At Helios, we believe in going beyond transactional communication: Ajay Dwivedi

Introduced by Titan Company, Helios today is India’s largest multi-brand premium watch retailer. Spread across the country, Helios Watch Store has become a one-stop destination for superior Swiss watches, classic analog watches, modern digital watches and futuristic smartwatches from leading international brands. The store also houses Titan Company watches like Nebula, Titan, Titan Smart and Xylys.

Given the stress on green and sustainable technology today, Helios Watch Store launched a special campaign on the occasion of Valentine’s Day this year, called #LoveEarth. Traditionally celebrated as an occasion to express love and affection for those you care about, Valentine’s Day took on a whole new meaning with this campaign as Helios invoked the idea of making Earth our Valentine.

The campaign saw Helios stores in Bengaluru showcase a curated range of Earth friendly watches from international brands, including Seiko, Anne Klein, Armani Exchange, etc. To round off this unique initiative, four budding artists were commissioned to create ‘art from trash’, which was collected from Helios stores in the city. Each of these artworks was used as installations at the Titan Corporate Office, Indiranagar, Jayanagar and Koramangala Helios stores in Bengaluru.

In conversation with Adgully, Ajay Dwivedi, Head - Retail, Watches and Wearables, Titan Company Ltd, speaks at length about the key insight idea behind the #LoveEarth campaign, the role of CSR, Titan’s initiative towards premiumising the customer experience, and more.

Elaborating on the core idea behind the #LoveEarth campaign, Ajay Dwivedi said, “The idea for the #LoveEarth campaign germinated from our vision to create a larger, measurable impact in the world that we live in. With increasing awareness of waning environmental health, climate alteration, etc., a focussed approach on giving back to the planet is the need of the hour. Valentine’s Day, with its growing consumer stickiness and millennial appeal, presented a great opportunity to roll out this message. Through the #LoveEarth campaign, Helios celebrated the spirit of Valentine’s Day, invoking the idea of renewing your love for Earth and showing we care.”

In an integrated effort to achieve this goal, Helios stores in Bengaluru unveiled a curated selection of Earth friendly watches from international brands, including Seiko, Anne Klein, Armani Exchange, Skagen, Citizen, Fossil, Titan, etc.

To bring about greater consciousness among consumers, the brand collaborated with budding artists to create art from discarded promotional materials, collected from Helios stores in the city. These artworks were used as installations at the Titan Corporate Office and across Helios stores in Indiranagar, Jayanagar and Koramangala stores in Bengaluru. “The visual pieces symbolise what all of us can harmoniously achieve through our efforts in making Earth a beautiful place,” he added.

Stressing on the importance of CSR, Dwivedi said, “As a part of Titan and Tata ethos, CSR is an imminent part of the DNA of Helios. For us, #LoveEarth is not just a one-time campaign, it is an initiative that will have long-term, far reaching effects on how we conduct business on a day to day basis. To start off with, ‘Earth Friendly’ watches will come with a special tag across our stores and the website. In line with our quest to give back to Mother Earth, we are switching from laminated carry bags to non-laminated carry bags, which are far easier to recycle.”

On the brand’s initiatives towards premiumising the customer experience, he said, “It has been our constant endeavour to provide our customers with a world-class experience every time they step into a Helios store. For the past 14 years, we have been striving to bring the most popular brands from across the world to Helios stores across India. We have been at the forefront of bringing the latest collections from leading international brands for the growing number of watch aficionados in the country. Apart from this, to enable a premiumised experience, the entire consumer journey at Helios is OMNI enabled and is supported by well-trained and most experienced watch experts at our store.”

Highlighting some other customer engagement initiatives as well, he added, “Over the years, we have made a conscious effort to make Helios an engaging space for customers. We have hosted brand launches at stores and invited Helios customers, providing them with insight into the brand and the preview of the collection. To create awareness and interest among customers in Tier 2 cities we have highlighted our Swiss offering for limited periods. An important leg of the #LoveEarth campaign was the seed bottles we gave away to each of our customers and art installation at some of our Bangalore outlets which created intrigue and excitement in equal measure. In the past year, we have hosted a whole lot of exciting activities at the store each month, including Jigsaw puzzles and DIYs, customised filters on our Instagram channel etc. to give our customers an elevated, engaging and fun shopping experience.”

Speaking on the marketing and advertising plans for this year, Dwivedi said, “At Helios, we believe in going beyond transactional communication to more meaningful and thought provoking engagements. #LoveEarth was a first of its kind campaign rolled out by the brand for Valentine’s Day, you will see a whole lot of impactful campaigns from the brand this year. In addition, Helios will continue to bring its annual ATL campaign in December, when we celebrate our 15^th year anniversary.”

Looking back at Helios’ performance in 2022, Dwivedi said that the year 2022 will be remembered in Helios as the year of expansion. The brand added more than 40 new stores across the length and breadth of the country. “We now have 180 stores across 80 cities. Helios now boasts of more than 45 brands in its portfolio with watches ranging from Rs 5,000 to a whopping Rs 5 lakh. With the addition of Tissot and Casio this year, Helios is proud to offer its customers all major brands within the Rs 50,000 range. Same store growth has been encouraging through the year and propelled our entry into Tier 2 markets.”