Charting the Omnichannel Communication Roadmap for India’s Leading Abrasives Manufacturer - Carborundum Universal Limited (Murugappa Group)

Defining the Path Ahead

To address this layered challenge, secondary research and field visits were conducted – not only to scope out competitor communication but understand the brand perception from the grassroots level by analyzing everything from product packaging to ‘Point of Sale’ communication assets. Learnings from this exercise spearheaded every campaign, social media post and product packaging designed for CUMI.

Assembling Cutting-edge Campaigns

Orchestrating campaigns not only had to take into account the diverse geographies the brand wanted to address, but the layered goal of each campaign – at the market level, end-customer level and dealer level. These campaigns included both the offline – everything from revamping packaging to design point-of-sale collaterals – and the digital – social media campaigns, promotions and even influencer activations.

Across a majority of the campaigns executed for CUMI Abrasives, Influencer Marketing became crucial. Given the audience niche of CUMI, a thorough vetting process was put in place – where everything from brand fitment to audience demographics was mapped. On onboarding these influencers and thought leaders, content ideation and production was streamlined to not just meet campaign goals but grab eyeballs for the brand.

Here’s an overview of the campaigns we executed for CUMI:

Accelerating Safety: Public Awareness Campaign

As a manufacturer with impressive depth and breadth in reach, CUMI’s SPEED 500 was a favourite among contractors and stone-cutters alike. But along with this love, came a slew of counterfeits – imitating the product only in looks, not in quality. With customers’ safety (and brand reputation) at risk, a public-awareness campaign was launched with a message that was versatile and accessible to customers across India. Collaterals and merchandise were created to generate wider reach while social media was leveraged to share advisory videos that dictated not only how to recognise ‘Asli Speed’ but the correct way to use the product.

Harbouring Love: Customer Loyalty Program

As an almost-century-old leader in the abrasives space, CUMI retained its stronghold by being customer-first through and through. In a bid to not just recognise its loyalists but reward them, a customer loyalty program was orchestrated. By integrating ‘digital-to-offline’ and ‘offline-to-digital’ seamlessly while collaborating with PayTM, this campaign paid homage to the ‘Ustads’ – the real heroes. Leveraging influencer marketing, this campaign quickly amassed massive eyeballs.

Digital to Physical: Product Launches

Every innovation at CUMI Abrasives presented opportunities for its customers to accomplish their task with renewed zeal. By adopting regional vernacular influences, these campaigns were shaped to effectively communicate how the products solved specific pain points of customers. Every customer touch point was utilised – from social media communication and digital activations to point-of-sale communication and merchandise, to build excitement about the product.

Connecting Sanding Partners: Hyper-local Campaign

For the first-time-ever in CUMI Abrasives’s history, a geo-targeted campaign was launched in an area known as ‘the hotbed for furniture polishers’. This campaign included everything from geo-targeted communication through channels like Meta and WhatsApp to on-ground activations through workshops and coupon giveaways to raise awareness about CUMI’s products that were the ultimate partners for sanding.

Refining CUMI Sub-brand’s BTL Communication: Identity to Product Packaging

Marketing campaigns weren’t the only segment where we helped CUMI discover an edge over its competitors. We helped redefine their packaging for sub-brands like Concord, Jawan and more while also originating the identity of their sub-brands like CUMI Value Plus. From POS merchandise to in-store collaterals, we helped CUMI sharpen their communication and visual identity for their sub-brands to evolve and create impactful BTL assets.

Expanding the Digital Universe of CUMI Abrasives

An industry known for its dry subject matter meant shaking up conventional social media communication. Led by goals like generating awareness among and interaction from customers, and building thought leadership, CUMI’s content mix included everything from tactical and campaign focused narratives to R&D, product-focused and brand-focused posts to posts that leveraged ‘moment marketing’ to create memorable communication that struck a chord with the audience.