Lavie Luxe sidesteps TV, bets Rs 5 crore on Instagram and 100 creators for Occasion Edit

New Delhi: Lavie Luxe is making an aggressive push into India’s premium handbag category with the launch of The Occasion Edit, a new collection designed around glamour-driven eveningwear and the country’s booming wedding and festive economy.

But beyond the product, the brand’s latest launch marks a decisive shift in the company’s advertising and marketing strategy, one that is sharply digital-first, influencer-heavy, and anchored on authenticity over mass media reach.

Speaking to BestMediaInfo, Ayush Tainwala, CEO of Bagzone Lifestyles, said this is a pivotal moment for Lavie Luxe, not just in terms of design innovation but in how the brand communicates with India’s increasingly aspirational consumers.

“We've been in the aspirational space over the last five years. Many consumers may not be aware of it, but the backend has already happened,” he said. This shift now meets a dramatically louder marketing play.

“The Occasion Edit is about celebrating moments where style takes centre stage. These handbags are crafted for women who choose accessories that radiate confidence and who believe that every evening out is an opportunity to express their individuality," said Tainwala.

The brand is spending close to Rs 5 crore on this campaign. Yet the marketing choices reflect a deliberate recalibration: fewer traditional media blasts and more targeted, content-driven storytelling. A bulk of Lavie Luxe’s marketing spend is funnelled into digital channels, particularly Instagram. Tainwala said the focus is not mass reach but contextual influence.

It's largely focused on digital. We already get to a young, modern audience. It's very organic, rather than media. It's about the actual content that you create, quality, and the value that content adds back to consumers.”

Instagram leads the mix. “We're not focused on the media as much. We largely focus on Instagram across everything. Wherever fashion is seen, wherever fashion is placed, that's where we are looking.”

The brand is deploying a massive creator network: “You'll see a lot of influencers and fashion magazines talking about how we can style this product appropriately, and not so much focused on television ads.”

He added, “For us, it's not about the media; it's about the authenticity. The most authentic part is the product. We're working with a large number of influencers, probably in excess of 100 people, educating consumers on how to style it and how the product has been designed and crafted. These influencers can be from everything, from a movie star to a college girl in Patna.”

The decision to deprioritise television is strategic, aligned with Lavie Luxe's shift to a premium identity. “It depends on the objective. The objective of this campaign was not so much awareness as educating a customer already aware of Lavie that it has a lot more aspiration and distinctive products. Considering the goal, we selected the appropriate mix,” he said.

“People’s attention spans are shrinking, from two minutes to 20 seconds to three seconds. You have to give value back to consumers, fun, enjoyable, educational,” he added.

Even within digital, the objective is depth, not width. “We do television campaigns when we are going for a wide reach. But it's become a lot more premium and aspirational. Hence, premium, aspirational messages are best suited even more so on Instagram.”

Print will appear later, strategically delayed until product penetration improves. “Print is still a question. We're figuring out the right time. There will be a print component, but we want product penetration before we go for print,” he said.

Lavie Luxe positions itself as globally inspired yet locally attuned. It is seeing uniform traction across markets. “We're fairly equally spread. In terms of indexation, maybe the West is a stronger region. South and North are also penetrated so far,” he said.