A strategic move to drive consumer demand
The Lenzing Group redefined TENCEL, as its textile premium brand at Première Vision Paris. The redefining of the TENCEL brand is a key milestone of Lenzing’s new brand strategy to enhance product brand offerings, foster connection with customers and consumers, and drive consumer demand.
TENCEL is well positioned to be a major growth engine in the textile sector, with a brand portfolio that caters for distinctive usage – TENCEL Active, TENCEL Denim, TENCEL Home, TENCEL Intimate and TENCEL Luxe, all enabled by two versatile and highly compatible fibers, TENCEL Modal and TENCEL Lyocell.
Designed and based on the findings and insights of an extensive market research, the brand architecture is an important step for Lenzing to transform from a business-to-business (B2B) fiber producer to a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) brand. The brand architecture not only addresses the growing trend amongst retail brands and consumers to seek out for products that make them look good and feel good, but also do good via sustainable and transparent production processes like those used for producing TENCEL Modal and TENCEL Lyocell fibers.
According to research findings, while LENZING Modal is known as a fiber with good quality and long-lasting exquisite softness, TENCEL is a well-recognized and appreciated brand name among stakeholders, customers and consumers in key target regions of Lenzing. Hence TENCEL is adopted as Lenzing’s textile specialty brand for apparel and home applications, and is aimed to help create a unique and differentiating brand in the Modal and Lyocell fiber markets.
The redefined TENCEL product brand, along with the tagline “Feels so right”, will enable Lenzing to embark on communication around messages that move beyond fiber types and characteristics towards everyday use and benefits that brands and consumers value.
“With a longer-term strategy to enhance connection with customers and consumers, 2018 will be a game changer year for Lenzing,” said Robert van de Kerkhof, Chief Commercial Officer of the Lenzing Group. “Since rolling out our sCore TEN business strategy in 2015, Lenzing has been migrating into a specialty fiber business with a strong focus on innovation, quality and sustainability. The redefined TENCEL brand underlines our core principles of trust, transparency, reliability and amicability, and by leading technology innovation in the textile sector, we will continue to enable our industry partners and consumers to feel good, look good and do good.”
Under the new brand strategy, TENCEL Modal and TENCEL Lyocell fibers will be key ingredients in the TENCEL branded product portfolio. Derived from certified and controlled wood sources, both fibers are produced via responsible production processes and are compostable and biodegradable under industrial, home, soil and marine conditions. Enabled by industry innovations, including the REFIBRA technology, Eco Soft technology, Eco filament technology and Micro technology, textiles produced under the TENCEL brand offer premium standards of sustainability and natural comfort to meet evolving consumer demand.
“We are charting a bold new course to simplify our product portfolio and elevate our brand to bring more value to consumers and industry partners,” said Harold Weghorst, Director of Global Brand Management. “As Lenzing’s flagship brand in the textile sector, TENCEL will grow beyond fiber types and functional characteristics. It will become a true consumer-focused brand with a promise of something more functional and emotional. By elevating TENCEL to a promise to the consumer rather than a product message to the value chain, we can start to excite consumers, retailers and brands about the holistic benefits of botanic fibers.
Guided by the brand promise of ‘Feels so right’, TENCEL brings a greater degree of comfort and higher performance to consumers while making them feel good about the choices they make. We hope to create a stronger connection with the industry value chain and consumers through our expertise around sustainability, especially in TENCEL Modal and TENCEL Lyocell fibers. In the long run, we plan to build TENCEL not only into a trusted B2B brand, but also a preferred consumer brand which provides B2B customers with ease to maximize marketing effectiveness and enables consumers to identify ‘feel-good’ products made with sustainable materials.”
Moving beyond fiber to distinctive everyday usage or application in consumer-focused-branded offer, TENCEL Active, TENCEL Denim, TENCEL Home, TENCEL Intimate and TENCEL Luxe have been created under the TENCEL portfolio. New swing tags and marketing materials will be launched on a retail level to provide clarity on product benefit claims containing TENCEL branded fibers. The swing tags, along with more detailed guidelines on B2B and B2C usage, are now available on Lenzing’s new e-branding service platform, which caters to B2B customers and retail partners, offering faster, more sustainable and more user-friendly solutions for certification and licensing.
“By applying the new brand strategy, we will take a more personalized and targeted approach to reflect the TENCEL brand essence of ‘softness’ and ‘feeling good with a natural touch’ with B2B customers, retail partners and consumers,” added Amit Gautam, Vice President of Global Business Management in Textile. “We will work closely with the industry value chain and retail brands to educate consumers about TENCEL featured value propositions like product quality, functional benefits and sustainability. Co-branding programs such as swing tags or packaging, and co-marketing campaigns with retail brands will enable us to reach out to consumers directly. With more brand exposure and ongoing consumer education from this year onwards, consumers will see more of us through the TENCEL brand in apparel and home textiles and/or in our partners’ retail outlets in different regions.”
The redefining of TENCEL as Lenzing’s textile flagship brand is already effective. This will be the first step of Lenzing’s new brand exercise, where the same approach will also apply to nonwoven and industrial applications, which will be announced at a later stage.