To meet evolving consumer needs and elevate home comfort standards, Bajaj Electricals has unveiled 'Nex,' a premium range of fans targeted at aspirational urban millennials. With a focus on innovation, Nex aims to redefine the consumer's sensory experience with its product range. 

Among the offerings from Nex are the ceiling fans, Dryft and Glyde, launched strategically during the peak summer months. These fans are designed to create a sensory experience for users, capturing the essence of motion and emotion.

Nex's goal is to expand its distribution network across the top 30 cities in India, ensuring the widespread availability of its products.

To authentically convey its core message of superior air thrust, advanced technology, and premium design, the brand plans to partner with influencers in future marketing efforts. 

The pan India launch campaign, which has been running since last month titled 'feel the future,' features an ad film 'elevate your senses' that highlights the brand’s key insights. 

Conceptualised by BBH India, the ad subtly showcases the impact of Nex’s innovative fans, illustrated through evocative visuals such as goosebumps on the protagonist’s hand and gently moving tendrils of hair, symbolising the cooling comfort of summer. This narrative underscores the brand's dedication to fulfilling the audience’s desire for comfort and connection within their living spaces, aiming to make a mark in the home appliance market.

Manifest caught up with Sandhya Biswas, head of marketing, Bajaj Electricals, to pick her brain on the intent of the new products, its marketing plan for this range, the importance of creating in-store experiences and plans for expansion in the next quarter. 

How have consumer behaviour and preferences influenced the design and functionality of the new Nex range of products?

The consumers have told us through our interactions with them they are looking for something that solves their core requirements, a higher air experience or a better air experience. What set us on this path about two and a half years ago, was to go about solving that core problem of giving consumers instant relief through our products. 

There was a large area that needed to be tapped, which is around air performance, and that's the opportunity we saw. Therefore, we took this consumer preference to first principles, both in terms of design and performance. 

We went back to the basics, the conversation in the industry was always around motor speed in the prevalent conversations, but we went back to first principles in a way that engineers do. It was a collaborative experience between the business and engineering teams to solve this core customer problem. We stripped the product down to its parts, and looked at the motor and plates differently, to be able to deliver a solution that gives the consumer this feeling of higher air thrust. That was the whole process that took us about six months to a year to come up with the proposition. To give the product a credible edge, our products are certified by DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research) Labs to produce a 20% higher air thrust. 

At the same time, the way we went to market also was by convincing our channel partners not by talking but by giving them a product to experience. We got it installed in their places of work and places of residence. If they were convinced then only we would go forward. That is the success that we've had with our initial conversations for Nex. Our retailers will be able to convince our end consumers. Also, the advantage that we have is that we were able to showcase the power of our performance to our key partners. But the core promise of performance, air performance and air thrust is entirely based on what the consumers have told us about their pain points and requirements.

What are the marketing endeavours for this launch? Is a campaign rolled out for the same? 

We've had multi-pronged approaches to taking it to market. So from an e-commerce perspective, we put it on key platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart. 

We've also had Amazon marketing campaigns going on for about six to eight months. But in terms of distribution, trade and general trade we have launched in about the top 30 cities. And in these top cities, our approach is very different, we offer different kinds of elements and point-of-sale materials. 

We have an acrylic ACP glow sign board in our and our retail partner stores which offers longevity to showcase our products. 

From a campaign standpoint, we are running a digital campaign (described above), which is ongoing right now. It is rolled out on YouTube, Amazon, Flipkart, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and several other media vehicles to be able to convey the brand message. 

All our ad films aim to bring alive the concept of ‘feel the future’ and our entire messaging is around this. The campaigns are conceptualised by our creative agency, BBH India, whereas our media agency is Madison. 

What does the marketing split look like for Nex?

Our marketing pie is largely digital for this launch, which amounts to around 80% and the rest is in-store experience. The in-store experience and display units with a touch and feel aspect are a major chunk of our endeavour as these are the end consumer touch points we want to tap into. These efforts are not only in our flagship stores but also in Croma and Reliance Digital, Vijay Sales, among others. 

Who is the primary target audience for Nex, and how does Bajaj Electricals plan to engage this group effectively?

For one, the primary audience we saw for Nex is a millennial consumer who's also technically savvy. To adhere to our target audience, we chose the name ‘Nex’ which is easy to recall, it's short and catchy. 

Secondly, consumers who are open to experimenting, open to a new brand, somebody who's a technophile and is ready to adapt to new technology and take a chance. 

The design is the first thing consumers notice and we've taken care of that. That is one of the ways that we see consumers react to the product, although our conversation is about performance and that is our truth. 

Given that design is how consumers interact with any stimulus, our intention for Nex was clear: its design should showcase performance. That's why we feel that we are seeing our target audience respond to the product effectively because of what they see and what they get.

The design of the product should exist to enhance performance and deliver the promise of performance, that is the aim we had in mind. So that when the target audience buys the product, they're able to feel the difference as well. We are also targeting discerning consumers who thoroughly research products before purchasing. 

With increasing emphasis on sustainability, how does the Nex brand address environmental concerns through its packaging?

We do want to address sustainability and the packaging of Nex is a nod towards that sensibility. However, it is not fully recycled paper, because sourcing that material becomes an issue. But we wanted to cut the clutter in the retail environment with Nex's packaging. Because a lot of the products that you see in this space are saturated dark colours we wanted to have neutral tones which are lively. Therefore, it's a conscious choice to create it with this colour palette for the Indian retail market. In certain stores, the dark-coloured packaging would accumulate dust and look worn out which wouldn’t be appealing. So I wouldn’t use sustainability as the core objective since it's not fully recyclable, but here sensibility of respecting the surroundings of where the product is distributed is what Nex’s packaging was designed to portray. 

Going forward, what is the most important audience segment for the brand concerning growth and scalability? 

A clear direction for us will be to look at the premium segment. And Nex is perched in that price segment. The products are priced at INR 3,000 and above. So, we only address a part of the market, but we are very happy with that choice because we are clear that we want to cater to the premium segment. Overall for Bajaj Electricals as well, the direction is to be more premium and focus on more premium products and consumers will see the theme is across Morphy Richards as well. 

Lastly, for the next quarter how do you see the impact and ROI shape up for Nex?

The clear intention for us is to scale this brand to the top cities in India. We want to do a good job of making sure that we are targeting the right customers who can build our brands. This journey for us now in trade is to ensure that from a distribution perspective, we get the right partners on board and that is key for us. So the model that we've adopted is the ‘direct dealer first model’ where we are looking at large partners who can also help to build our brand because we know that the first part of the contact will be these large retailers. 

We want to scale up in e-commerce as well. And from a brand standpoint, we introduced the brand to new consumers and want to now continue engaging with influencers and other aspects, going forward, to make sure that consumers are constantly hearing about the brand. But the key focus for next quarter is expanding distribution, making sure we are present in a meaningful way across our top targeted cities.