Interview: We spend almost 60% of our marketing budget on digital and social media – Raghav Ravichandar
Baskin Robins’ Raghav Ravichandar explains the brand’s digital strategy, created to engage with young people and Gen Z.
In conversation with Social Samosa, Raghav RavichandarGM Marketing, Baskin Robbins discusses how social media, influencer marketing and Web 3 have presented new avenues for engaging with the younger sect of the public.
Edited excerpts:
How would you define your overall marketing strategy? How is it different out of season?
Ice cream is an indulgence-focused category, and Baskin Robbins is a very indulgent brand, so our marketing strategy is designed with that in mind. We traditionally have two major themed campaigns during the summer and winter seasons where we launch our new range of exciting desserts for our consumers.
What kind of role does digital and social media marketing play for Baskin Robbins?
While the Baskin Robbins salon experience remains our flagship branding and distribution channel, we continually invest in digital and social media marketing as key channels (Facebook/Instagram/BR D2C website/ aggregation) to communicate with our consumers.
Considering that our audience is largely made up of Millennials and Gen Z who have embraced a digital-centric lifestyle – whether it’s to be entertained and stay in touch with the things they love, we’ll where they are.
Instagram, for example, is a highly visual medium that helps us highlight and promote the appeal of our range through short-form video content and visually appealing content. Being a two-way interactive medium between brand and consumer gives us immediate feedback that helps us modify our campaigns on the fly.
Also read: As soon as brands stop seeing Metaverse as a gimmick, they can leverage it: Karthik Nagarajan
What percentage of your total marketing budget is set aside for digital?
We spend approximately 60% of our overall marketing budget on digital platforms and social media initiatives.
How would you describe the relative importance of each social media platform to the brand from top to bottom of the funnel?
Social media platforms such as Facebook/Instagram and YouTube are used extensively for upper funnel marketing – for awareness and reach which are largely the key metrics we track and evaluate.
Our D2C website, which went live this quarter, is a middle and lower funnel channel that consumers can also visit for exclusive deals.
We also use Google search and display and other funnel mediums to capture the “impulsivity” that is so closely tied to ice cream. We explore several affiliate networks such as InShorts, Glance and Hotstar to experiment and understand which combination of channels works best for us.
Please tell us about your content strategy.
Baskin Robbins is synonymous with spreading happiness, whether through our products or our communication. Our content strategy is also based on the same thinking, and all of our social and digital media campaigns are designed to establish the relevance of our products in the lives of our consumers.
Additionally, our consumers love to engage with the brand, and we strive to maintain this through various interactive social media initiatives.
It’s a mix of product and brand communication and being part of pop culture that engages and engages consumers.
What do you think of influencer marketing? Does the brand intend to leverage this for better engagement?
With more and more Millennials and Gen Z consumers, we think influencer marketing is very important. Influencers have the power to increase brand awareness, and their endorsements of your brand help you reach a large audience at once and educate consumers about the product.
Influencer marketing helps brands cut through all the noise on social platforms and bring direct attention to their products. We engage in a lot of influencer marketing activities for Baskin Robbins – we have a host of lifestyle, beauty and food influencers who help us promote our products through endorsements, endorsements , videos/reels, etc.
What have been some of the consumer behavioral trends seen lately? How does the brand respond to the same?
When it comes to treats in general and desserts in particular, we found that consumers tend to buy more on special occasions, whether festive or otherwise. Keeping this in mind, we are now introducing desserts specially designed for the holiday season. We are also focused on innovating new flavors and products, as the Indian palate is also changing rapidly, thanks to travel and exposure to global cuisines and food trends.
As more and more consumers are younger, digital-first, and convenience over everything else, our aggregator sales have increased dramatically. So we strive to be where they are and have even launched our own website to provide them with a convenient and hassle-free delivery experience.
Another trend we’ve seen is that consumers want variety when it comes to their dessert – it’s not about having “just ice cream” anymore. They also care about the quality of their desserts, which is why they choose brands like ours. With this in mind, Baskin Robbins has also expanded into more product categories – we have introduced gourmet sundaes as well as ice cream drinks and cakes. We want our consumers to know that Baskin Robbins is the ultimate dessert destination with something for everyone!
What do you think of Web3 and Metaverse as the future of marketing? What is the brand’s approach to adapting to this new reality?
The Web3 and Metaverse are exciting opportunities for brands to create a virtual ecosystem on the Internet that blurs the line between physical and digital space.
Baskin Robbins has a lot of exciting things lined up for the year ahead. We are launching a host of new products as well as categories, specially created with the festive season and the Indian palate in mind. Plus, we’ll explore fun collaborations with other brands and launch our 750e parlor. We are also focused on introducing products that appeal to more consumers, such as our vegan consumers.
