Ajay Maurya, Head – Category and Marketing at Mia by Tanishq, speaks on the association with the Hornbill Festival, the role of digital, omnichannel and culture-led storytelling in shaping its future
Within the Tata Group’s diverse portfolio, Titan Company stands out as one of its most consistent performers. At Titan, jewellery continues to be the primary growth driver—fuelled by legacy brands like Tanishq, newer-age offerings such as CaratLane and Zoya, and Mia by Tanishq. Positioned as a contemporary fine jewellery brand for young, independent women, Mia by Tanishq has steadily carved out a distinct identity as a everyday life jewellery brand in a category traditionally dominated by occasion-led purchases. In an interaction with PITCH, Ajay Maurya, Head – Category & Marketing, Mia by Tanishq speaks about the brand’s partnership with the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland, evolution of the brand positioning, building brand love, focus on the omnichannel strategy and the company’s aggressive plans going ahead.
Edited Excerpts:
Q: Mia by Tanishq recently partnered with the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland—one of the country’s most celebrated cultural festivals. What drove this association?
A: Brand Mia by Tanishq has always stood for self-expression among young women. When we talk about expression—style, adornment, individuality—Nagaland stands out. Women in the State are incredibly fashion-forward, with a distinct sense of styling, self-expression and cultural pride.
For us, the association had multiple layers. First, inclusivity—being a brand that allows women from every corner of the country to express themselves. Second, fashion and expression rooted in culture. And third, cultural curation—bringing rich regional heritage into a contemporary, modern avatar and showcasing it to the rest of the country. This was a win-win association for us.
The Hornbill Festival, being one of India’s biggest music and cultural festivals drumming in the heartland of Nagaland, was the perfect platform. This wasn’t a one-off association for visibility alone; it was about aligning with a cause—celebrating culture, creativity, and expression—and eventually even building a retail presence in the region.
Q: Mia is positioned as a new-age jewellery brand for working women. How does that positioning tie in with such cultural associations?
A: When Mia by Tanishq started in 2011–12, the focus was on everyday office wear jewellery for women entering the workforce in large numbers. Over time, that woman evolved. Today, she expresses herself across multiple life moments—not just at work and wants jewellery to express herself at multiple occasions.
That’s when we moved from being seen purely as workwear jewellery to what we now call “life jewellery”—fine, light jewellery that accompanies a woman across occasions, moods, and milestones while giving the brand a broader positioning. It’s about giving her freedom of expression, whether she’s at work, at a festival, or simply being herself.
Q: Music festivals, such Hornbill Festival, have exploded in India over the last year. This has given brands an opportunity for branding, activation. How did Mia by Tanishq activate its presence?
A: Our objective was visibility and storytelling, not immediate sales. For on-ground content generation, we partnered with four influential women from Nagaland—guitarist Imnainla Jamir, biker Onen Nenty, vocalist Iuli Yeptho, lead singer of indie pop-rock band Trance Effect, and fashion influencer and the festival’s popular emcee Imlisen Pongen—each deeply embedded in the state’s cultural and creative landscape.
Each represented strong individuality, skill, and style and gave us the hands and legs to express the Mia by Tanishq language. Together, they became the driving force behind Mia by Tanishq’s content-led campaign, ‘A Day with Mia’, embodying the brand’s ethos of fashion, skill, and individuality through their distinct personal styles. The influencer-led storytelling, amplified across social platforms, extended the Hornbill Festival experience well beyond Nagaland, taking its spirit to audiences across the country.
We combined influencer-led storytelling with on-ground installations, social media content, PR amplification, and strong brand presence across key festival touchpoints. The installations themselves became media—especially for young audiences discovering Mia by Tanishq for the first time. On-ground installations at the festival acted as discovery touchpoints and to engage with youngsters we set up interactive "engagement zones" across the festival grounds, which featured style-led activities, merchandise, and product giveaways.
The idea was not to generate sales but to get visibility among the people of Nagaland who are not aware of brand Mia by Tanishq. When popular influencers from the State talk about the brand, we not only tick the box of getting our ideas and communication through to the heartland of Northeast, but also get love and accolades from across the country. This is an expression that a brand like Mia by Tanishq only can put up.
A key highlight was the launch of limited-edition "Mia x Hornbill" pendant collection, four unique designs inspired by Naga culture, the iconic bird, and the expression of the State with motifs like the hornbill, sickle, and feathers, incorporating Naga colours (red, black, white) and gold detailing, during a dedicated “Mia Night” at the festival which was a hit.
Q: Brand-building is often difficult to measure for RoI, particularly when it comes to activations. What kind of traction did you see?
A: Brand building is long-term exercise, but metrics still are important. This association generated a lot of brand love, perhaps immeasurable, but is a long-term asset. During the festival, we gained over 15,000 new followers in just 4–5 days. The engagement rates across posts and reels were consistently 6–7% organically, which is very strong and high.
PR coverage was extensive—across digital and print—and organically picked up across the Northeast and beyond. Most tellingly, we started receiving strong interest for opening a Mia by Tanishq store in Dimapur, which clearly showed market intent and we plan to opening a store in Dimapur soon.
Q: Digital seems to be the backbone of your media strategy. How do you see it evolving, alongside experiential marketing and traditional media?
A: Digital will remain central—especially for a youth-focused brand like Mia by Tanishq. It plays multiple roles: awareness, engagement, lead generation from the website traffic, and even driving in-store sales through DigiLocal and omnichannel strategies. Mia by Tanishq is a sub-brand of Tanishq, our mother brand enjoys huge popularity, while Mia by Tanishq brand still has to go some more distance till it can establish itself as a strong brand, when compared to its mother brand, Tanishq. The digital medium has to form a segue between how people interact with the brand online and how it finally converts to sales on all channels including, on-ground through our stores.
Experiential marketing and activations, especially through music and culture, will continue to build brand love. For a brand invested in cultural curation, music and fashion together create a powerful emotional connection.
Q: Many brands are moving towards regional-first marketing. Is Mia by Tanishq doing the same?
A: Our approach is largely national, but with a regional connection which we call “India Pride.” Today’s youth is deeply connected to their roots. Our role is to reinterpret cultural cues in a modern, Mia-style design language—so it feels contemporary yet authentic.
Q: Mia is present across omnichannel, its own app, and even quick commerce. How is that performing?
A: For a youth-led brand, agility is critical. Quick commerce, e-commerce marketplaces, our app, and website are all integral and important for the brand’s growth. Today, online contributes close to 10% of our overall business, up from just 2–3% a year ago—and it’s growing rapidly.
Q: How has FY26 been for Mia so far?
A: It’s been a fantastic year. There were many store additions and we now have over 275 stores. Our journey is to ensure that Mia by Tanishq becomes a prominent retail jewellery destination for the youth of our country. We expect to grow over 45% year-on-year this year and crossing Rs 2,000 crore in revenue in FY26.
Our biggest markets are the North, followed by South and West, both in terms of business growth as well as the size of the business. We see the Northeast emerging as a strong growth opportunity and are looking to open more store across States in this region.
Q: What can we expect from Mia’s marketing strategy going forward?
A: We have aggressive plans for next year. Everyday fine jewellery is the future, as more women choose to wear jewellery rather than store it away. Mia by Tanishq is easy on the pocket and this is a segment that is growing. Our marketing investments will scale accordingly, with a strong focus on generating brand love and full-funnel marketing to increase awareness, get into the consideration set, and then conversion with purchase.
Q: As a marketer within the Titan and Tata ecosystem, what’s your biggest learning?
A: Customer obsession. At Titan, customer-centricity isn’t a buzzword—it’s a way of life and everyone from top-to-bottom are customer obsessed. Even if a customer walks out without buying, what matters is that they leave with a smile. We firmly believe that we need to give a customer an unmatchable experience so that they become a lifetime customer as that experience ensures they come back—not just once, but across generations. That philosophy drives everything we do at Mia by Tanishq.
