The Indian direct-to-consumer (D2C) startup scene is experiencing a major transformation in the way celebrity endorsements are being crafted. In a shift from tedious, flat-fee endorsement deals, today’s Bollywood actors expect skin in the game. Fine jewellery brand GIVA today made a high-profile announcement and announced actor and entrepreneur, National Award winner Kriti Sanon as the new “Kriti Sanon Joins GIVA as Brand Ambassador and Strategic Investor”.
The multi-faceted collaboration further strengthens an already established partnership that was just begun with the dynamic GIVA marketing campaign “Style, Sealed in Silver”. The move of Sanon as a “Strategic Investor” into its cap table places the Bengaluru-based omnichannel brand in a stronger position to be more of a share of India’s fine jewellery market which is rapidly growing, design conscious.
Why Kriti Sanon is Moving Beyond Simple Endorsements
A long time back, Indian celebrities were just “faces” and they walked away after getting a standard amount of endorsement money out of a television commercial or billboard. But the innovative and young folks such as Kriti Sanon, who is also a co-founder of her own skin care line ‘Hyphen’ have a different perspective on startups.
Talking about the financial support to GIVA, Kriti Sanon revealed that her association with the company is based on a common belief about Youth Culture and the Day-to-Day Fashion.
At GIVA, I felt that the brand had a vision, and a vision that wasn’t limited to jewellery, but instead went beyond it – to belief. At GIVA they knew a thing or two about young India, and that was that they didn’t want to be dressed, they wanted to be expressed. So GIVA has developed a language to that,” Sanon said.
Sanon will not only appear digitally, on OTT and in retail spaces, he will be a “Strategic Investor”. She will aid in the promotion of her role broadly, including:
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Planning for “brand-building” activities and media.
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Furnishing innovative inputs for next cycles of “collection design” blueprints.
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Using her wide social media following to drive organic “consumer engagement” among aspirational young consumers of the modern India.
GIVA’s Disruptive Growth Journey in India’s Jewellery Market
GIVA’s founders Ishendra Agarwal and Nikita Prasad came up with the idea in 2019 which was quite clear – that India sorely needed a structured, quality products player in the segment of everyday fine silver jewellery. The legacy gold players, who have traditionally dominated the Indian retail jewellery market, focus on targeting some of life’s milestone events, such as weddings, family gatherings and major festivals.
GIVA turned this conventional notion on its head and evolved authentic, high-quality, 925 fine silver jewellery that is specifically designed for high frequency, everyday wear. The design philosophy has helped the startup to grow at an incredible pace in the past six years.
Let’s take a quick look at GIVA’s Market Footprint:
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Retail Presence: grew from 1 store to a strong “omnichannel network” with more than 300+ exclusive stores in India and Sri Lanka.
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Customers: Successfully catered to over 2 million users on both physical and eCommerce platforms.
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Extension: Broke into the light-weight silver product market and introduced a wide range of gold products as well as coveted lab-grown diamonds.
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Financial Growth: After consolidated revenue from operations of ₹273.6 crore in FY24, the company is confident of achieving a good revenue growth to surpass the ₹500 crore mark.
The Strategic Timing: Funding and Lowering Customer Acquisition Costs
The mega partnership follows GIVA’s mammoth Series C funding round of ₹530 crore. Creaegis led the institutional round and major institutions such as successful companies like Premji Invest, Epiq Capital and the Edelweiss Discovery Fund participated in the round. The brand is aggressively deploying this fresh capital injection toward major retail store expansion, supply chain optimizations, advanced backend tech upgrades, and expanding its lab grown diamond business.
Considering an influential namesake like Sanon, as a shareholder, is a very smart way of getting the customer. With a lot of competition and increasing price for digital advertising, D2C performance marketing costs are constantly rising. A customer has a much easier time trusting your brand when your stakeholder is a high-profile name.
Ishendra Agarwal, Founder of GIVA, pointed out the implications of this strategic move:
Having Kriti as an ambassador and investor takes the brand to her next level and resonates with the new breed of consumers, who are confident, expressive and deeply individualistic, of which GIVA is establishing itself as a leader in the design arena of jewellery in India.
Capturing the Minds of Gen Z and Millennial Consumers
The theme of GIVA’s long-term campaign, “Style, Sealed in Silver”, is an excellent reflection of a huge change in the consumer’s mindset today. The buyers of the modern era, the people of the new Gen Z and Millennial era, don’t view jewellery as a passive investment or a lock-away type of safe deposit locker. Rather they consider it to be an extension of their personal style, day-to-day life and personal mood.
GIVA, with its high touch distribution partnerships (including quick-commerce platforms), minimalist designs and accessible pricing, has managed to put fine jewellery within the reach of the urban working class. This partnership will undoubtedly further quicken this bond with Sanon’s storytelling skills and her keen sensitivity for fashion, and provide the brand with a significant advantage over the ningún disposition of local retailers.
The equity ownership deal between GIVA and an all-star cast presents a robust blueprint for the companies to take the next leap in the quest for retail deals.The equity ownership arrangement between GIVA and an A-list cast is a decent template for the companies to repeat the process in the future for retail deals. Powered by a strong capital reserve, growing presence offline and an influential celebrity partner that is actively influencing its creative direction, GIVA is poised to shape the existing environment of ‘Fashion Jewellery’ in the country.
