Brand heritage is a powerful tool to drive interest and create differentiation in content, says Sujala Martis of Platinum Guild International

Unlike other products and services, platinum or any precious metal for that matter is an emotional purchase for all of us. Being an emotional buy, it subscribes to a particular value system and that connect for customers is critical. But for a jewellery brand, communicating conveying such a strong emotion can be a tad bit difficult, if one chooses conventional the advertising route.

“Buying jewellery is an emotional purchase. One has to feel the connection with the brand’s narrative to make the purchase. Content is able to touch upon a varied set of tasks and motivators that conventional marketing otherwise would not be able to. Also, brand heritage is a powerful tool that can be leveraged to drive interest and create differentiation, finally placing it in the consumer’s consideration set,” Sujala Martis, Consumer Marketing Director at Platinum Guild International (PGI), India, said in an interaction with BuzzInContent.com.

In a predominantly gold market, PGI has been ensuring that platinum fills an important gap in the jewellery market. Through its content in various formats, the organisation is shaping up knowledge and appreciation for the metal both at the retail and consumer end. Using multiple formats of content for various mediums, Martis said that digital has become a critical medium for the company. It has not only created awareness around the metal but built an understanding about the differentiation of platinum, influencing behaviour and building connections.

Given the nature of its function, she said digital is the only platform that offers an immediacy of measurement, driving both interest and engagement.

Martis discussed how innovation has helped the brand to break the clutter, building a tougher connect with the audiences. Over the past couple of years, the company has built a positive circle of influence on its social media channels while collaborating with influencers.

Suggesting how one can build such an influence amid the challenge of inauthentic influencers, she said, “A couple of things have to be kept in mind—the fit with brand and values in the most authentic way, domain expertise showcased and how organically the brand role fits in without being overtly fake or scripted. Platforms like Instagram channelled this content best but now there is TikTok and it created disruptions on how this body of work can be leveraged and run.”

Excerpts:

Why should any jewellery brand opt for content marketing? What benefits does it present to any brand which marketing cannot do?

Content forms an important pillar. Buying jewellery is an emotional purchase. One has to feel the connect with the brand’s narrative to make the purchase. It’s also about a certain value system that resonates with the individual and is aspirational for him/her and to be able to convey that is another important trigger that impacts consideration and relevance. Given the newness of our category, awareness and knowledge of attributes that differentiate and give teeth to choice are also vital. It’s tough for typical marketing to do justice to such a wide gamut of tasks. At the same time, today consumers are more aware, also more cynical. Conventional hard sells do not work — brands work better if they are embedded as part of their consumption culture. Authenticity matters. Given fragmentation, brands need to draw consumers in — creating that brand love and engagement is key.  Content is able to touch upon a varied set of tasks and motivators that conventional marketing would not be able to.

For PGI, which content format works the best? And which channel is the most effective one for the same?

At PGI, we feel different content formats work differently on various mediums and each has merit on the basis of the objective set out. Given our affinity among a younger TG, digital is a critical medium and we use the whole digital eco system towards that end. A vibrant mix of content from social to native, to initiatives with publisher formats is deployed — multiple assets are developed on the basis of the task at hand. Given our category, one cannot cut out the role of influencers and the increased reach/consideration they bring towards our brand arguments.

Our digital strategy focuses on creating awareness, building an understanding of the platinum differentiation, influencing behaviour and building connections. Given the nature of our function, digital is the only platform that offers an immediacy of measurement, driving both interest and engagement.

How would you define the kind of content PGI curates for the campaigns?

Platinum is an emotional metal — bought for moments of emotional significance. It’s also rare, an attribute, which is our strongest differentiator. Apart from this, given the nature of the metal and our culture, platinum is perceived to be contemporary and we will build on these factors with a progressive take on all aspects. It is important for us to stand out and come across as differentiated and aspirational. Our value system is defined keeping all this in mind and all our content attempts to reflect this in tonality, while aspects of design and style remain always in sync with the narrative on social media.

Platinum Days of Love, our offering in the couple gifting segment stands for a love that is rare — based on a value system of sought-after qualities in relationships that are easy to speak of but tough to find.

Evara, on the other hand, catering to the young to-be-bride segment (trousseau jewellery) is built on a value system of self-belief, courage, confidence, optimism, equality — all values important to the young bride of today.

Men of Platinum, which is our latest offering, stands for a rare breed of men whose success narrative differs from convention, the men who value character.

As far as genre is considered, the choice is made based on where our audience sits — affinity, interest filters matter a lot to us to get targeting right.

Can you please share a few of your major content initiatives in the past? What kind of ROI did you generate from the same?

Given that we are Platinum Guild, our primary task is to build demand and desire for platinum, within our culture which is gold-dominated. The task is hence to identify gaps that platinum can own which would be pulled apart and differentiated from gold. Content provides a great way for us to do and demonstrate that. For Platinum Days of Love, on Friendship Day, last year, we asked couples what made them friends first, to create content. The series of films then created were based on audience insights that we picked up and converted into charming stories. They were then put back into circulation to build friendship as a quality and garner more UGC and engagement — thus creating a virtuous cycle.

Or for our new collection last year, we picked contrasting design motifs of the product (couple bands) as our start point and built the platform of ‘Individuality amid togetherness’. We created a series of 30 short-format films over 30 days covering the range of our collection of 30 designs. It was snackable content, each based on insights and interest genres from our audience covering a spectrum from something for fashionistas, food lovers to the constant Instagrammers, etc.

Content for us, therefore, has spanned various types and tasks — from influencer/blogger driven content, to native, to engagement driven initiatives, to social, to even content integration with TV. For our launch of Men of Platinum, for instance, we built a body of content with GQ prior to launch and Yourstory talking about the new breed of men today, what they value, how they perceive platinum, etc.

Any major content initiative planned in the upcoming months?

We just finished an initiative for Platinum Days of Love and Valentine’s day — the task was to generate brand affinity in this all important period. We also created a BOT and used that in our content framework — voice being pegged as the next big thing, this was really our experiment with it. Next up will be Women’s Day and our brand Platinum Evara (which is part of trousseau and talks to the young bride of today) will lead that conversation. After that will come our biggest consumer in-store activation, Season of Love, and all brands within the portfolio will focus on creating a strong brand pull for that. New collections of course will launch towards the latter half of the year and initiatives will then centre on that.

How long has PGI been utilising the content route to reach out customers and retailers?

For the last couple of years, we have been looking at it more seriously since media habits have changed. Social channels, OTT and their traction have a big role to play given our TG. With retailers, it’s more about training given that ours is a relatively new category with a differentiated set of attributes.

What kind of educational and awareness content do you curate for the retailers and customers? How important is that?

PGI in India focuses on creating awareness, education and aspiration around platinum. We partner with retailers to help build their platinum business. On that front, the role extends from merchandising and design inputs, ensuring stocking and visibility to training of staff, so a body of knowledge and the differentiation that platinum brings is understood and can be used effectively at the consumer end.

Can content marketing for a jewellery brand help delight the customers for high-end purchases? How reliable and authentic content has to be for the same?

What begins to matter at a more premium level are romancing varied aspects right from raw material, to process, to design, to quality. From mine to market, every aspect counts. When we say platinum is rare, its source of origin, selective availability, the mastery of skill required for creation, the process of design, the narrative behind the design, the values a piece stands for, all matter in building consideration and creating differentiation. Mystery, uniqueness and a sense of discovery enhances consumer interest in the end product. Having said that, it needs to originate from a point of truth — with all the clutter and bombarding today, it’s easy for a consumer to see the difference between what is authentic, unique and what is not.

How to craft a content strategy that respects the jewellery brand’s heritage while at the same time appealing to new generations?

 Brand heritage is a powerful tool that can be leveraged to drive interest and create differentiation, finally placing it in the consumer’s consideration set. Given that we are in an era where options are many, this becomes an important piece in creating the myth that surrounds the brand. Jewellery is not bought for rational reasons alone; young consumers are very interested in the story, meaning system and values behind it. A brand’s heritage could connote value or a justified premium in their mind.

Brands are also re-crafting heritage to add a contemporary sense to it or connecting it back to an emerging need of our times.

How much can this space be explored with influencers or bloggers? How active is PGI in this space and how careful one has to be while collaborating with them?

What is happening in the influencer space today is while its ads to the brands visibility and reach — there is a lack of authenticity. It came into being because it was perceived to add authenticity and could be used to leverage the deeper relationship that influencers had with their audience, creating almost a brand experience. However, when they see influencers promote a bunch of brands in a week and all of it is visible on social media, then there is scepticism. In a category like ours there are no expertise credentials, so one sees the same influencer push fashion, beauty, skin care, lifestyle and that’s when it begins to fall apart. Added to it is also the concern on audience quality and fake followers given lack of transparency and one begins to question the true gain to a brand.  However, in our culture and where we are on this curve for our category it matters and creates a positive circle of influence. A couple of things to keep in mind would be the fit with brand and values in the most authentic way — domain expertise showcased and how organically the brand role fits in without being overtly fake or scripted. Platforms like Instagram channelled this content best but now there is TikTok and they have created disruptions on how this whole body of work can be leveraged and run.

A lot of brands engage customers/audiences with interactive content to generate interest in products. For a jewellery brand, how should be the narrative?

Drawing in the consumer and creating engagement/brand love is the only way it will work today. Bombardment of content and platforms has made breaking through clutter and building a connect even tougher but a truly successful content is only that which has been able to generate action, get audiences immersed. It is when the brand and its narrative are getting truly and actively consumed. Innovations definitely help here. For example, the BOT we created in the course of the Platinum Days of Love-Valentine’s Day campaign was one such initiative, it was voice directed and engaged our audiences by making suggestions that are truly meaningful this month of love. On another initiative we promised was the creation of a song on UGC and that garnered a lot of authentic engagement. Consumers responded because they were eager for their narrative to be the inspiration behind a song. Smaller actions like couple band suggestions are based on the type of couple you are. Or our film on greater together, literally requiring two phones to be brought together for a greater experience. All of these went beyond passive engagement — into being able to be immersive and generate action yet firmly entrenched in our values.

How big is your team that works on content strategies?

We work primarily with our digital partner Web Chutney to create content and our agency Famous Innovation and media partner Wavemaker. There are times when we work with publisher/content platforms directly — depending on the nature of the initiative planned.