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A view of the Wrangler store at Indiranagar, Bangalore.

Swetha Kannan

Two years ago, the cowboy shed his rustic image to take on a chic urban look. While still retaining the rugged cowboy charm, the Wrangler brand became more “stylish” and “contemporary.” The wild, wild West was replaced with urban settings and sophistication.

The brand overhaul was long overdue, considering that the old-world imagery was getting a tad too jaded. But the repositioning had to be done subtly, without meddling with the ‘cowboy’ identity that Wrangler had managed to create in consumers’ minds.

The brand, marketed by VF Arvind Brands Pvt Ltd went in for a much-needed makeover in line with its target audience – the slick city youth. In came revamped retail stores sporting a trendy appearance. The products became more stylish. Bollywood celebrity John Abraham was roped in to embody the characteristics of the brand. An ‘on-the-road’ campaign followed, which saw Wrangler exploring non-traditional media for marketing for the first time. That’s when Wrangler realised that while traditional media would always play the ‘reminder’ role, it is the non-conventional methods that involve and engage the audience.

Now, the brand is looking to sharpen its image more for a greater brand recall among consumers. This year, Wrangler started its marketing communication with a series of campaigns targeted at youth. For the spring-summer season in April-May, it adopted several below-the-line strategies and ‘new’ technologies such as mobile phone communication, online media and mall marketing. The ‘Truly Clean Jeans’ theme campaign saw Wrangler adopt a 360-degree campaign using new media – through applications such as WAP, Bluetooth and the Internet, apart from mall marketing.

So, what exactly is ‘clean jeans’ and how did the brand, which claims to bring into the country fashion as it happens internationally, go about spreading the ‘clean’ message? Cleans jeans is denim which does not look washed or faded but sports a rather clean look – the way raw denim appears. Instead of going through a thorough wash, raw denim is given just a rinse wash – it is a special wash treatment that retains the raw look of original denim and is not old or tattered.

Says Anshul Chaturvedi, Marketing Manager, Wrangler: “As a brand, we have always stood for getting newer fashion trends into the country first. We try and catch the trends early from Europe – considered to be the fashion capital and bring what is in internationally first into India. In 2002, we launched distressed jeans – 10-year-old jeans, torn and tattered ... it was a trend-setting exercise. That showed what ‘distress’ is to the Indian market. Now you see a lot of brands doing it. Now, we have introduced the clean jeans, which are in internationally. In, India it is not developed as yet.”

Armed with a new concept and product, Wrangler tied up with brands that talked about ‘clean’ – Kaya Skin Clinic (clean skin) and Castrol Bike Zone (which is into servicing of bikes) which gave away gift vouchers in return for co-branding opportunities at various places such as stores, store windows, malls and escalators.

The Truly Clean campaign - ‘Clean Skin Clean Bike Clean Jeans’ ran in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai from May 1 to June 25. The mega-prize of the campaign was a chopper bike, customised for Wrangler and autographed by John Abraham. In order to win the chopper, consumers had to purchase Wrangler merchandise worth Rs 2,500 to be eligible for a lucky draw.

The chopper was displayed at malls in select cities where people could take part in quizzes, puzzles and games specially designed around Wrangler and win limited editions of John Abraham signature Wrangler tees, Wrangler watches and John Abraham-signed Wrangler music CDs.

Wrangler also exploited the power of new media. At the Phoenix mall in Mumbai, Wrangler set up a Bluetooth zone and anyone walking within a 25-metre radius of that would receive Bluetooth messages on their handsets and could receive ringtones, wallpapers and m-coupons.

A micro-site ‘ www.wrangler-trulyclean.com’ was created with features such as online games and downloads such as wallpapers and posters. (Several youth brands have started looking at the ‘microsite’ seriously. A microsite is a Web site put up for a short period - usually coinciding with any promotion or event. For example, when ITC Foods forayed into the snacks category it ran a microsite called bingeonbingo.com with games and promotions.)

Wrangler also promoted the Truly Clean campaign through print, and on Web sites such as IndiWo, Rediff, MSN, Yahoo and MSN Messenger, RediffBol, and on the Mauj.com WAP portal. (WAP sites are sites that can be viewed using wireless application protocol. This protocol allows users to download content onto mobile phones with GPRS connectivity.)

The response to these initiatives has been terrific, says Chaturvedi. On an average, the microsite received over 2,000 page views per day and the WAP site saw 1.35 lakh downloads in just a month. Around 12,000 people took part in five cities in the on-ground activities across malls and stores.

Chaturvedi explains in detail the rationale behind using below-the-line (BTL) activities in a big way. What better way to woo the youth than reach out to where they are, he asks. “All our efforts are focussed on the youth between 18 and 24 years of age in places such as malls, Internet and through the mobile phone – places and devices the youth are using increasingly. Print and outdoors is reducing significantly. BTL is the easiest way to connect to the youth, our target group. Earlier, advertising used to be very one directional, it used to talk to you. BTL activities and non-traditional media are interactive and a critical part of our marketing efforts; they are here to stay.”

Marketing consultant Suresh Kumar rationalises Wrangler’s use of various media, even as it tries to avoid any force fit: “I think Wrangler is executing an integrated communications plan very well by customising messages using each medium’s characteristics rather than forcing same creative across everything.”

Even as it reaches out to its primary target group consistently, the brand does not want to ignore its secondary target – the 25-plus age segment which has more disposable income, travels abroad more and is connected with fashion trends abroad. These are people who are not only exposed to trends but also have the right attitude to carry off Wrangler, essentially a youth brand, says Chaturvedi. He could even be a 50-year-old but with the confidence to can carry off a youth brand. “We need to look at these people too,” adds Chaturvedi.

Going ahead, Wrangler plans to tap into the autumn-winter season, which it feels is a big season, contributing around 65 per cent in value terms. “There are two reasons to this. In autumn-winter, the merchandise mix will also include winter wear - jackets, sweaters and so on. And most of the festivals are around this time – be it Diwali, Dussehra or New Year’s Eve. The season starts from mid-August and goes all the way up to December-end. In this period, both the volumes and value are high,” explains Chaturvedi. Wrangler will come up with two theme campaigns – pre- and post-Diwali. The first of the campaign is called Agent W07, inspired by the ‘espionage’ theme.

Wrangler’s is positioned as an international premium denim brand along with the likes of Levi’s, Pepe and Lee. The ‘international premium’ market in India is estimated at Rs 400 crore. Levi’s is considered to be the leader in the pack, followed by Lee, Pepe and Wrangler, which has a turnover of Rs 65 crore. According to a multi-brand retailer in Chennai, Wrangler enjoys a strong premium brand perception and is ranked right up there as an upmarket brand alongside brands such as Levi’s and Pepe.

Starting off as a Rs 3.5-crore brand, Wrangler has been growing at 40 per cent year-on-year for the last few years. It has 54 exclusive stores across 19 cities and is looking to expand to tier 2 and tier 3 cities. “Increasingly satellite towns are showing growth. That’s where the growth will come from in the future too. We are setting up 15 new stores this year in cities such as Mysore and Ludhiana,” says Chaturvedi.

Apart from denim wear, Wrangler has also extended itself to trousers such as wrinkle free bottoms and chinos for men. Traditionally seen as a menswear brand, thanks to its cowboy image, Wrangler now plans to focus more on womenswear. It is looking to create a separate sub-brand for women’s denim wear with “a complete collection and unique identity.” It is also toying with the idea of roping in a female celebrity for brand fit.

Reasons Chaturvedi: “Men’s denim wear has always been our focus and forte, although we do have products for women. But we recently shifted focus to womenswear by putting in place a dedicated team of women merchandisers. If you pick up women’s apparel today, you will realise it’s for women, because of the elements we have used. The product detailing has changed.

The trims, the branding and stitching are different to make the garment more feminine. Earlier, it all used to be the same – same trims and fabric. New fits have been introduced especially for women, the fit is very important. We now have slimmer and tapered jeans - as a precursor to international fashion trends.”

Women’s wear contributes 20 per cent of Wrangler’s Rs 65 crore sales. This has grown from around three per cent in the early days. (Wrangler was launched in India in 2000.) The brand plans to increase contribution of womenswear to 30-35 per cent this year.

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