Orient Electric spends 60% of marketing budget on digital & CTV: CMO

Orient Electric, a CK Birla Group brand, has recently launched its winter campaign, Fatt Se Garam, to promote its range of water heaters. Young millennials are the target audience for the campaign, which emphasises speed, convenience, and innovation in heating solutions.

The campaign features a multi-channel approach, with social media content, CGI videos, and influencer collaborations, along with a presence on e-commerce platforms. Contextual promotions on popular digital platforms such as Zomato, Spotify, and Uber support the campaign's seamless connection with younger audiences.

Complementing this digital push, the campaign also includes innovative outdoor billboards in select high-saliency cities and print ads in national and vernacular newspapers.

Anika Agarwal, chief marketing and customer experience officer, Orient Electric, shares that the campaign was conceived to highlight its water heaters' core proposition of faster heating. Both instant and storage water heaters feature advanced technology, like world-flow technology, ensuring 20% faster heating.

“After analysing the conversations around water heaters, we realised that while functional aspects like efficiency, performance, and durability are important, the consumer's engagement with the category was relatively low. This led us to create a campaign that combined these functional parameters with something relatable for younger audiences,” she says.

Targeting younger audiences

With millennials and Gen Z expected to make up 75% of the consumer base in the next five years, Agarwal notes that Orient Electric is doubling down on targeting younger audiences to drive growth in the water heater category.

Speaking about the strategy, she says that young, first-time homeowners and renters especially look for appliances that match their lifestyle.

“They [young consumers] seek value-for-money propositions that combine efficiency, stylish designs, and lifestyle-oriented features. Our focus is on creating products that align with their lifestyle aspirations while delivering exceptional performance.”

Anika Agarwal, Orient Electric

Marketing and distribution strategies

Orient Electric has employed a multi-channel strategy encompassing digital, print, outdoor (OOH), below-the-line (BTL) activations, and social platforms.

“The phrase 'Fatt Se Garam' itself provides synergy across mediums. It works well in outdoor innovations, print, and hyperlocal digital advertising,” says Agarwal.

For digital platforms, the brand adopted a contextual approach to engage consumers. “On Uber, we targeted consumers with messages like, ‘Your water will heat faster than your cab arrives,” Agarwal explained, showcasing the campaign’s creative integration across platforms.

The brand is betting on a digital-first strategy to maximise the impact of its latest water heater campaign, targeting the top 20 Indian markets with a mix of online and offline initiatives.

Highlighting the campaign’s approach, Agarwal says, “The campaign ensures availability on platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, and our website for a seamless consumer journey. More than 60% of consumers research online before buying, whether offline or online.”

The campaign is also leveraging outdoor and print media in key markets to complement its digital presence. “Around 60-70% of the budget for this campaign has been allocated to digital channels, with the remainder supporting offline activities,” she shares.

Orient Electric is spending 10–15% of its overall marketing budget on the campaign, which aims to strengthen the brand’s pan-India presence and is supported by a robust distribution strategy.

“We have a strong presence in the North and East regions and are building our distribution network in the West and South.”

Anika Agarwal, Orient Electric

As digital platforms continue to reshape consumer behaviour, Orient Electric has made connected television (CTV) a cornerstone of its media strategy. In the last 12–18 months, the company has allocated a significant portion of its advertising budget to digital platforms, including CTV, to capitalise on their growing reach and engagement potential.

“Over the past 12-18 months, we’ve allocated around 60% of our advertising budget to digital platforms, including CTV. This is now an integral part of our media strategy.”

Anika Agarwal, Orient Electric

The brand has utilised non-traditional advertising platforms such as Zomato, Uber, MyGate, and Spotify to reach younger, tech-savvy consumers.

Speaking about the impact of these platforms, Agarwal shares that the brand measures success through brand search queries and conversions.

"We've seen a 13-15% increase in brand search queries compared to last year and higher conversion rates on e-commerce platforms and our website.”

Anika Agarwal, Orient Electric

While Fatt Se Garam is seasonal and will run through January, Agarwal reveals that the company’s advertising focus will shift during major events like IPL to promote cooling products such as fans and air coolers.

“Water heaters are a seasonal category, so our focus will remain on campaigns for this category until January. During events like IPL, we will shift our advertising focus to cooling products like fans and coolers,” she explains.

Reflecting on the campaign’s lessons, Agarwal emphasises the role of contemporary messaging in connecting with younger audiences.

“Two key lessons are the importance of contextual messaging and striking the right tone for younger audiences. Moving forward, you can expect more contemporary, tongue-in-cheek campaigns from Orient Electric,” she says, hinting at plans to expand this creative approach into other product categories.