Good content can drive brand building & growth like nothing else: Vineeta Singh, Sugar

Day 1 of Goafest began with Sugar Cosmetics CEO Vineeta Singh’s talk on the topic ‘The resilience of building a brand for Bharat’. She highlighted that the growth of digital media has given all sizes of brands a level-playing field to reach out to consumers. Singh emphasised that distribution and advertising are no longer the biggest moats for a business to flourish and good content can drive brand building and growth like nothing else.

Speaking about Sugar, Singh said, “When we were planning to launch Sugar, one thing deterred us constantly from making the move and that was the lack of money in our bank accounts. But today, any business can be started with an initial capital of 2-3 lakhs.”

However, she added that building a brand has become equally difficult, “The consumer is looking forward to products that could solve a problem point for them. You really need to think out of the box.”

For Sugar, what drove this growth despite the challenges from the biggest of well-established makeup brands was its content. “We put in a lot of effort in creating good content that can speak to our consumers because makeup is a fun product and is more about enjoying the process than hoarding it. Most of the big and established brands were using their stores to educate the consumers about how to use the makeup products and what suits their skin the best. We saw it as an opportunity to take our educational content online.”

Sugar’s Instagram account is very popular among the viewers, and as per Singh, each content piece posted on this in the last year clocked more than 4 billion views. “All the advertising geniuses here would vouch for the power of advertising but I believe if you have a good product and if you are consistent in delivering it to your consumers at competent prices and building value for the long run, the brand-building doesn’t need advertising.”

Another aspect she talked about is Sugar’s decision to not run discounts or cut prices to match the competition. “We always think long-term and never short-term. What does your consumer want from you and what would they remember two decades later, that’s what motivates us. That’s why we are working on creating good content and memorable products instead of cutting prices or announcing discounts just because the competition is doing it.”

Finally, she attributed the stellar growth of the company to her team. “Resilience is one word that defines Sugar and each of our team members. They are really the reason that we have been able to achieve what we have. We are a workplace that supports women.”

She concluded the presentation by stating that being present in general trade and having a strong retail presence has helped the brand. “We don’t want to deter the consumers from purchasing from us just because we are not present where they are. Getting into general trade has really helped us.”