By Ayshwaria Lakshmi
Established in 2004, CASAGRAND Builder Private Limited has developed over 20 million square feet of prime residential real estate across Chennai, Bengaluru, and Coimbatore. It has around 90 landmark properties. In the 16th year of the company’s journey, CASAGRAND is all set to progress further forward with projects worth over Rs 6500 crores in the pipeline with lasting value, integrity, and quality.
In conversation with MediaNews4U, Eshwar N, Chief Marketing Officer, CASAGRAND, speaks about the company’s Marketing strategies post-COVID, new marketing initiatives, roping in Actor Madhavan as brand ambassador, and more.
On the performance of the residential sector
The residential sector has been performing exceedingly well compared to that of the pre-covid period. It is undeniable that the Pandemic and continuous lockdowns had severe impacts on the industry. However, the change in homebuyers’ mind, realizing the importance of owning a home, and considering it as a safe and secured long-term investment tool, helped the market witness increased demand. Compared to the Pre-Covid period, the market has witnessed a steady increase in project launches, as there has been a continuous increase in demand from homebuyers.
On Impact of Covid & Marketing Campaigns, The pandemic forced a global lockdown for months, playing havoc with all aspects of life and the economy. While every other industry faced setbacks and challenges because of the COVID -19 pandemic, the realty sector was no different. The first two quarters of 2020 witnessed a sudden plummet. The real estate industry underwent multiple challenges like an increased cost for construction materials, labor unavailability, reduced site visits, halt in construction activities, etc. The situation has forced many businesses to reinvent themselves while marketers went back to the proverbial drawing board to be relevant to the changing times.
CASAGRAND understood that innovation in communications and a creative approach to getting messages across is the need of the hour. However, after the lockdown, we went ahead with aggressive advertisement campaigns. While we also understood the various challenges the homebuyers had in terms of payments, we launched campaigns such as No Pre-EMI schemes, rental assurance, reducing the burden on the homebuyers, and making home-buying an easy affair.
It is undeniable that the COVID-19 pandemic had created a negative sentiment in the market. To overcome it, we at CASAGRAND had come up with creative campaigns, offering more flexibility in payment plans, etc. This received an enormous response from the homebuyers.
On ad spends and target group
To maximize visibility and reach with a minimum spend, we look at the mediums like Print, online which are witnessing a lot of consumer participation and interest. Hence, we have 25% of our spending on digital platforms and 38% in print.
This is an ideal space for brands to target as they will be not only able to capture the attention of a large mixed segment of consumers but also target specific details depending on their campaign strategy.
On new marketing initiatives
While we at CASAGRAND understand every homebuyer’s need and the challenges they face while purchasing their dream home. Aimed at which we came up with few exciting campaigns such as No Pre-EMI Scheme, where CASAGRAND will bear the PRE-EMI cost on behalf of the customer to reduce their burden. We also conducted a 100-hour campaign and Ready-to-move-in campaigns, etc. All our campaigns have been a great success. Regions that we are currently focusing on are Chennai, Bangalore, and Coimbatore.
On new Marketing Campaign
All the regions like Bangalore, Chennai, and Coimbatore witnessed an enormous response from the homebuyers, which helped us to clock an ambitious 1200crore sales within just 6 months of time post the COVID-19 lockdown. At the same time, all marketing campaigns and initiatives are planned to keep in mind every customer’s need, understanding their challenges, etc. Added to all our marketing campaigns are very transparent and to the point. This together makes our campaigns more successful.
On Madhavan as the brand ambassador
We were having Madhavan as our Brand ambassador turned out to be a great success as it helped us garner responses and attention from the PAN India audience. Especially in a newer market like Bangalore, where the first project he endorsed –CASAGRAND Boulevard 200 units were sold out.
While Madhavan, as such, has that PAN- India credibility and face value, being very popular in the south, it helped us garner huge attraction as he has a good connection with the kind of audience that we were looking at.
On Digital promotion & strategies
Our digital promotions are major at Facebook, Google, Property portals, Native Ads, SMS, email blasts and SEO marketing. Few special strategies that we follow include a Narrow target group campaign, Remarketing by using different customers, Running frequent exclusive campaigns as per the mediums, and Targeting a Similar audience.
On the Brand’s USP
CASAGRAND is known for its superior homes, with keen attention given to building and lifestyle quality. Our projects offer luxurious apartments at affordable prices. We use the best in class products even across our affordable home segment, adding value to the customer purchase. Our projects focus on the quality of life residents would have. We offer the best amenities, the largest open green space among any other developer, the highest number of amenities among competitors, and an unbeatable price. Our commitment to delivering every project on time has earned us praise and trust from our customers. Our projects are priced according to the area they are located in and are offered at the best competitive pricing any consumer would find in the region.
Expansion plans
We are in process of strengthening our presence in Bangalore by adding 6 projects in the next 3 months and 5-6 projects in Chennai. We are also aiming to enter a new market like Hyderabad and to be a Rs 3000cr company by 2022.
