something around Fashion and Beauty. First partner was Shoppers Stop. 
  • They also looked at the services side and decided to launch Femina Flaunt late 2019.
  • Brand licensing done well. – Sandeep named Coca Cola, Kylie Jenner and Victoria Beckham
  • Objectives are different for different brands:
    1. How to stay relevant?
    2. How to jumpstart a new category? E.g. JVC, Discovery.
    3. Speed – finding someone else who can do it faster.

 

  • In the brand extensions model, we decided to do it ourself since we didn’t want to do co-branded. For the moment it will be a combination of COCO – Company Owned Company Operated and FOFO – Franchise Owned Franchise Operated which could lead to other models like Shared partnership.
  • Not everyone extends a brand into every market
  • If you are a media company licensees tend to expect you to bundle it into the deliverables and we do try to help if that’s our core competitive strength, but that shouldn’t be the reason for signing up
  • For Filmfare we are keen to sign up with the right hospitality players, Miss India is for a much younger audience
  • When you are planning a licensing foray you get inputs from the brand team but the ultimate blessings have to come from the management.
  • When you have 10 brands in the same category in the marketplace, they all need to have a unique aesthetic, and value proposition.
  • We don’t want to be limited by the lineage of the brand
  • What if we want to just launch a brand called Flaunt 3 years from now? Maybe it could be Unisex.
  • When we looked at the sales data from Shoppers Stop, a large number of sales were coming in from young millennials who had not read the magazine, but their first interaction was through fashion.
  • Femina Flaunt is currently available in 64 stores.
  • Licensing services are more difficult than licensing products since there are far more examples and case studies.
  • We’ve locked the brand in relevant categories in high Indian diaspora markets like Singapore, UAE, US, UK, Canada, Australia

 

The road ahead –

  • Femina Flaunt – 3-5 years 150-200 stores in the next year or so
  • Starting up in UAE
  • Fashion going online
  • Cafes in India and overseas

 

More about Sandeep:

With an experience of over 2 decades that spans across categories, Sandeep currently heads the brand extension business of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd (BCCL), one of India’s largest multimedia conglomerate. With some of the legacy brands such as Filmfare, Femina and Miss India in its portfolio, Sandeep’s mandate is to extend these brands into the consumer space, outside their existing core businesses.

Under his leadership, Femina has extended into the multiple consumer product categories over the last 5 years – apparel, eyewear, footwear, accessories, and fragrances. The brand is today available in more than 60 Shoppers Stop stores, across India and in over 600 eyewear stores. Within 48 months of launch, Femina FLAUNT range of products have already had a cumulative MRP sales of over Rs. 400 million. In late 2019, Femina forayed into beauty services with the launch of      Femina FLAUNT Studio Salon in Mumbai. Situated at Khar Linking Road and spread over 3000 sq feet, the studio salon is a ‘statement-making’, contemporary hotspot, serving global beauty services and trends in hair, make-up, nails & skin. Over the next 5 years, the company plans to launch a robust franchise program, to create a footprint of over 100 salons in the first 5 years

Prior to BCCL, Sandeep spent 8 years at Viacom18, heading their Consumer Products division to create sustainable licensing model around their brands & IPs such as MTV, Vh1, Spongebob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer and Southpark, amongst others.

Before Viacom18, he spent over 10 years as a consultant with Marketing & Communications agencies – working on hyperactive consumer-driven brands such as Seagram’s, Lakme, Pepsodent, indya.com, Carrier, Sony Entertainment Television, Louis Vuitton and South African Tourism, amongst others.

He firmly believes that the best business decisions are the ones that are driven partly by insights, and partly by instincts.

 

Jacqueline Fernandez unveils a new active wear brand, ‘Just F’

Jacqueline Fernandez and Mojostar have unveiled the active wear brand exclusively on Amazon Fashion for Prime Day.

Jacqueline Fernandez along with Mojostar recently unveiled the Just F collection exclusively on Amazon Fashion for the eagerly awaited Prime Day! Just F will be available on Amazon Fashion for pre-booking on 16th July on the occasion of Prime Day with an official launch on 17th July.

Comprising innovative, trendy, and stylish active wear outfits for the modern Indian woman, the Just F collection offers over 100 styles on Amazon Fashion curated and handpicked by Jacqueline that includes sports bras, tops, shorts and skirts, tights and tracks, dresses, sweatshirts and jackets. The brand aims to democratize modern active wear for women without compromising on quality, and has priced all its products between INR 1,299 and INR 3,499.

Just F is a women-focused active wear brand, designed and created with the modern Indian woman in mind. It puts women and what they want at the core and looks at fitness and active wear from their perspective, rather than the lens of the men’s domain. A key differentiator is Just F’s approach to construction, sizing, and styling. All Just F products are specifically designed for the Indian female body type and are imbued with crossover styling to bring fun back into the mix, even as it helps women fashionably achieve their fitness goals.

Speaking on the product launch, Jacqueline Fernandez, Co-creator and Co-owner – Just F, said, “I am super excited to bring Just F to the doorsteps of women from all across the country with Amazon Fashion! The timing couldn’t have been better as everyone is looking forward to the second edition of Prime Day. The core idea behind Just F is to highlight that fitness can be fun, fashionable, and unabashedly feminine.” Sharing her thoughts on the exclusive Amazon Fashion partnership, Jacqueline further said, “Women professionals, especially those hailing from urban areas, are extremely comfortable with shopping online. Given that e-commerce is the primary launch medium for the brand, partnering with Amazon Fashion will make Just F products more conveniently accessible and available.”

Jiggy George, Managing Director & Founding Partner – Mojostar, added, “Active wear in India is still largely serving the needs of male consumers, both via product offering and communication. Just F fills this gap by presenting a stylish, fun, yet functional proposition that places women first. The products have been designed keeping in mind the specific needs of our target audience – their body type, fitness goals, and active lifestyles. Our exclusive partnership with Amazon, with its pan-India presence and robust logistics network, will only serve to amplify Just F’s reach.”

Commenting on the launch, Arun Sirdeshmukh, Head – Amazon Fashion said, “Post receiving an overwhelming response on our handpicked selection of fashion brands during Prime Day last year, we are committed to bring together an even more exciting line-up this year. We are delighted to launch the much awaited Just F by Jacqueline Fernandez exclusively on Amazon Fashion for our Prime members across the country. The new customers shopping on Amazon Fashion are definitely in for an extravaganza with Jacqueline’s signature brand coming to their doorsteps with free Prime enabled next day delivery.”