Weekly Digest News from around Bata World AT A GLANCE Meet the Bata Awards Digital Finalists from Singapore and Malaysia Meet the Bata Awards Digital Finalist from Footin This Week's Lucky IPad Winner: Bata Awards Voter Gianna Gambato Bata Awards voting is on, and each week one lucky employee is randomly drawn from those who logged in to vote that week to receive a brand new ipad Mini. Halloween Fun Is a Shoo-In at the Bata Shoe Museum Bata Sponsors E-Sports Team Happy Bata Customers: Bowled Over by Online Services Cancer Prevention Campaign a Success with the Women of Bata Bolivia Meet the Bata Awards Digital Finalist from Bata Brands Special Needs Children Spend a Day as Shoe Designers with BCP Indonesia Bata: A Treasured Trailblazer in India
Bata Awards voting is on, and each week one lucky employee is randomly drawn from those who logged in to vote that week to receive a brand new ipad Mini. INTERVIEWS This Week's Lucky IPad Winner: Bata Awards Voter Gianna Gambato Which was your absolute favorite project of the 2014 Bata Awards? The project called Bata Men s Shoemaker Collection by Bata Europe is my favorite one because it is focused on the high quality of "made in Italy" products. I believe that it is very important to improve the quality of Bata shoes. How do you feel about winning a new ipad? I feel very lucky. I never thought that I could win! What is your role with Bata Italy? How long have you worked for the company? I ve worked for Bata Italy since 1979, and now I am the chief accountant of the company. Why did you vote in the Bata Awards, and what would you say to encourage your colleagues around the world who haven't voted yet? I voted in the Bata Awards because, in my opinion, the Bata Shoe Organization is a big team, and each of us should know the common business strategies and should feel involved in innovations. Dear colleagues, have a look at the projects: you might discover many unexpected good ideas and, why not, win a fantastic ipad! Voting is simple. Just log onto the Bata Awards website with your work email address and click on the project you like best. Who knows, you could be the next winner of the week! For any help with casting your vote, contact support.awards@bata.com.
The Bata Shoe Museum celebrated Halloween in spooktacular fashion this year. CORPORATE Halloween Fun Is a Shoo-In at the Bata Shoe Museum Last weekend, families gathered up their little ghouls and ghosts for some Halloween- and shoe-themed activities. The children made bat wings for their sneakers, created a magnet in the shape of a witch s shoe, custom designed their own pair of scary shoelaces and a funky friendship pin for their shoes. They also decorated a yummy Halloween cookie. Everyone from toddlers to adults had much fun with our collection of spooky try-on shoes, which includes glow-in-the-dark skeleton shoes, candy corn flats, and even a pair of witch s shoes! said Andrea Field, the museum s education coordinator. Families then explored the haunted museum and played a game of I Spy, searching for all of the shoes on an activity sheet. A volunteer docent engaged the youngsters and their parents with stories of shoes from the museum s education collection -- the firefighter boots were a big hit. Halloween Family Fun is one of several annual events at the Bata Shoe Museum for children and their families. But the museum also spread the spirit of Halloween to everyone through its online video series. Click to discover what corpse shoes are!
Betsy Anyanzwa lives in a remote area on Kenya s coast. CORPORATE Happy Bata Customers: Bowled Over by Online Services She called the customer service help desk and asked her question. The answer: We deliver countywide! There surely must be an additional cost to that, right? No. If the order meets the free delivery threshold, we will deliver free! Anyanzwa could not contain her excitement and placed an order for two pairs of shoes a few minutes later. In standard Bata Home style, this order was processed quickly and passed on to the courier. Barely 24 hours later, the customer had her shoes. She called customer service to gush as soon as they arrived, even before opening the package, her voice elated. A few minutes later, however, she called back. One of the pairs was a size too small. It is my fault. I bought a smaller size since they were sandals, and now they don t fit me. But can you help? she asked, hopefully. Now, customer service is the foundation on which Bata Home stands, and the Bata Kenya team acted fast to satisfy the request. Anyanzwa was asked to drop off the too-small shoes at the Bata store in Malindi and collect a larger pair, which was sent. This grateful customer summed up the experience: Thanks, Bata, for this. I have the shoes that I wanted, where I wanted them, and this was unimaginable a few years back! The customer service team is incredible and you couldn t have handled me better. All my friends have to know about this! True to her word, a friend of hers placed an order that same week.
On October 27, Bata Brands announced its new sponsorship of exes esport, one of the rising stars in European e-sports. CORPORATE Bata Sponsors E-Sports Team The French exes esport team, founded in 2008, is currently competing in the 2014 Electronic Sports World Cup taking place from October 28 to November 2 in Paris. More than 70 countries are represented by their national champions, and the competition is broadcast by networks including MTV, BBC World, TF1, NBC and ABC. Players from exes esport will compete in ShootMania and League of Legends. Earlier this year, exes esport won the EuroCup in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and finished second at the Gamers Assembly and Lanex 18. The team also won the 2013 European Gaming League. Pierre Murbach, brand and digital content manager at Bata Brands, explained the sponsorship. Video game culture has become more and more popular, showing a large increase in both viewership and prize money. E-sports game tournaments are already selling out giant arenas, with some events attracting audiences larger than those for major traditional sporting events. More than 70 million people worldwide watch esports over the Internet or on TV, according to estimates by SuperData Research in April 2014. There are also TV channels devoted largely to esports, and the UK s first e-sports bar recently opened in London. As a major player in the world of fashion, Bata has always paid special attention to emerging trends, which influence the events and teams the company sponsors. Bata became an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup in 1986, the year that included such memorable moments as Diego Maradona scoring the Hand of God goal, as well as the Goal of the Century against England. Today, Bata is again breaking new ground with its sponsorship of competitive gaming, added Murbach.
Last month Bata Bolivia launched a breast cancer prevention campaign. BCP / SUSTAINABILITY Cancer Prevention Campaign a Success with the Women of Bata Bolivia The aim of the month-long campaign was to raise awareness and educate the women of Bata Bolivia about the steps they can take to reduce the risk of breast cancer. This disease remains a major cause of female mortality in the country. Informational sessions and medical examinations were carried out for women employees and employees wives. The group was educated about the importance of these exams in preventing breast cancer. Flyers were posted in Quillacollo as well as downtown Cochabamba to get the attention of workers as well as their wives. The campaign surpassed its goal, reaching a full 72 percent of the target population, Bata Bolivia s 500 women. Among women workers, 80 participated, while 284 wives of workers took the time to come in and learn about breast cancer prevention. A total of 364 women were served. Maria Tereza Sevillano Azurduy, who works in the sewing division, expressed her appreciation for the campaign. "It's very valuable opportunity that the company is offering us, for doctors to show us how to prevent breast cancer. I want to thank Bata Bolivia for this initiative for the benefit of women workers of the company. For this and many more benefits, I am very happy to be part of the Bata family."
This week Bata World News is taking a look at the Digital category finalists. INTERVIEWS Meet the Bata Awards Digital Finalist from Bata Brands Why did you enter for a Bata Award? I had all my coworkers suggesting to me to do so! More seriously, I believe a lot of people have discovered, or rediscovered, the company they are working for from a new perspective via Pinterest, with bloggers proudly featuring our products, with a glimpse of 120 years of Bata advertising and some unique Bata-related photographs. I had many tell me they had no idea Bata built cities around the globe, no idea celebrities such as Magic Johnson, Kurt Cobain or the Big Lebowski wore Bata shoes, no idea we had such a large community of fashion bloggers featuring Chanel and Louis Vuitton products with their favorite Bata shoes, no idea about our prestigious and often award-winning advertising work, no idea Bata was mentioned in the Guinness World Records as "Largest Shoe Retailer and Manufacturer." If not to win the prize, I did enter the contest for the internal exposure I could gain for the Pinterest page. Because I believe every Bata employee should know about the truly unique heritage and legacy we are all a part of. How did your Pinterest project come about? With its simplicity and visual appeal, Pinterest is one of the most convenient and efficient ways to share visual content. I was looking for visual material, both in our archives and on the web. With 120 years of history and a truly unique heritage come a lot of photographs and visual testaments. In light of the quantity of incredible documents I came across, I thought a lot of people around the world customers, employees and more could benefit from access to all this material, and distribution of all this in one unique, visually-appealing location. Pinterest, the growing social visual platform, seemed to be the obvious choice. What kind of results have you seen from the project? People have started to realize the value of the work accomplished in the past, and the page has attracted a large following from all around the globe. I am receiving requests for information or for particular photos on a weekly basis, from both customers and Bata employees around the world. With more than 13,000 monthly viewers - close to 80 percent of them female - Pinterest is, among other emerging social platforms such as Instagram and Tumblr, one of the digital presences we are developing in order to grow awareness of our
Meet the Bata Awards Digital Finalist from Bata Brands brand, generate interest and drive traffic toward our websites and stores. With more than 10 percent monthly audience growth, I'd say we have been quite successful so far. Do you think this idea can be implemented at other Bata companies? Yes and no. Yes, the whole Bata Shoe Organization benefits from the exposure on social media platforms such as Pinterest. But no, other companies should not start their own page in order to avoid diluting the work done so far. Companies should rather join the team, join forces and contribute to the content of the existing page. How can we expect people to find relevant content if searching "Bata" returns a plethora of redundant and uncoordinated results? With the web, more than any other channel, joining forces, working as a team with a unified voice and objective is imperative if we want to succeed. All other efforts are just adding noise and diluting our exposure. How can anyone expect to federate users under one brand, one banner if he can't even show the proper example internally? The objective of this kind of initiative is to federate under one brand and elevate the brand to something customers can connect and identify with. Lastly, why should your Bata colleagues around the world vote for your project? Our social media efforts have already resulted in the biggest media following in the BSO, with engagement rates that are about 10 times the performance that Nike, Adidas, Vans and other big name footwear brands are managing. Pinterest is part of that bigger picture and a continuous effort in connecting with prospects and customers, ultimately contributing to driving people to our websites and stores and converting them into customers, but in addition to these marketing objectives, Pinterest is also a global effort to preserve, communicate and share our corporate values and heritage. In this regard, it is truly contributing to valorizing the brand.
Need help deciding which short-listed project to vote for in the Bata Awards? INTERVIEWS Meet the Bata Awards Digital Finalists from Singapore and Malaysia Why did you enter for a Bata Award? From the response we received from the younger target audience -- whom we have always tried very hard to reach out to and to market the brand to -- we felt that by entering the Bata Awards and hopefully winning it, we could share with the rest of the world that social media is the direction to go with digital marketing. It was really encouraging for us that we found success in using social media to interest the younger consumers and get them engaged in the campaign. The selfie contests run in Singapore and Malaysia represent an innovative and fun way to increase our brand awareness and tap the new digital platforms used by our younger customers. Tell us about how your selfie campaign was developed. Crafting a marketing message that ties into trending topics is key to catching the customer s eye. Trend of the moment: the selfie. So much, in fact, that last year Oxford Dictionaries named selfie the Word of the Year, and Instagram has more than 88 million photos that don the #selfie hashtag. They re taking over Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many other social media outlets. From January to December 2013, the number of brands using these self-portrait photos on Facebook and Twitter increased from 18 to 390, and those running selfie contests increased from 265 to 988. Consumers now use the selfie as a means of self-expression to share their thoughts, feelings and style with the world. Across the globe people have been sharing their outfits and photos of shoes with friends. We have taken inspiration from this global trend to create our Spring/Summer 2014 campaign and develop the related social media activities. SS2014 is our first campaign inspired and driven by the latest social media trends. Our aim has been to shape our marketing activities to fit these new digital platforms and develop a new relationship between Bata and its customers. The campaign marks the company officially joining the hashtag community, creating a platform to communicate with a younger public and taking things to the next level. What kind of results have you seen from the project? There is an audience largely untapped by Bata: the 18 to 24 fashionconscious consumer, and the 2014 Spring/Summer Campaign offers a great platform to engage these customers. There are 125 million selfies already on Instagram. Each day 1 million more are added. Almost one third of photos taken by those 18 to 24 are now selfies. So we asked our customers and
Meet the Bata Awards Digital Finalists from Singapore and Malaysia potential new customers to ride the selfie wave with two selfie campaigns coordinated by GFS through the creation of an app and run locally by Bata Singapore and Bata Malaysia. The selfie contest campaigns represented a digital extension of the SS2014 campaign. In Malaysia the Snap, Tag and Win contest was held from May 26 to June 22. In the first two weeks of the contest alone, over 200 entries were received, 652 votes were cast, and Bata Malaysia s Facebook page got around 1,000 new fans and thousands of likes on Facebook. In Singapore the selfie contest was held from March 17 to April 20 and brought in more than 6,000 likes on Facebook, with around 350 participants. With these selfie contests we have increased our social engagement and sped up fan acquisition while building our online community and content in line with the SS14 campaign. Do you think this idea can be implemented at other Bata companies? Actually the SS2014 campaign has been used in several countries across Bata Emerging Markets, and many countries could introduce a selfie contest as was done by Singapore. As the platform the campaign was built on is easily adapted to different countries, it can be implemented at all other Bata companies as can be seen with Malaysia using the same platform. This can also reduce the marketing costs for all companies. Lastly, why should your Bata colleagues around the world vote for your project? Everyone should vote for us to win because digital marketing is the way to reach out to all consumers in a costefficient way, and it is also a channel that all Bata companies in all countries can launch concurrently as a global brand!
This week, as Bata employees continue to vote for their favorite projects in the Bata Awards, BWN is presenting the finalists in the Digital category. INTERVIEWS Meet the Bata Awards Digital Finalist from Footin Why did you enter for a Bata Award? It was upon CEO Mr. Jack Clemons and Mr. Marcello Pace s visit to the Footin regional office in Bangkok that it was suggested that I should enter www.foot-in.com in the Bata Awards, since it was the first time ever that a Bata brand has been featured on FashionTV. I hadn t considered it and was pleasantly surprised, and I entered my project the very next day. I think the Awards are a fantastic way of acknowledging all the great work Bata people are doing around the world. Tell us about how your Footin website project was developed. When I started working for Footin about a year and a half ago, there was no real marketing foundation for continuous brand building. It was important to create an online presence including our own website and social media. We wanted it to be young and trendy to reflect our customers, and I believe we have created just that. Being a team of one, I worked very closely during the preparation stages for the visuals and video with a talented photographer and her team in France, as I wanted our models and backdrop to have an international feel. To keep within a limited budget I monitored the actual shoot days via LINE, the mobile app, which I jokingly say gave me jetlag without actually traveling anywhere. The images were not only developed for the new website but are also used as the main visuals in the Footin stores, which ties the online and offline marketing together. The video has also been cut to be used as a 60-second commercial in malls. After a careful search I found a local website development company that understood the concept I had mapped out. Together we made the vision come to life bit by bit. What kind of results have you seen from the project? I am so thankful for all the positive feedback given, both internally and externally. The much-needed platform has been established, and we are sending out a clear brand message. To have our Footin video accepted to be shown on FashionTV is very exciting. FashionTV is a multimedia platform offering a review of global fashion, and the television channel reaches over 500 million households in 193 countries across five continents. This is like a diploma of the successful brand image that we wanted to create. Our video is also featured in parts of FashionTV s Best of Summer 2014 along with other famous brands, which is currently playing on FashionTV. Do you think this idea can
Meet the Bata Awards Digital Finalist from Footin be implemented at other Bata companies? Yes, absolutely. The idea was very simple really: let s produce high quality on a very small budget. As you know, this is easier said than done. I knew I wanted a fashionable, urban and international feel to represent the Footin brand and the way to achieve this in the most cost efficient way was to find talented yet affordable people in the right location and make it work. Free channels like LINE, Skype and FaceTime were lifesavers. It was challenging not ever meeting face-toface with the photographer, stylist, cameraman, models, etc. during the preparations and execution of the photography part of the project. It s all in the details, and the team in Europe was happy to put up with me going on about every little thing. Lastly, why should your Bata colleagues around the world vote for your project? On behalf of everyone working with Footin I am honored to be a finalist in the Digital category, as there are so many great projects constantly being developed around the world. Thank you. Footin is growing but we are still a small brand, and with a limited budget one has to be creative and work hard. If we were to win, the recognition would be a boost of inspiration and motivation for the whole Footin team.
The Bata Children s Program (BCP) Indonesia recently dedicated itself to creating a special day for the students of a special needs school in Purwakarta, the capital of the West Java province. BCP / SUSTAINABILITY Special Needs Children Spend a Day as Shoe Designers with BCP Indonesia The idea behind the initiative was simple, to bring some joy to these children. Painting is a very fun activity for children as well as an important outlet for expression. Combining these basic principles with the fact that Bata is a shoe company, BCP Indonesia gave the children a unique canvas for their paints: a pair of white shoes! Spirits were high at the event. It started with BCP volunteers picking up the children from the school, along with their teachers and some parents, and showing them to the factory s cafeteria. There, at 10 a.m., the children were welcomed warmly with a speech from Bata Indonesia company manager Imran Malik before Bayu Marhendra, men s sandals merchandiser, gave a quick demonstration of how to paint the shoes. The children soon began to paint eagerly, happily expressing their artistic skills. The 25 BCP volunteers on hand, most of them employees at the Purwakarta factory, helped children who needed assistance painting, as did the parents and teachers. The teachers commented that one student who was very passive at school, refusing to write or draw, suddenly he came alive at this event, painting his shoes. The school s headmaster, Cecep Saefudin, remarked, This event is very unique, also very interesting. Usually, the children draw on a piece of paper; now they have to paint on a pair of shoes. After about half an hour of painting, Marhendra served as the head of a jury that selected the five best pairs of painted shoes. Malik presented these student painters with a new set of school equipment. After some group photos, the activity drew to a close at 11:30 a.m., and the BCP volunteers accompanied the children back to their school. All the children took their painted shoes home, along with another pair of new school shoes and a goody bag. The BCP volunteers felt their efforts were rewarded. Gung Ardianto, a payroll supervisor at Bata Indonesia, said, I was so happy at that time. With all the volunteers and children, I can feel the spirit and the meaning of caring. This is such a nice program for all the children; it gives them space to channel their creativity. This is the moment when they can set their imaginations free by painting shoes." Mahfuz Syamhari, assistant factory manager, added, I feel so satisfied with this shoe painting competition. I can see the children laughing; they are so happy with this competition. They took their drawing seriously and looked like real designers to me. I love BCP."
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) Bata has held a unique place in the hearts of Indians for more than 83 years. CORPORATE Bata: A Treasured Trailblazer in India Bata was incorporated as a private company in Kolkata on December 23, 1931 under the Indian Companies Act of 1913 to manufacture and market leather, footwear and related components and products. Bata s footwear production started in May 1933 in rented premises in Konnagar, a few miles outside Kolkata. It was the first time rubber and canvas shoes were manufactured in India. After the factory was moved to its present-day location in Batanagar, in 1942 a machinery department was set up, the first India-made major shoe machine. The mass production of footwear introduced by the company brought about a standardization of sizes, quality and pricing, which was unique in India. Shoemaking was no longer a matter of stitching to the last. It became scientific, modern and sophisticated with Bata s presence in India. In April 1973 the company went public and changed its name to Bata India Limited. Spreading out from Kolkalta, Bata has now established its footprint in India in over 80 cities and 1,400 stores across the country and is still continuing to grow rapidly. Serving various income brackets of society, it serves as a one-stop shop to satisfy the needs and desires of each member of the family. As the first company to introduce modern shoes and leather to India, Bata has left a special footprint in the country. It is a matter of pride that today Bata India produces and offers a wide range of leather shoes, chappals, canvas and rubber shoes at price points unsurpassed for quality, comfort, reliability and style. In India, shoes mean Bata. Rajeev Gopalakrishnan, Group managing director of IPIBS, reflected on this history. Bata has always been a part of every individual s life in India because of its strong heritage in the country. The objective of the brand has always been to deliver the contemporary and aspirational range of products to consumers with high quality and affordable value. It gives us immense pleasure to welcome new consumers and loyal customers to our stores and offer an enriching experience with great customer service. We aim to deliver better than the best in future as well.