Captains of the footwear industry, Inder Dev S. Musafir and Bhai Ajinder Singh are leveraging 30 years of experience and expertise to give the footwear segment a new ID.
M&B Footwear (Master of Brands) is known for its unique approach to the footwear business; the company takes great pride in predicting and fulfilling customer’s needs through advance fashion forecasting.
The founders, Inder Dev S. Musafir and Bhai Ajinder Singh, are confident to strike gold once again in the footwear sector. Having just re-launched its brand, ID, Musafir couldn’t wait to begin selling his collection at its three-day Channel Partner Meet held in Noida.
In 1991, Musafir went in search of a new career path and learnt shoe making in England. “At a university project I had to develop a range and brand it. That’s when ID originated,” he explains. “On my return to India I got absorbed in the existing family business and developed a licensed brand, which I and Ajinder nurtured and grew to unparalleled heights. Now after years, I have had the opportunity to revisit my dream project, which we would be pursuing in a very passionate and forceful way. We believe we have the pedigree to lead brand ID back into the winner circle.”
ID made ripples on its launch, and its collection has been very much appreciated. More importantly, Musafir and Ajinder have already proven that they are innovators and strategic thinkers.
ID prepares to launch its full-scale operation on pan India basis by August this year. The three-day meet kicked off with the forthcoming collection being showcased and Musafir briefing about the vision and strategy for the brand in the coming years.
Buyers across all channels were present during the event. They booked orders, shared their inputs on products and marketing plans.
The event was attended by all existing and prospective distributors, major key accounts such as ShoppersStop, Lifestyle, Central, Metro, Mochi, Reliance, Pantaloon, and also all major E-commerce partners –Amazon, Flipkart, Jabong, Myntra, Snapdeal, Paytm, Limeroad, Gofynd and Tatacliq.
A special entertainment evening was organized on day 2 of the meet. There where various performances. The special attraction being the iD Rock Band’s performance followed by mentalist show, dance, karaoke, cocktails and dinner.
Musafir said, “M&B’s Design & Production capabilities aligned with a strong distribution network is a sure recipe for success, that will make ID India’s number one footwear brand in the coming years.”
Another brand from the house of M&B that was presented during the show was X’ESS. The brand is being launched exclusively on the E-commerce platform, keeping in mind the prevailing selling trends and pricing strategy.
Bhai Ajinder stated, “We have a very strong supply chain which is backed by technology integration at various levels to improve efficiency and cost reduction to deliver competitive products to the final consumer.”
Its brand head Yogesh Khulbey, while presenting the Marketing Road-Map, said “All product groups are well aligned with relevant trade channels after carefully evaluating the exact demand of the buyers in terms of pricing, margins and zone preferences. The current collection is curated keeping in mind the brand positioning over the years, and setting out a very clear growth path for the brand in the coming future.” He added,“We are deploying various aggressive marketing efforts to enhance brand goodwill and to push sales. Very soon, we would be endorsing a well-known celebrity to take brand aspiration to the next level.”
360 degree Marketing Campaign
ID would be market bombing the brand and recreate the brand identity through a holistic approach so that the brand is in touch with and visible to the customers all the times. “It’s all about creating a distinctive brand philosophy which is centered on targeted consumers. It helps to anticipate all aspects of consumer needs. Especially when brand is fairly in its early stages it needs to be present everywhere to build a brand image,” says Musafir.
The team shared a detailed presentation on MTV Roadies association. MTV Roadies is a youth-based popular reality television show on MTV India Channel. In the show, a group of contestants travel to different destinations and participate in various tasks that seemingly challenge their physical and mental strength. Today in India, more than 8 million youngsters follow Roadies on social and digital platforms and these youngsters are common target audience with iD. These youngsters like to cross conventional boundaries, which is a core and common value between iD and Roadies, therefore Roadies gives a direct connect to iD’s core consumer.
The next step would be expansion. “We are committed to building a company that speaks to a generation that is defining today’s cultural conversation in India. All our decisions, including choice of partners, must reflect this core belief,” says Musafir. “ ID will engage youth culture in a manner not previously seen. We’re proud of M&B team, and look forward to a stronger presence of brand across India.”
