Elan Group’s Rs 100 cr marketing playbook: DIY, brand building, celebs and IPL

New Delhi: Real estate is a high-stakes game. Significant finances, volatile markets, and long-term commitment are some of the things that define ‘Realty.’ Gurugram-headquartered Elan Group, a player in the ultra-luxury segment, is trying to crack the code of this unorganised sector by prioritising brand building, in-house marketing, and strategic, high-impact associations.

Brand-centric strategy

Elan Group's marketing philosophy revolves around a “brand-first” approach. Vidhi Attri, Head of Marketing, emphasised that performance marketing is secondary to brand awareness. “Our marketing strategy is very clear: the brand always comes first,” she stated. “We've never done marketing just for the sake of a sale.”

Supporting her statements with a recent example, Attri shared, “Recently, we launched an ultra-luxury residential project with over ten global consultants. We didn't focus on hitting a specific sales target for ten-crore apartments. Instead, we prioritised highlighting the Elan brand.”

Digital-first and content-generation

Elan Group heavily invests in digital platforms, allocating over 60% of their marketing budget to digital channels. They are also exploring generative AI for creative content. For their latest project, they invested approximately Rs 10 crore, with a significant portion dedicated to digital campaigns.

Expanding their efforts in digital, Elan Group is also planning to start a podcast. “We will definitely start a podcast very soon. We will start from our office, including the leadership in the organisation. From there, we will move on to the channel partners to proliferate the reach of the podcast. We may also include our global consultants in that podcast series,” Attri said. 

Elan has also experimented with influencer marketing, primarily for brand awareness rather than direct sales. However, the group acknowledged the risks associated with influencers, emphasising the importance of “carefully selecting credible individuals who align with the group’s brand values.”

Attri shared that for their latest project, Emperor, the group has invested in making a minute-long AI-generated video featuring a club in their project. This club will soon be announced and this AI-generated video will be at the centre of this campaign. This AI-generated video was first given to an onboarded agency. However, due to unsatisfactory results, Elan produced the video through their in-house team. 

A big no for outsourcing

Elan Group boasts a robust in-house marketing team of 17, handling most marketing functions. With a budget exceeding Rs 100 crore, they prefer internal execution, outsourcing only specific campaign-related tasks.

For an ongoing project, the group has onboarded Cheil as their digital agency. For some of their campaign-related creatives, they have hired Lowe Lintas. However, Attri clarified that these agencies act as extensions of their in-house team. “We don't want to be dependent on anybody,” she explained, highlighting the efficiency and speed of their internal operations. 

She explained, “We don't want to be dependent on anybody. Before I took over marketing and branding, we had only four or five people. I presented a plan to management: if we build an in-house team, we'll never be reliant on external agencies. You won't have to meet with individual creatives or digital agencies every day. Instead, if you have an idea, you write it down, give it to us, and we'll execute it. 

That's exactly what's happening now. My boss gives me a vision, I come up with a concept, and present it to him by the end of the day. Everyone is very happy with this. We now have a team of 17 people, covering everything in-house: digital, PR, creative, video, content, and foundation.”

Zooming in on onboarding Cheil, Attri revealed that the agency was hired because they are now looking to expand beyond Delhi-NCR. “We had the necessary coding for Gurugram and areas in the vicinity but Cheil has a much broader reach. They handle PIN codes on a much larger scale. And hence, Cheil was able to show our project to a much wider audience.” 

Even here, Attri stressed that the group is focusing on propagating the brand rather than a specific project. 

Shah Rukh Khan and IPL 

Betting big on brand building, Elan is meticulous about designing their campaigns or their collaborations that scream the larger-than-life ideology. In 2017, Elan collaborated with Salman Khan to do a campaign event for one of their projects. “It wasn’t a sales strategy. It was a brand-building strategy,” Attri stated. Since then, Elan has collaborated with 30-odd celebrities in the past five years. 

The newest entrant in this list is Shah Rukh Khan. Elan, in an effort to project itself as a global brand, onboarded Khan as its brand ambassador. 

Speaking her thoughts behind this, Attri said, “The reason for bringing in Shah Rukh Khan was simple: he's a global icon. We're working with global consultants, and we're aiming for a global presence. Shah Rukh Khan, as a global icon, with his aura of grandeur and success, perfectly aligns with our brand.” 

Elan Group has signed a three-year contract with the Bollywood star and plans to renew it upon its completion.

Steering the conversation towards the IPL (Indian Premier League), BestMediaInfo.com enquired how Elan is trying to leverage the IPL.  Replying to the query, Attri said that the group “plans to do something through the IPL matches, rather than endorsing a specific team. 

“While we plan to do a broader IPL match branding, if the time does not allow, we will consider doing something with KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders), given our association with Shah Rukh Khan,” Attri said. Attri plans to avoid overusing Khan in the ads around IPL. Rather, the Elan Group plans to experiment with on-ground or digital branding options. “Shah Rukh Khan won’t be in those ads. We will only feature Elan,” Attri told BestMediaInfo.com.