‘We are looking at getting a national stamp rather than being seen as a regional brand’

Real estate developer Shriram Properties (SPL) celebrates its 25th year of operations in 2024-25. As part of the celebrations, SPL has embarked on a new brand identity and logo. Satanik Chaudhuri, Senior Vice President & National Head – Marketing, Shriram Properties says, “Over the years, we observed that we need to connect more
with our audience and there was a certain expectation to change the perception as well. The new logo reflects this change. It is more stylish, sleek and Gen Z friendly.”

Being part of the Shriram Group, the realty arm carried forward the parent company’s emblem while doing away with the man with the suitcase – the emblem of the Shriram Group. The new logo has multiple components with the mnemonic now having three progress bars, imbibed from parent company Shriram Group denoting their core values - trust, transparency and governance. The three progress bars are embraced by a golden sleek swoosh. Chaudhuri says, “We have retained the blue colour as it reflects wisdom, trust and confidence. The wordmark
Shriram Properties has been retained from our older logo. Our brand motive, the tagline – homes that live in you – has also been retained. That's how we have formed the architecture.”

Coinciding with this, SPL has also defined its “new avatar” called SPLNxT, with its key pillars being – accelerating growth, repositioning the brand and enhancing focus on the mid-market segments.

Targeting the mid-market and mid-premium segments, SPL has a presence in the residential real estate markets in Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata, as well as Pune (entering this market soon). The company aims to achieve leadership in this segment over the next decade and be the most preferred mid-segment real estate brand in India. The mid-market residential segments have seen accelerated growth in recent years. In SPL’s core markets of Bangalore and Chennai, mid-segments accounted for approximately 75% of demand in 2023, against pre-covid levels of 60% and 52% respectively. In Kolkata, it stood at 64% and 48% respectively. SPL’s focus on midsegments is in tune with the changing the market dynamics and evolving customer needs. 67% of SPL’s
completed and ongoing portfolio is in the mid-segments space, with the rest coming from affordable and other products segments. Depending on the market, the ticket size varies from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore. Chaudhuri says, “Today’s consumer is looking at experience. It's a value driven market today rather than a product market. What they're looking at is that if I'm paying Rs 1, what kind of value I'm getting out of it. Our focus is to be a value driven brand rather than a pure brick and mortar brand, so that. This again is an initiative which is part of
SPLNxT.”

Talking about SPL’s marketing, Chaudhuri says that the company follows 4Ss – Sensitive, Sensible, Spirited and Stylish. He adds, “All our endeavors - be it at the product level, the way we deal with our customers, or the way we conduct ourselves internally - revolve around these four core pillars.” SPL’s focal marketing point has been to ensure a uniform communication across all touch-points with a similar product or marketing story across platforms. Commenting on SPL’s media use Chaudhuri says, “If I if I average it out, our spend in media is around
3% to 3.5% (of revenue). 50% of our spends goes on the visibility and branding part. This includes ATL including print, OOH etc. BTL activities is more like a surround creation activity. Another 30 to 40% goes to digital for lead generation and digital brand building. That's how we typically bifurcate.” He continues, “If I average it out again, it differs from product to product. If I'm selling a plotted development, the strategy will be very different than if I'm selling a 2-bedroom apartment in a prime location in the city. Similarly, in markets like Kolkata, it is more ATL and BTL driven and digital takes a backseat. So, 30% to 40% of media spends goes to digital, another 30% to 40% is ATL and rest of it will be opex.”

In the past, real estate players targeted property buyers in the age-group of 35 to 65. Now, the age of buyers has drastically come down to the age-group of 26 depending on the asset class with the Gen Z buyer more aware with better access to the world and more demanding when compared to other cohort groups.

Under SPLNxT, the Company aims to double its sales, triple its revenue, and quadruple its profits over the next three years. Chaudhuri says, “The year has been as per the expectation in terms of revenues and project launches. Q2 was a little on a slower side but Q3 and Q4 look promising, in terms of market demand and our project launches. I'm sure we will be able to meet up our year target.” The company is targeting cumulative sales of over 20 msf predominantly focused on Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune with Kolkata being a key contributor.

Shriram Properties is targeting to accelerate new project addition in core markets of Bangalore, Chennai and in its new market, Pune. It intends to more than double its new project inventory. Chaudhuri says, “The demand in Bangalore is very high and we are also expanding in Chennai. Kolkata will be a key contributor as we have 314 acres of land parcel in Kolkata and we are looking to complete an integrated township project. Our Pune project launch will probably happen in next couple of months and we will test the water in the western market. The Pune
market resembles Bangalore because of this cosmopolitan nature. We are bullish about Pune and our experience will decide where to go next. We are looking at getting a national stamp rather than being seen as a regional brand as we increase our horizon as well.”

Currently, SPL has a project pipeline of 42 projects with 42 msf development potential. Of this, 24 msf is ongoing and the remaining 18 msf of development potential vests in future projects. SPL is targeting to double their future project inventory in 18-24 months.

On a final note, Chaudhuri says, “We will see more digital focused campaigns. Of course, you cannot avoid print, OOH and traditional media; this brings a credibility factor. However, if you want to be at the top of the buyers’consideration set you need to be a digital first company, and that's what Shriram Properties is focusing on”.