Oxemberg : Body Music

Brand : Oxemberg

Company : Siyaram

Brand Analysis Count : 457

Whenever my wife purchases a shirt for me , 80% chances are that the brand will be Oxemberg. Although she knows my brand preferences which does not include this brand, Oxemberg will finally make it into her choice list.

The reason is that she looks for design/patterns and often other brands

fails to impress her.

Oxemberg is one of the pioneers of readymade branding in India. The brand which was launched in 1995 rightly envisioned the trend towards readymade clothing in the Indian market.

The brand has been in existence for more than 15 years and is worth over Rs 80 crore. In this highly cluttered and fragmented market, being existing itself is a big achievement for Oxemberg.

However I wonder whether the brand was able to realize its true potential ? Was it left out in the sidelines by the aggressive competitors ?

Oxemberg is a brand targeting the higher middleclass segment. The brand is priced little higher than the brands like Peter England , John Players etc.

One of the factors that has slowed the brand's growth was the limited distribution and the low brand promotion. The brand is being retailed only through select MBOs and is not highly promoted across the media as compared to the competitors. The lack of brand promotion together with the high price may have caused many customers to opt for value brands like Peter England.

One of the reason for low brand promotion may be because the brand chose to grow very slowly. The brand never went for a high profile national launch but moving slowly from one geographical market to another. Despite being in existence for 15 years, I don't remember any memorable campaign run by this brand through any national media . Despite these constraints, the brand sustained itself all these years.

It seems that Oxemberg is now aiming for a much higher play. The brand is now very visible across the print media with the new campaign featuring the celebrity Niel Nitin Mukesh. The brand has adopted the tagline " Body Music " which contains the brand message : Clothes that Move to my Rhythm.

" Body Music " is a very good tagline and positioning of Oxemberg fits to the body like Music is a remarkable idea. The tagline perfectly conveys the message of " perfect fit " property of the brand . The use of word " Music "also gives a sense of coolness to the brand.

The print ads are well made and catches the attention of the readers very well. It is also nice to see the brand taking the positioning based on "body fit ".

As a brand user, I feel that the real strength of Oxemberg is the design. Its patterns have some quality which is not seen in other brands. Even though the cloth quality may not be the best, Oxemberg scores high in the design which should be highlighted in the marketing communication. The current positioning platform is flexible enough to talk about design also.

It is good to see aggressive marketing activity for Oxemberg at the national level. The brand commands fair share of brand awareness because of its long existence. The new communication thrust will take the brand to the next level of growth.