VGC Crafted a New Mark for India's No.1 Linen Brand

Linen Club, India’s linen pioneers have been around for more than 60 years. With a rise in competition & an influx of look-alike blended linen brands in recent times, they needed to differentiate themselves through a renewed brand expression and reclaim their leadership position.

 

Being brought on board as their Brand Strategy and Design Agency, we needed to extend their new positioning, ‘Passionate about Linen’ across the brand’s visual expressions. Our tasks included the Identity design for the entire brand portfolio, their brand architecture, retail extensions, and packaging which also covered respective product architectures.

DIVING IN

We started by understanding the consumer groups and their relation with Linen. At the top of the pyramid were absolute Linen lovers, these were successful and passionate individuals who valued authenticity and appreciated pure linen. Next were the Linen aspirers, who as the name explains, used linen occasionally to stand out make an impression. The last consumer group covered the non-believers, who were driven away due to the perception and functional barriers of the fabric.

 

We also met with key stakeholders and learnt about the rich origins of Linen and their vision for the brand. Our in-depth research helped identify perception markers for the category and the brand, as well as highlighting that Linen Club, with its expert credentials, history, and wide product offering had the perfect mix to reclaim its leadership position.

WEAVING OUR WAY THROUGH THE STRATEGY

The objective of the exercise apart from building brand preference within the category was also to broaden the base to recruit new users into the brand. Hence, the brand strategy aimed to help the brand make a switch from owning linen as a product to owning linen as a mindset, broadening its spectrum of offerings. Our recommendations also included consolidating these offerings under a Hybrid brand architecture, allowing efforts to be focused on growing the parent brand - Linen Club.

INSPIRED BY ORIGIN & LEGACY

The need of the hour was to gear the visual and experiential expression of the brand to a larger and younger audience, whilst retaining the heritage of this legacy brand. For the new mark, we took inspiration from the pioneering legacy of Linen Club, the fabrics’ European lineage, natural origins, and limitless style statements. The codes of authority and heritage take form though the shield, while the flax stalk and flower represent the flax fields of Europe, embodying the story of its origin. 

The logo is visualised in a colour and form that is elegant and contemporary, with the promise of an enduring classic. Much like the brand and Linen itself. 

PACKAGING FOR THE ENTIRE PORTFOLIO

Developing the packaging was a crucial aspect of this landmark project. A deeper look at the brand’s offering revealed its scale and width. The brand architecture exercise laid the foundation for the packaging as the portfolio had now been simplified. The initial ask included identity extensions on the packaging across the fabric and apparel business; we used this as an opportunity to upfront the breadth of the portfolio while also breaking away from category associations like limited colour palettes. 

GEARING UP THE BRAND FOR ITS READY-TO-WEAR OFFERING

With ready-to-wear becoming a strong part of fashion and retail, it was crucial for Linen Club to create a meaningful extension into the apparel segment. VGC made recommendations to simplify their apparel range offerings and also designed an impactful identity for Linen Club Studio and Cavallo Studio.

The brand design universe created by VGC embraced the entire retail ecosystem, offering a rich and unified experience for Linen Club, to live up to its brand promise of “Passionate as you are”.

AGILITY HELPED US PIVOT THROUGH COVID-19 AND THE LOCKDOWN

For VGC, this project was truly a memorable one; not just because we love the brand and the fabric but also because the project was executed through the peak of the lockdown. The lock-down and remote working threw up a variety of new hurdles around sourcing, production, packaging, design and digital approvals, however, we have still been able to push forward and successfully launch the project.

 

“As we prepare ourselves for the future, we want the Linen Club brand identity to manifest our passion for linen combined with our heritage, our expertise, and our authenticity. The new identity while staying true to the core values of Linen Club, gives it credible and inspiring imagery," 

Satyaki Ghosh, CEO, Domestic Textiles (Grasim Industries) Aditya Birla Group.

 

"As I am personally passionate about Linen, it was an absolute delight when VGC was invited to rebrand Linen Club. Through the new logo, we have brought alive the story of Linen's European heritage, the legacy of the brand in India, and the fabric's authenticity in terms of its sustainable qualities. We then also translated it to a stylish visual narrative across a range of packaging and varied retail touchpoints," 

Preeti Vyas, Chairwoman and CCO, VGC 

 

THE FUTURE OF BRANDS IN A WOKE WORLD

By Tanvi Shah

Woke

A wonderful term originating from a political African-American movement, refers to an awareness and alertness of social injustices. Popularised by social media in the recent times, the term now encompasses a state of being awakened, being conscious.

Our current socio-political environment coupled with ease of communication has led to a worldwide shift towards people expecting not just communities and governments but also large corporations to take a more active role towards environmental and social issues pertaining to them. For brands, this means aligning the brands’ values to those of the consumers’. Because, a 2018 Edelman (a Brand Strategy Consultancy) survey found that 69% of millennials worldwide are belief-driven buyers. Even though first world countries are leading this wave, it is still significant for India.

Enter the concept of ‘woke brands’.

Brands are increasingly tapping into consumer-held social values to build resonance with consumers and make way into their repertoires. We are seeing a rise of woke branding across categories positioning themselves as ‘woke’ through their stance on social issues, environmental responsibility and sustainable practices.

But it’s not always that simple. Cultures are seeing more extreme divisions today within the socio-political context than ever before and offence taking is rampant. The rise of far-right leadership globally is being attributed to the voice of the mass majority whilst leftist ideologies seem to be concentrated towards the younger, urban elite. So where should brands stand? Does taking a stance on issues pertaining beyond your business put you in a position of risking alienation of a certain audience?

Last year, Nike was at the centre of this division of sentiment when it decided to sign Colin Kaepernick on as a brand ambassador, taking a direct shot at NFL and supporters of its response. However, contrary to predictions, the brand’s stock rose and hit a record high in the aftermath. Essentially, the ‘risk’ paid off.

When choosing sides, it has proven to be wiser for brands to lean towards liberal values simply because it is the side with higher spending capacity and social currency.

Ariel’s #sharetheload campaign about gender roles and Whisper’s #likeagirl are some of the many campaigns that were met with great praise for attempting to change the incumbent discourses in these categories. Tata Tea took it a step further with the Jaago Re campaign by extending it to an initiative that pushes the idea of pre-activism in the age of reactive internet activism.

The fashion industry which is quickly waking up to being seen as one of the biggest environmental villains is seeing an exponential rise of brands supporting organic textiles and reviving waning crafts. Even fast fashion retailer Asos has introduced a sustainability filter for the conscious consumer.

We, at VGC - the best branding agency in India, have had the opportunity to work with a truly ‘woke’ brand, 360Life. In the real estate industry, which suffers from a lack of brand purpose, 360Life breaks the clutter and makes a dent.

Stemming from a foundation of deep knowledge about Vedic practices, natural living, sustainability, and engineering, the intention of the brand is to lead the wave for holistic living. This is provided through curation of vertical forestry to promote living in harmony with nature, architectural planning to harness and optimise the flow of sunlight and wind, access to chemical free organic food, FMCG products and alkalinised water supply as well as employment of ancient Vedic rituals to energise and elevate the physical environment. 360 Life brings to life a proposition of ‘conscious living’.

However, brands need to tread carefully with their attempt to be seen as ‘woke’ as consumers are quick to call out brands seen as gimmicky.

Cadbury’s unity bar was met with mixed responses despite marrying product features with a neat intent. And then there are glaring oversights.

Pepsi was met with great criticism post its ad with Kendall Jenner breaking the tension between protestors and authorities by offering a Pepsi. The brand ultimately took down the ad within 24 hours and issued a public apology for its short-sightedness and commercialization of a serious movement.

Similarly, the successful Gully Boy received slack for trivialising and appropriating the ‘Azadi’ slogan from student protests in Delhi to create a pop culture anthem.

Essentially, ‘woke washing’ does not work. People see through the facade and today, it’s easier to mobilise public disdain than ever before. Between getting it right and trying but missing the mark is a brand’s appetite to take risks.

As the best branding agency in India, we believe authenticity has been a buzzword in the branding world for a few years. But its consideration becomes increasingly important with everyone jumping on the ‘woke branding’ wagon. Brands need to go back to their DNA. Instead of looking outward, it’s the time to look inward and be true to one’s own core. In times of high competition and dropping loyalties, brands need to be willing to take risks and mark allegiance with a value-driven consumer base.

Also, limiting one’s ‘wokeness’ to communication without consideration of actions across business operations is rather unauthentic and brands are liable to get exposed. It is important to walk the walk before you talk the talk. And so, the journey to becoming a woke business is inward really. Whilst most businesses are still on step 1, the future belongs to those who evolve from step 1 to 3.

1. Take a stance through communication to make a deeper connection with the audience
2. Integrate responsible actions across your business activities
3. Develop businesses that stem from a conscious intent – actively play a role in addressing a social or environmental issue

And so, we, a Brand Strategy Consultancy, leave you with 3 questions:

1. What are issues & social values that your consumers care about?
2. What are core values that you stand for?
3. How can you align yourself with your consumers’ values to form lasting relationships?