Kurlon @60: Nilesh Mazumdar and Piyush Pandey on refreshing the legacy brand

Mattress brand Kurlon has completed 60 years and has introduced a new, reinvigorated positioning with the launch of its latest logo and the tagline – “Life Banegi Hula Hula”. This rebranding is more than just a facelift; it represents a significant evolution for Kurlon. The brand aims to resonate with contemporary consumers by emphasizing that mattresses are not just for sleeping, but are integral to various life moments – be it reading, chatting, eating, or simply enjoying time with loved ones. Their new positioning encapsulates this insight with the idea of “Comfort Meets Joy in every life moment”.

This is reflected in the line “Life Banegi Hula Hula” around which the brand’s new campaign is built. The multimedia campaign, launched earlier this month, is set to gain momentum during the ongoing ICC T20 Cricket World Cup. Two films have been launched that bring alive the thought through creative articulations of how a happy back leads to a happy life moments.

In this exclusive video interaction with Adgully, Nilesh Mazumdar, CEO, Sheela Foam Ltd, and Piyush Pandey, Chief Advisor, Ogilvy India, to talk about this transformative journey. They will share insights on the new brand identity and the exciting campaign that promises to make everyone dance with joy.

But before we dive into our discussion, let's take a look at this video to get a glimpse of the fresh and dynamic Kurlon.

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Could you elaborate on the specific aspects of Kurlon’s new identity that contemporise the brand and expand its appeal to a broader audience?

Nilesh Mazumdar: Kurlon is 60 years old and an iconic brand, which pioneered the modern mattress category in India. While there is a very strong awareness of the brand among audiences who are, say 45+, there is a large audience now – the millennials and the Gen Z consumers – who are going into the mattress category for the first time. Hence, we had to make sure that the brand’s salience is also strong and it has a strong connect with this new modern consumer as well. Thus, this entire strategy of giving it a more refreshed look so that the brand is able to connect with all audiences across different age groups.

How are you translating the “Comfort meets joy in active life moments” proposition into a marketing strategy and customer experience point? How did you arrive at this tagline?

Piyush Pandey: Nilesh has been my partner for many, many years and he knows what we think about taglines. We don’t believe in taglines. Your brand should smell and breathe your tagline. It’s a feeling. We call it “hula hula”. It’s a “hula hula” moment and it is about joy. We don’t have a tagline, we have a feeling and it is keeping with the joy that it gives you. Comfort obviously comes with the mattress, we will not underline that – it will be comfortable if you sleep on it, but if it’s a joy to sleep on it, that’s our difference. So, it’s a completely fresh take on the category because most brands talk about only sleep on a mattress, which is a given and everyone understands that. But what we understand from consumers today is that there is a lot beyond sleeping on a mattress and that is what we really wanted to capitalise on and talk about the “joy of life” or the “masti of life” on a mattress. So that’s what we are really trying to depict.

Kurlon has a strong brand legacy. What inspired the decision to change the logo and how do the new logo and the “hula hula” moment campaign reflect Kurlon’s vision and brand values?

Nilesh Mazumdar: What was important for us was that while we were refreshing the brand identity, it should retain the assets and the legacy of the brand. These assets included the colours red and white, which are very strongly associated with the brand, so we wanted to retain that. The change had to be incremental so that the consumers that have grown with this brand are also able to relate with it, even as the newer audience that we want to relate to will also find the brand more modern and contemporary.

We have also got a new gradient line which is introduced on the brand logo, which is really about the colour gradient that there is from blue to orange, which talks about from dawn to dusk, which means that your entire life on a mattress can be from dawn to dusk. So, that’s the thought process that has gone behind creating that identity and logo. I think our team has done a fantastic job on giving it the “hula hula” joy and the creative rendition of what we wanted to say.

The campaign, ‘Life banegi hula hula’, captures the spirit and it doesn’t have to explain too much. People are smart enough, when they go to the showroom they will ask questions and the salesperson will respond to their queries. Right now our job is to create the desire and get them to the showroom.

With the refreshed brand identity, what are Kurlon’s plans for market expansion and what are the growth targets?

Nilesh Mazumdar: When we talk of a brand or a category like mattress, there is a lot beyond community that must happen so that the consumers experience the brand at different touch points and are able to buy into the category. So, we are obviously working on the distribution of the brand and the consumer experience inside the shop, where they can touch and feel the product. There is a new range of mattress, called ‘Orthomagic’, that we have just launched in the market, which are latex and coir mattresses. We will also be backing it up with communication very soon, wherein the entire integrated campaign will revolve around digital communications, outdoor, etc. So, the complete program that we are talking about is supported by all the elements of distribution, product, new range, and in-shop experience and demonstration.

How do you plan to amplify this campaign?

Nilesh Mazumdar: There are only two things that this country understands – one is cricket and the second is Bollywood. So you will see a lot of this campaign in the ongoing T20 World Cup tournament.

Are you planning to rope in any brand ambassador?

Piyush Pandey: The brand ambassador, the celebrity is our brand called Kurlon and it doesn’t cost us any huge sums of money. It gives us all the time to shoot it and is not fussy about things so we are stuck on it. We will try and make Kurlon the hero, not just with us but also with our audiences, so that they take it home. You cannot take an ambassador home. We think what people enjoy is the basic game. Unless we think a celebrity adds value to what we’re doing, we’re not going to use it.

What were the biggest challenges and opportunities in refreshing Kurlon’s brand identity?

Piyush Pandey: I think the biggest challenge was to live up to the expectations of the clients, who said ‘you tell me what is to be done and I am willing to listen to you and I am willing to back you up’. There cannot be a bigger challenge than this. When somebody is putting faith in you, then you have to work that much harder. The client only wants you to do something fantastic for the brand, so that they get the value for what they are spending on you and your company and their budgets. So, that’s a challenge rather than doing mediocre stuff for people.

These are edited excerpts. For the complete interview, watch below: