Case Study: How Suta built a gender-inclusive Instagram campaign for Navratri | #casestudy

With an intent to convey saree as a gender-fluid attire, Suta made the most of the nine days of Navratri by highlighting inclusive stories in a campaign.

For Navratri 2020, the campaign executed by Suta focussed on telling stories that embodied the strength and inclusivity that the brand stands for. The individuals in the campaign wore Suta sarees corresponding to the colour associated with each day of Navratri, making a statement by just being who they are. The campaign was leveraged to paint a poetic picture of a Navratri that talks to the feminine core of your soul.

Category Introduction

Dating back to the nineteenth century, the Indian textile sector is one of the oldest in the Indian economy. The sector is highly diversified, catering to a wide range of segments ranging from traditional handloom products to cotton, wool and silk products and has products that vary across natural & man-made fibre, yarn and apparel.

Saree is one of the world’s oldest and perhaps the only surviving unstitched garment from the past. Over the millennia, it has not only become a sensuous, glamorous all-time-wear for women, but also the ‘canvas’ for weavers and printers to create artistic weaves, prints and jewelled or gold-silver embellishments!

Throughout the history of textile development in India, the saree continues to be produced on handlooms, power looms and in gigantic mills with the most modern machinery in all these famous cities.

Even in the modern age, women continue to buy sarees with great enthusiasm, especially during festivals and wedding seasons.

Brand Introduction

Suta is the coming together of heartfelt love for sarees, a fondness for simple elegance and immense reverence towards makers, weavers and artisans. Suta literally means ‘thread’ and also stands for Su and Ta, Su for Sujata and Ta for Taniya, the sisters behind creating the brand. Today, the Suta family consists of over 1500 weavers and artisans.

Summary

Suta’s Force of Feminine emerged from a persistent will to invoke the feeling of strength in this day and age when everyone has been going through struggles at various levels. True to the brand’s intention, the courage to hold on to the values, to carry on despite all odds is what has come out of all the stories that were told through the campaign. Several artists and influencers were a part of the campaign.

Problem Statement/Objective 

Through this campaign, the brand wanted to convey the message of inclusivity and saree being gender-fluid attire. Body-positivity, gender stereotypes and finding strength in difficult times have come to the spotlight and people are able to relate to it while also getting inspired through this campaign. On the occasion of Pujo this year, the brand had also pledged support to Free A Girl India, an organization that works towards rescuing children from human trafficking and child prostitution.

Also Read: Case Study: How Gaana’ Garba chain harped on UGC for Navratri

Brief

The brief given to the team was to build a campaign that celebrates the colours associated with each day of Navratri along with 9 special people who have had incredible journeys in their lives. Beyond what each colour symbolises, the brand wanted to show how the reflections of every colour are within each person and how they play an important role in shaping them. Through colours, the traits of fearlessness, resilience, inner strength and other such core values were explored.

Challenges

Due to COVID-19, getting the sarees and blouses custom made before Pujo was one of the major challenges. Also, reaching out to the influencers, getting the photoshoot done, ensuring that the sarees and the blouses would reach the influencers on time was very crucial.

Creative Idea & Execution

As part of this campaign, the brand made a list of 100 influencers and artists who were either Suta Queens or had a keen interest to collaborate with us. The team then went through each of their profiles and spoke to them about their journey. After 3 weeks, 9 people were finalised from different backgrounds with inspiring stories to tell.

There 9 people were a mix of artists and influencers. On Instagram, the grid format was used to showcase each goddess on each of the 9 days. The colours associated with the days of Navratri were considered to conceptualise each post with an influencer/artists posing in a particular mudra that represents the goddess or the feminine force that is celebrated during Navratri.

Results

The campaign garnered 9 Million+ overall views and interactions of over 3 lacs in 9 days. It gathered over 1000 comments of people talking about body positivity, gender fluidity and the essence of Navratri. Partnering with artists and influencers gave a boost to the campaign.

It received an engagement rate of 15% and a view rate of 16% for the campaign. The campaign reached around 1 Million accounts.

Sujata and Taniya Biswas, Co-founder of Suta said, “We were exploring how certain aspects of feminine energy are relevant to the women of today, and combining the colour of the day with one special person’s story. The powerful stories and thoughts of the 9 individuals who are part of our campaign will resonate with so many people out there.”

“The campaign paints a poetic picture of a Navratri that talks to the feminine core of your soul. The main idea of this campaign was to spread the message of how gender fluid saree is and true to our intention, the courage to hold on to our core values, to carry on despite all odds is what has come out of all the stories that we spoke about through the campaign,” added Reshmi Menon, Head of Marketing, Suta.

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