Dubai: Putting on a splashy, high-visibility brand-building exercise in the UAE all through last year is clearly not enough for the Indian jewellery retailer Kalyan. It wants to do an encore.
The retailer has confirmed that it will maintain its advertising budget for these markets at Dh35 million to Dh40 million this year, splitting the brand building campaigns into outdoor and television, while the tactical ones will go heavy on print, radio and outdoor.
It was early last year that Kalyan launched its overseas operations through a chain of stores in the UAE. It brought on some blue-chip celebrities — Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai — to add to the glamour factor.
“From there to now, we have created the brand awareness to a level we are comfortable with,” said Ramesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Director for Marketing at Kalyan. “But with the sizable network expansion in the Gulf, we see the ad costs not as marketing needs but a genuine investment for the longer term.
“We have to communicate without a break what we are planning for these key markets. The media split will be more or less equal.”
The jewellery trade has been as one of the key advertising categories within the wider retail space in the year to date. It kicked off with the DSF 2015-related blitz and sustained through the subsequent ‘Akshaya Trithiya’ peak buying period. And even through a difficult trading environment for jewellery retailers. they have not let their consumer facing media exposures to go light.
Kalyan’s upcoming TV spots were shot locally and will air in the October to March period. “The majority of our creative work will be done in India and we have worked with the same agency for years now,” said Kalyanaraman.
This week Kalyan will open a second outlet in Sharjah and spread itself in Qatar with six locations. Two more will come through in the UAE this year.
The openings are critical for Kalyan’s stated plans to have the Gulf markets contribute 20 per cent of its projected 2014-15 group revenues of $2.1 billion (Dh7.7 billion). In last year’s tally of $1.56 billion, these markets’ share was 10 per cent.
