The Hindu Business Line : Tanishq to unleash festival promos

Set to sparkle
The festival promotion will be built around the theme of `revitalising tradition' and will "encourage buying".
A region-specific press campaign is also planned from September 23.

Bangalore , Sept. 22

Tanishq plans to unleash an advertising campaign to lure customers into buying jewellery during the festive season from October to March. A TV burst is planned from the middle of October leading to Deepavali, Ramzan, the wedding season thereafter, followed by Christmas and Sankaranthi.

The festival promotion will be built around the theme of `revitalising tradition' and will "encourage buying," said Mr V. Govind Raj, Vice-President - Retail and Marketing, Tanishq.

Banking on brisk sales

The company is banking on brisk sales this festival season to achieve its target of 40 per cent growth in turnover this fiscal year. "The festival season usually accounts for one-third of total sales and this year too we expect similar sales," said Mr Raj. (The company finished the last fiscal with a turnover of Rs 760 crore.)

A region-specific press campaign is also planned from September 23, after the Shrardh / Pitru Paksh period (generally considered an inauspicious time by Hindus, especially in northern and western India). That day also marks the beginning of the Dussehra festival, an auspicious time to buy jewellery, said Mr Raj.

Pre-booking offer

Generally, jewellery sales are low two weeks before Dussehra (the Shrardh period). So, to activate demand and purchase during this period, Tanishq came out with a pre-booking offer in select markets — Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat and UP (where Shrardh is observed strictly). "This scheme allowed people to block gold at prevailing prices and they could buy jewellery after Shrardh. We had more than usual commitment to buying this time," said Mr Raj.

Also, the high price of gold last week ($625-630 per troy ounce) spurred demand. Anticipating a further rise in prices, there was lot of response to the pre-booking offer; sales too were good. "We had a doubling of sales during this period this year compared to the other years," said Mr Raj. However, gold prices have since then come down to settle at $584 per troy ounce (Rs 8,800-8,900 per 10 grams).

Meanwhile, Tanishq plans to open its biggest store (7,500 sq. ft) in the country at South Extension, Delhi on September 23. Currently, it has 84 stores in India. Plans are on to open six more by March 2007.

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