MUMBAI: The content industry is dynamic and inclusive. It not only has been the architect of the success stories of numerous brands but has also welcomed the creative community from every field to learn and thrive. Be it Red Bull or Myntra, these brands have metamorphosed into media outlets with full-fledged internal production support and have created amazing storylines to market their products.

But what will the paradigm shift be when media outlets and production giants start a new era where products will be created around content and not the other way around. Indiatimes Lifestyle Network (ILN) chief operating officer Angad Bhatia thinks that it will create a community of buyers who can express themselves the way they want to, standing at the nexus of reach and cultural influence. Thus, he is leading one of the most successful media companies, owning popular properties like iDiva, MensXP, and What’s Hot, in a whole new world of content-led commerce.

The trend of using content for commerce is not new and the content merchandising business is already quite a big hit not just in India but across the globe. Competitive brands like ScoopWhoop and PopXo are already in the business of selling their own merchandises. But what Bhatia is trying to do with ILN is quite bigger in scale.

Advertisement

“Our ambition is to build full-stack businesses. Tomorrow, I foresee MensXP and iDiva have their own retail outlets, fitness chains, salons, and all unique services where the backbone is still media,” elaborates Bhatia.

While these ambitions are set for the future, ILN has taken its initial steps in creating a completely unique world of content-driven-commerce by creating its own range of grooming products for the millennial urban chic audience.

Some of the ranges it will be experimenting with are Butter (shaving), mud (men’s grooming), Basta (leather bags), iDiva beauty (women’s grooming), Viraam (apparel) and Mojama (socks). In fact, the mud products were recently soft-launched on the MensXP site.

Advertisement

Apart from grooming and styling, ILN will also be creating products in men’s beauty segment, a part which is being tested by very few market players, that too only international ones. From soaps, face wash, shaving range, to foundations and concealers, this exquisite range of grooming products is expected to not only revamp the industry but also start a meaningful conversation around some pressing topics.

“We want to build a community where people not only align with our vision of entertainment but also to the undertone of the new India we want to create. This has been the undertone of our content as well. Today, if we put a video of a man getting ready for the office wearing foundation, there certainly is going to be debate around that in the comments section. I think it is important that as media brands we reach a certain scale where we can normalise these conversations. And on the back of that, we create an environment which is trustworthy, so that people can come, call it their own, and shop as well as get entertained,” shares Bhatia.

Bhatia believes that properties like MensXP, iDiva, and the newly launched What’s Hot have a natural proclivity towards commerce. They not only publish content around beauty products but the influencers in their videos also attract a lot of attention based on their styling. By getting into the e-commerce business, ILN will make sure that a person watching the video can buy the dresses, makeup, and all the grooming accessories from the same page and does not have to go anywhere else.

Advertisement

“If you look at our videos, every third comment will ask where the influencer got her dress from. Beauty, fashion, and style have always been the undertone of everything that we build. We are a progressive brand and want to stand for whatever the people in new India desire. One always wants to know how one can be glamorous while being very real,” notes Bhatia.

He further adds, “We feel this is a very interesting vehicle for us to drive a lot of commerce not because we see it as a direct means to generate demand but also as a direct way to create a community of buyers who are really fed up of bad vendors on other shopping platforms. Also, these platforms are not built to amplify one’s way of living. I can’t say I am in love with one of these platforms because they stand for something. They are just easy to access and use, and are affordable. We always wanted to build a destination which will help people to accentuate their personality.”

Since the brand aims to create authentic and personalised experiences for its community, it has been working closely with the whole manufacturing process. It has roped in a team of cosmetologists, product designers, and specialists to create the products for its labels in-house. Bhatia showed Indiantelevision.com a dozen of prototypes just for the men’s razor at the product designer’s desk.

Advertisement

Along with that, it is collaborating with some sustainable brands whose products will be showcased on its sites.  “I believe in karma. Thus, we are making sure that all the partners that we are working with don’t have any malpractices. In fact, they support the environment. We are trying to be zero-plastic. If you order something, it gets delivered in a cardboard box made of recycled paper,” explains Bhatia.

But ILN essentially being a media platform gets ads from companies and could lead to losing some partners if it starts its own products. However, Bhatia doesn’t believe so. “We have not seen that. In fact, people have their preferences. I have spent the last eight months creating a men’s grooming brand, we now have a skincare range, a haircare range, and everything. We have really poured all our data and passion into this brand. In fact, if you go to the Instagram page of mud, you will see it placed with a Forest Essential or Kama, brands which are genuinely doing great in the market.”

He continues, “I think that brands today are more inclusive. This is not a winner takes all category. There is space for everybody. It all boils to whoever has the better product, whoever has put in more love and attention, and whoever has listened to the audience. Our job is just to be true to what our audience is asking for. If they are screaming and shouting saying that we want a product which isn’t available in the market, we can’t force a brand to create that thing. The industry today is very democratised, much like content, and hence we are in a position to create that product for them.”

Advertisement

While ILN and its properties are doing exceptionally well already, second to just Buzzfeed globally, with the launch of a completely new arm will arise the need for marketing its offerings.

On his marketing plans for ILN properties and their respective shopping arms, Bhatia says, “For me, marketing is a function of being omnipresent. The nature of our media business is such that we are already omnipresent. I believe that marketing is always going to be editorial-and content-led. And we have that advantage wherein we have spent the last few years building the relevance and reach for our platforms through our content. We, thus, don’t have to do traditional or even digital marketing per se to build brand reputation or awareness. We are lucky that we don’t need to promote the platform or the brand.”

He adds on, “However, I think we definitely will need support as we are looking to scale our e-commerce business. There are elements of digital marketing, performance marketing, and affiliate marketing, which we as publishers will also have to dive into to ensure that we are competitive with some of the biggest players in the market. We need to promote certain bare essentials of marketing and re-targeting platforms, beyond that we have no ambitions of marketing.”

Advertisement