For a change, Salman Khan dances to Tirupur tune

For companies that sell fashion products, nothing could work better than roping in a heart throb from the tinsel town to promote their products through advertisements either in the print or electronic media. But a Tirupur-based innerwear manufacturer has gone a step further and has used one of the most bankable stars in Bollywood to discreetly promote its product – vests - by flaunting it in his latest film ‘Ready' .

This is not the first time that the Tirupur-based company Dixcy Textiles Pvt Ltd, has used the Bollywood mega star Salman Khan. He is the brand ambassador of Dixcy Scott, a premium men's innerwear brand of the company. Earlier the company had tied up with the star in his films like Dabbang and television show Big Boss . Now in his latest film ‘Ready' , Salman Khan is seen wearing Dixcy Scott vests throughout the number “Dhinka Chika ” and the company hopes to ride on the success of Salman Khan and the catchy film song to penetrate the market for the vest in the Hindi belt in the country.

In an interview to Business Line , Mr Raghul Sikka, Director, Dixcy Textiles Pvt. Ltd, Tirupur, shares his thoughts on the strategy of making Salman Khan flaunt his company's product in a film and its likely impact on the audience. Excerpts.

Why Salman Khan. Does the company see any synergy between its brand ambassador and the targeted audience?

Dixcy Scott markets fashion innerwear. Salman is the best fit to be a brand ambassador that any innerwear brand can have. He flaunts an impeccable physique and is a rage among youngsters for style. Our products stand out for style and hence he is the perfect person to flaunt it.

Does the company feel that the actor appeals to the age group of the buyers at whom the product is targeted? What is the buyer age profile of the product?

The product very much appeals to the young audience in this country. Salman is a mass figure and is very popular amongst the youngsters. Without doubt, his image speaks to our target audience. You can check out fan page on Facebook (Youngsters throng to our fan page to post pictures of them in Dixcy Scott vests in their gym).

Will there not be viewer fatigue since there is already another manufacturer who uses Akshay Kumar for its innerwear (vest)? Does the audience believe wearing the innerwear would give them the macho image?

It will not (lead to) fatigue since Salman has a totally different image amongst everybody. Today everyone is more interested in seeing what Salman is doing .Male innerwear is always a macho but we can see a gradual shift where youngsters are opting for fashionable inners.

Does the company have a large Hindi speaking market for using Salman? Is it trying to penetrate that market? Does it feel his appeal transcends regions?

Our brand is selling pan-India but has a larger dominance in Hindi speaking market. Salman is a mass hero and his appeal has no bounds. The acid test to this would be the business the latest flick ‘Ready' has generated in other regions apart from the Hindi speaking market.

The Akshay Kumar advertisement campaign was on TV but Dixcy is using film as a medium. How is it different and what is the advantage of using films in terms of cost, audience reach and impact value etc when compared to an advertisement campaign. Will film audience notice it?

We use film to support our main campaign as it gets mass exposure of the film audience. The ‘Dhinka Chika' experience of Dixcy Scott in Ready is totally out of the box. We are not able to directly measure the impact value. However, we will soon go live with our campaign on TV, print etc for this year once we are ready for it.

What is the product profile of the company? Is it into men's wear only or it is into women's wear also?

Dixcy Textiles Pvt Ltd has now graduated from an inner wear manufacturer to a full-fledged organisation with slew of apparel brands. We manufacture and market products for all age groups — men, women, boys and girls. We have five brands namely Dixcy Scott for men and boys. Higgins is a fashion brand of apparel for all categories. Dixcy is innerwear for all categories. Dixcy Thermowear is winter innerwear apparel for all categories. Dixcy Josh is for the masses.

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