In a free flowing conversation with Marketing Mind, Divya Aggarwal, Chief Growth Officer, Impresario Handmade Restaurants (parent to brands like Social Offline, Smoke House Deli, Salt Water Cafe and more) drew a parallel between her journey at the company and the growth of Social and stated that while the two have become bigger and better with time, what has remained a constant is the brand ethos and what they stand for.
“I joined Impresario as a CMO in 2019 and today, I look at the marketing and growth functions as well as deliver business for the company. Similarly, SOCIAL, since time immemorial, has stood its ground and become renowned for its hyperlocal and pincode strategy which requires each outlet of SOCIAL to have a very holistic approach to embed pincodes] in the outlet’s very name, design, ambience, menu section, etc. to build and foster various kinds of communities across its 55 outlets,” she said.
Having said that, she also pointed out that given the fact that SOCIAL has always targeted the youth, including both GenZs and millennials, via leveraging emerging pop culture sentiments, the brand is now starting to do bigger things apart from expanding its footprint like partnering with big ticket cricketers and top-notch brands over the last few years and coming up with the kind of campaigns that it has rolled out to ensure that the brand continues to move ahead, all while ensuring that the brand ethos remains the same.
Similar to the story of SOCIAL, what has remained the same for Aggarwal across various roles at Impresario is the marketing function as she assumed the role of Chief Growth Officer at the company in October 2023.
“In my case, the role of CGO comprises both- the duties and mandates of a chief growth and marketing officer. The reason why I didn’t want to keep the designation CGMO because also a lot of best industry practices are that marketing is actually a growth function, meaning it subsumes itself. And hence, in my current role, I am acting as both a CMO and a CGO,” she elaborated.
With Impresario Handmade Restaurants as a group completing more than two decades of operations in the country, it is SOCIAL which has emerged as a trailblazer brand which has seen momentous growth as against other brands which are also becoming prominent with each passing year.
“One of our other brands- Anti-SOCIAL which is basically an offshoot of SOCIAL, like SOCIAL represents a place which caters to music lovers and acts as a platform to upcoming artists and communities in the performance arena. That said, Smoke House Deli which is our comfort European brand and has been there for almost 15 years now in all three cities- Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, it is known for its good food and hence, its brand loyalty is very high,” she said.
Moving on to the comparatively newer brands under the umbrella of Impresario- Bandraborn, Slink and Bardot, Prithvi Cafe- which are more premium spaces and more food and beverages first places, and Cloud Kitchens like BOSS Burger, Aflatoon by SOCIAL and Lucknowee, which are again premium places catering to burgers, North Indian taste palette, and kebabs and biryanis, respectively, Impresario’s Agarwal mentioned that these platforms become important for the company from an experimentation point of view.
Elaborating further on upping the experimentation ante and how Impresario as a group is looking at trends in today’s times, she mentioned that while the pandemic was obviously a huge challenge for the entire world, it was the hospitality sector which was impacted left right and centre and having said that, what happened in the post-pandemic era was that the sector witnessed a boom in demand for premiumisation and increased immersive dining experiences, leading the group to experiment in the space.
“One of our recent campaigns around these lines was the Korea campaign wherein we brought a single experience alive across 10-11 of our SOCIAL outlets in different cities and pincodes, all at the same time, for a month long duration. What we did here was that we basically transformed SOCIAL into an immersive Korean space as it is the Korean cuisine and Korean culture which is extremely popular with the Indian youth and because we wanted to associate with it as part of our ethos of emerging pop culture. But the way we sort of activated it was not only by getting a menu done on food and beverage with chefs who specialize in Korean, but by working on the decor accordingly and curating a lot of immersive community events on K-pop Challenge, fan listening events. We also tied up with Nestle India and included their Maggi Korean Noodles as part of the menu, had a Korean chef come over, got the blessings from the Korean Embassy and even did a launch event where the Korean ambassador came to SOCIAL,” she explained.
On the premiumisation bit, she mentioned that since the pandemic has enabled people to develop a liking for experimentation- be it in terms of better and newer food, alcohol, cuisines, etc. as people are also travelling more, owing to which the exposure is also increasing and hence their hunger for getting the same things that they may get in the west in India itself, is also on a stark increase.
To back her take here, Aggarwal presented yet another example where SOCIAL tied up with Nestle in January 2024 to launch their plant-based protein in India as the concept of veganism has been on a roll in the western markets, with a lot many non-vegetarians also turning vegan!
“We were the first ever partners who curated this product with them and we created a menu which was bringing their product to the forefront but in the way that consumers like to consume potions in SOCIAL. Usually, when you look at plant-based protein, people usually do burgers with patties, but here we had momos and chilli chicken in a plant-based protein format, making it a win-win for both Nestle and us. For us, it was a win because we were able to give consumers another reason to come to us and for Nestle, because they were also to experiment because what people generally tend to do is that once they have tried a newer format or cuisine at a restaurant, they try to make it back at home,” she added.
Sharing her two cents on trends from the marketing lens, Aggarwal also highlighted that what the pandemic has also led to is the incremental rise of data-based marketing, the power of personalization and loyalty programs.
“It was during COVID that everyone realised the true importance of loyalty as when normalcy kicked in, the audience wanted to go to places that were more trusted and hence, since then to now, creating a loyal set of customers has also become very crucial for brands across strata, especially in the hospitality sector. Picking on this, we also relaunched our loyalty program- The Social Club, last year, where we give some great incentives to our guests for them to come in and be part of the social family. And I think this is something that more and more brands will jump on,” she further added.
Upon being questioned on the media mix and TG for SOCIAL, given its presence across multiple pincodes across the length and breadth of the country, Impressario’s Aggarwal replied that since its inception, SOCIAL has not just been an F&B brand prominent in Tier 1 cities only but an imminent space with a name inherent in the pincode of the outlet as a testimony to the surroundings and community that it serves, the marketing strategy has been a ‘hyper local’ one. This can be seen in the way SOCIAL is not just looked upon as a restaurant chain but a place where communities meet and dwell- be it in the space of arts, startups, founders, music lovers, graphic designers, etc.
As a result of being one of the pioneers in the space of co-working spaces which works as a workplace for many during the day and bar by the night, SOCIAL’s marketing has always been digital-first, meaning channels like Instagram, Google, YouTube, etc. are of immense importance for the brand. But apart from digital, what helps SOCIAL in meeting its marketing objectives like building brand consideration, brand loyalty, driving footballs and even managing customer retention, leading to the ultimate goal of being the preferred outlet chain for audiences is partnering or co-marketing with like-minded brands and personalities.
“Because we focus on fostering diverse communities, we have community tables where people can sit and our meals are also made in a way that they come across as very hearty and with big portions so that people can share. This sharing has always been a part of the ethos that we stand for. But apart from digital, we also do a lot of events and tie-ups with different communities- whether it’s for lovers of art, music, sneakers, etc. One recent example of this community building is our collaboration with Anuv Jain wherein he recently performed his tracks at one of our Anti-SOCIAL outlets and the same was being live streamed across all the SOCIAL outlets, giving fans across cities a chance to witness his music live, digitally,” she added.
Additionally, she also mentioned that this digital push for ads is also strongly supported by above the line marketing, with the choice of media placements on Outdoor, Radio, Print, etc. depending on the location of the outlet, and the second most important channel for Aggarwal- CRM marketing.
“It is on a case-to-case basis, say for example that we are marketing an outlet which is present inside a mall, what naturally becomes important to us is mall marketing, mall visibility and doing cross promotion with other brands’ outlets. However, if one of our outlets is close to a residential society, what becomes important is advertising on MyGate, talking to the residents, etc. So, we actually look at all the possible channels and try to activate them accordingly,” she clarified.
The other reason why big brands like Netflix, Spotify, Maybelline, etc. co-market with SOCIAL, as per Aggarwal, lies in the fact that both the partnering companies in the case of SOCIAL cater to and target the same consumers, thereby in such partnerships while SOCIAL may benefit with added reach and engagement along with repeat customers and the other brands get their objectives fulfilled, it is a win for the customers as well as they get the right information.
“In our outlets as well, we make sure that the brands get access to our in-store assets like digital screens or even sound components as part of these partnerships, whilst not toying around with the ambience of our pincode special ambience, since we have an attentive customer (almost for 90 hours in a year) for them sitting in a more relaxed environment in times when customers’ attention spans are getting lowered so that if there’s any information that brands want to give them, then they are more receptive,” she explained.
Commenting on the company’s openness to partner with external teams for marketing activities, Impresario’s Aggarwal clarified that even though the brand does everything ranging from ATL activities, digital ads, collaborating with influencers and content creators, managing digital communities, etc. all the work is done by an in-house team irrespective of it being media, creative or digital because the amount of things that Impresario does today are a lot and hence requires agility, speed and a brand understanding which isn’t easy to get with external partners
Concludingly she also addressed two of our questions to the business side of things and affirmed that the company is on track with its plan to launch an IPO in 2024-25, as mentioned in various media reports, and that Impressario is currently focussed on expanding its presence in not just Tier 2 and 3 markets but also Tier 1 as the company believes that it is not that saturated in the latter yet.
