How BSA Ladybird has been crafting a robust women-centric narrative for 25 years

BSA Ladybird has been the leading name in cycles for 25 years now, setting a benchmark in the category ever since its launch. The brand has shaped the childhoods of generations of women, helping them be independent, free spirited and fun loving. As the brand reaches a major milestone in its journey, BSA believes that the girls behind this successful ride deserve an ode. Their adventurous and joyous spirits are what evolved the brand over the years and helped it stay the favourite it has always been.

BSA Ladybird recently rolled out a campaign to mark 25 years of the brand, which is a celebration of the fun and freedom girls have enjoyed alongside their cycles. Conceptualised by Ogilvy Bangalore, the campaign encapsulates what it means to be a Ladybird girl, be it drenching in the first rains, taking on a risky slope, meeting your crush for a date, discovering new hangouts, or finding the way to one’s passion.

To ensure that the film has a very robust women-centric narrative, almost 90% of the crew working on this film, starting from the director, writer, producer, music director to the casting as well as production team, comprised of women – not to mention the young girls who formed the cast. The agency and the brand teams believe that this has helped shape the film better, with genuine moments of fun and freedom borrowed from the childhood stories of key team members.

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, KK Paul, President, TI Cycles of India, speaks at length about BSA Ladybird’s benchmark journey of 25 years, how the brand is working on repositioning their brand communication for the ever-evolving Gen-Z girls and their outlook to life and much more.

How has BSA Ladybird been able to set a benchmark in a journey of 25 years since its launch?

As a brand that has empowered young girls while being ahead of its time, we focused on sense of empowerment through an ownership of the cycle. This, over time, led to cycling becoming a part of their fun life and leading newer and fulfilling experiences. Young girls walking into a cycle store today ask for a Ladybird. That Ladybird has become a brand synonymous with the girl’s category is something we are very proud of achieving since our inception.

What has been your marketing strategy around bicycles and how does it work for the brand in terms of positioning?

Our endeavour is to emphasise on Fitness for Adults, Adventure for Tweens, and Fun, Growth, Bonding with parents, for the Kids’ segment. For our brand, BSA Ladybird’, it has been more about Freedom and Fun. However, we are in the works of repositioning our brand communication for the ever-evolving Gen-Z girls and their outlook to life. 

Your earlier campaign, ‘Ride Like a Girl - Your best friend for life’, aimed at making the BSA Ladybird a friend forever in a girl’s life. What is the message that you want to convey this time around?

As an organisation, our focus always has been on the “Fun and Freedom” elements in the journey from being a girl to a woman. In our 25 years campaign, we have highlighted and expressed gratitude to all our Ladybird customers for letting us be part of their journey.

Cycles have been of core importance during the pandemic. Did you need to revisit your strategy to leverage the opportunity?

Yes, there’s no denying that the pandemic did bring back the attention on cycles in terms of mobility, accessibility, and health. This led to us re-look at our strategy in terms of expanding our product portfolio basis the needs of our customers. We also ensured that our turn-around time, in terms of launches of the new products and distribution of those new cycles, was prompt. 

What has been your engagement strategy with your customers? How do you keep your brand top of mind and beat your competitors?

We have a tightly knit strategy which works on an impact driven and always active basis. In terms of staying always on/active, the focus is mostly on discovery (Search and Display) approach. Furthermore, we have influencer-led collaborations to inspire and encourage the relevant target audience by communicating appropriate content on social media at regular intervals on our brand pages. We have also begun to nurture regional cycling communities relevant to all our brands and will be extensively focusing on them for the year 2021-2022.

Also, our Investment in Track and Trail (Exclusive) cycle retail chain has helped us to showcase our entire range and brought in a great amount of in-store showroom experience, wherein we continue to focus on customer delight.

Have digital platforms helped you with any specific requirements of your consumers? As a brand, how are you engaging with your consumers on social media, and have you experienced any flux in their behaviour during the lockdown?

Specific to BSA Ladybird, we have been focusing mostly on TV campaigns and Below the Line led marketing initiatives. The pandemic has led us to shift our media strategy to Digital and this campaign (#FunTurns25) is our start point for the same. For our other brands, such as Hercules and Montra, we have moved mostly into sharing or getting inspired from the real-life scenarios, putting our products out there for real time testing and receiving feedback from our customers. Our realisation during the pandemic has been that given the way we are now restricted to our homes, we do not have immediate access to the communities around us. This is leading us to focus on community building, which is why this is at our core and we plan to focus more on such areas that will help grow our business and help us connect with our riders in depth.

(Edited by Shanta Saikia.)