The Ultimate Indian Sweet Shop Branding
Meet the brand that most Indians point to when they think of great branding.
Indian sweet shops weren't known for their spectacular design. In fact, most of them looked like each other, and it worked. They weren't playing to their own desire to change, they played to what the consumers felt was familiar. Between the late 80s and the late 2010s, sweet shops weren't a "design" heavy brand and they didn't need to feel like anything different, but this is where Bombay Sweet Shop decided to study the market and take it a step further than where it stood.
Confectionery and chocolate brands ruled the economy for gifting, and the only people looking into Indian sweets were still the older generation, who were used to this culture. But with the advent of e-commerce, quick commerce and social media, confectionery and chocolate giants like Cadbury had taken over the market. This is where Bombay Sweet Shop found their audience.
The Big Question
How do we bring a younger and extravagant audience back to Indian sweets?
The Big Answer
By building a brand that feels like something you'd bring over to a friend's house, something you'd gift to a loved one, and something that gets that reaction we all love: "Oh, that looks fancy, what's that?"
It was the same things you'd get at a local mithai shop, but this time it felt more prestigious, more illustrious and definitely more premium to have something from Bombay Sweet Shop.
And Bombay Sweet Shop understood something that most people didn't: a "brand" isn't just the logo, because if it was, they would've stopped at the marvel that is their logo. But they wanted to create a brand, and that they did. From the way their stores felt like old mithai shops, but made extravagant,
to their photography, how they've made sure each set of photoshoots is well crafted, the sets are designed and the art direction is on point.
And definitely in their content, they took a direction that would get audiences from every age group attracted to the brand.
And the collaborations are limitless. Bombay Sweet Shop is one of the best examples I can find of a brand that saw a crowded market and realized three things:
- The competition is all looking the same, they speak the same language, and they're not different from each other in any shape or form.
- Find a new target audience and create a brand that feels relatable or aspirational to them.
- I need to collaborate and create content that gets word of mouth flowing.
So if you're someone who's trying to start a business in a legacy industry, Bombay Sweet Shop is the brand you should be looking at.
