How Zivame is successfully weaving content into its marketing mix

Leading intimate wear brand Zivame recently announced the launch of its new and one-of-a-kind show, ‘Unhooked’, which features the unique and inspiring stories of eight beautiful women with their differentiated body types, embarking on a journey of transformation inside-out, driven by the power spoken by well-fitting intimate wear.

The show features episodes of 6 to 8 minute duration, showcasing a wide range of women of different age groups, with unique body types, in different stages of life, sharing their insecurities, their life experiences, their struggles with everyday intimate wear. The show is hosted by fashion & lifestyle influencer Sejal Kumar and Sara Jane Dias, VJ, Actor and Anchor.

Each individual is taken through a journey filled with emotions by the host, a journey of rediscovering and finding themselves, while having fun along the way, with an opportunity for the participants to rediscover the beauty lying inside with the help of these reflective experiences.

In conversation with Adgully, Khatija Lokhandwala, Head of Marketing, Zivame, said, “‘Unhooked’ is about consolidating and sensoring the promise of the fact that if you have the right intimate wear, you are going to feel confident and beautiful.” Excerpts:

What is the concept behind ‘Unhooked’?

The philosophy of the brand has always been telling consumers to love themselves inside and outside. The brand tagline itself is ‘Love yourself inside out’. This is what we exactly hope to inspire our consumers to do with this show. This show is about consolidating and sensoring the promise of the fact that if you have the right intimate wear, you are going to feel confident and beautiful. And the right intimate wear, which is designed for the Indian body profile, can go a long a way in improving your body confidence. So, the show aims to bring this concept to light. It features eight women who have different body types, and they all have a very inspiring story to share. They are knocking on this journey with us to understand the power of well-fitting intimate wear and how it can really transform them. Each episode is about 6-8 minutes long, featuring a woman from a different age group, different body type, different life stage, and they are all sharing their insecurities, their challenges, their experiences when it comes to intimate wear. It is hosted by Sarah Jane Dias and Sejal Kumar. And both the hosts are talking to these contestants, taking them through this journey of discovering themselves. We also have an expert section in the episode, where we have our own design lead, Lakshmi, who understands what the challenges are that are being faced by these women and she helps them find the right intimate wear which is specifically for their particular needs. So, it is about transformation that can happen by wearing the right intimate wear and the fact that when somebody looks at it, sees it, they get encouraged by wanting to talk about the challenges and problems that they face and then try and find the right solution, by coming to Zivame.

How has the journey of Zivame been since its inception?

In India, Zivame has played a very important role of a catalyst in really growing the perception of intimate wear as a category. I think we have constantly identified changing consumer trends. That way our business model has stayed relevant in this category. I think initially when Zivame launched as a platform, at that time, the objective of launching our platform had been whimsical, where we identified that consumers did not have a comfortable experience of shopping in this category, and, therefore, Zivame is a platform that allows privacy, allows ease of shopping in a category which is considered sensitive by many women.

Later on, we also understood that the problem not just lay in the way the categories persist, but there was also a big gap in the availability of the products itself, especially products which were designed for the Indian body profile, and that’s when the company and the brand completely happens to change itself. A private label was launched, which kept in mind the needs of the Indian consumer wear, and designed products that were specifically built for the Indian body profile and that really delivered on right fit, comfort, offering a variety in terms of sizes, in terms of style, colour, etc. Essentially since its journey, Zivame has been a brand that only engineers great products, delivers on the right fit, right comfort, quality, but along with that we also offer consumers a very safe and comfortable shopping experience through our various channels.

What were the challenges that you faced during the pandemic, what changes did you observe in consumer behaviour?

The pandemic was an opportunity for many businesses to really move the need in a big way. Firstly, we observed that the consumers redefined the way they really shopped. The channel of shopping completely changed. A large percentage of consumers who were possibly not comfortable shopping online, had actually moved to shopping online. Some of the barriers that we had in mind were removed during the pandemic and a lot of people adapted to the digital way of shopping. This obviously benefited brands like us, which are digital first, directly serving the consumers.

Along with that new consumption trends emerged during the past two years. Initially when the pandemic came on, it brought about a huge change in the lifestyle of consumers. I think some of that lifestyle change continues even today, work from home is still continuing in a hybrid model. During the pandemic, with people confined to their homes, comfort became the most important benefit that consumers were looking at while shopping for intimate wear. That led to a big demand in product and lingerie styles, delivering really high on comfort. Demand also grew for sleepwear.

When things started opening up, the desire to look good, feel good and start shopping for new things, gave a big boost to some of our fashion products. We saw consumers really racking up to feel good about themselves and therefore, they were trying out new colours, new styles in intimate wear. The pandemic also forced people to become more mindful of their health, and people started exercising more. Thus, there was a big jump in active wear.

How is Zivame leveraging the digital platform for its promotion? What are the new marketing activities adopted by Zivame to promote its brand?

Zivame is a very specialised vertical, where we are a one-stop destination for all intimate wear needs for women. Therefore, as a different native brand, we use our digital platform and technology to deliver an unmatched shopping experience to our consumers. We have tools like Fitcoat, which helps women find their right size and fit in just 60 seconds. On the app we have features such as one-step check out, one click repeat, multiple payment delivery options, which ensure ease of shopping to our customers. Our objective is to be the one-stop destination, and we use technology and digital in a really big way to help us achieve this mission.

What is the USP of Zivame?

Zivame stands for inclusivity. We have a range of products that have been designed keeping the Indian body profile in mind. We have the right product for every body type. We celebrate every woman and provide products which is right for her. Zivame is a safe space, where women can come and comfortably shop for their any needs, without any fear of being judged. It’s a space where she has the privacy to shop for her needs. Zivame is a friend consumers can turn to.