Featuring some of India’s coolest actors and musicians, H&M’s ‘Brighter Than Ever’ campaign is going strong, three years in a row now
Festive wear in India largely means adorning yourself in silk kurtas or sarees. In the last few years, Indian designers have embraced modernity by morphing Western looks with Indian silhouettes, whether it’s Payal Khandwala using Banarasi fabrics to create jumpsuits or Arpita Mehta using traditional embroidery on kaftan dresses and co-ord sets. This amalgamation is what international brands have caught on to, to create exclusive festive collections that cater to their Indian consumers. Among these is the Swedish giant H&M. We spoke to Amit Kothari, the brand’s regional head of customer activation and marketing, to understand their marketing strategies that focus on exclusive festive collections for the Indian audience.
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"While fashion and style are important elements for us, culture is also an integral part of our brand’s DNA," says Amit Kothari
For the third year in a row, H&M has launched a festive collection which is exclusive to India. How has this worked for the Swedish brand both online and offline?
We have been listening to our customers' needs and understand how important festivals are for them. Our actions and plans have always been customer-centric, leading to more relevant and better customer experiences. Therefore, while we are a global brand, being locally relevant with festive edits through the year will continue to be a big focus for us. While fashion and style are important elements for us, culture is also an integral part of our brand’s DNA.
With the launch of the ‘Brighter Than Ever’ campaign in 2020, we’ve witnessed a great response from our customers, not only on the collections, but also towards the overall campaign. In terms of channels, specifically, we are driven with the customer at the heart of everything we do. Therefore, both stores and online channels are equally important, ensuring the campaign is launched in a way that allows our customers to have the option to shop in-store, online or on Myntra—our marketplace partner—to not only ensure a seamless shopping experience but to cater to those in tier-two and tier-three cities as well.
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Singer Zaeden wears the men's collection from H&M's festive collection
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Chum Darang and Shantanu Maheshwari in the ‘Brighter Than Ever’ campaign
How big is the Indian market for H&M to build a special collection specifically for the country?
As a market, India is extremely important, which can be traced in our seven-year-long journey as well. H&M opened its first store in India in New Delhi in 2015, and then in Mumbai in 2016, followed by many more stores across metros and tier -two cities. Today, we have 48 stores across 26 different cities! We launched our online platform in March 2018, followed by our launch on Myntra in August 2019. With these we aim to continue to strengthen our omni-channel strategy of extending a seamless shopping experience.
From the point of view of collections, we always want to engage with our customers through innovative campaigns and launches, striving to create inspiring stories. Each local campaign is curated exclusively for India, keeping factors like style, culture as well as key elements such as materials used and the weather conditions.
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Actor Jim Sarbh poses in H&M's newest, India-exclusive collection
For a brand that predominantly has Western wear, what kind of reception does your festive wear get?
Our festive collections are carefully designed with a fine mix of bright colours and party wear which have received great appreciation from our customers over the last two years. The collection features strong wardrobe separates which are extremely versatile, allowing one to take the garments from day to night, along with separates which pair well with traditional Indian wear. For example, some of the jackets in the menswear section work really well with a bold kurta. The festive season also brings with it numerous parties and celebrations and we’ve seen a great response to Western wear with the onset of the festive season.
How is this collection different from the brand’s previous festive collections?
The collection this year includes pieces that radiate a vibrant colour palette with a focus on electric pink, shades of purple and lilac, warm reds and oranges as well as statement-making sequinned garments in gold and silver.
Additionally, this year’s collection, for the first time, features home products that are curated for the festive season, all of which are made in India. Decorating our homes and gifting, are both integral to festivals in India, and therefore the collection consists of gift pieces, serve-ware and décor items designed using special motifs and printed textiles.
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