Client: CodeBrwn
Industry: Art-Led Fashion & Lifestyle
Engagement: Growth Marketing Consulting
Background
CodeBrwn is an art-led fashion brand founded by artist Abhay Sehgal, where artwork is transformed from canvas to cloth.
The brand brings together contemporary fashion, art and stories rooted in Indian and “brown” culture. Its designs turn familiar cultural experiences, observations and humour into wearable pieces, giving customers a way to express both their style and identity.
When I started working with CodeBrwn, marketing was being managed with significant agency dependency across India, the US and UAE. The opportunity was to build a stronger in-house growth structure, focus on the most relevant market and create a digital experience that could better communicate the value of an art and design-led fashion brand.
Objective
To build a structured growth marketing engine for CodeBrwn by bringing performance marketing in-house, improving acquisition and conversion, strengthening retention and community building, and creating a premium e-commerce experience that reflects the brand’s art and design-led positioning.
Strategy
1. Building an In-House Performance Marketing Function
One of the key requirements was to reduce dependency on the external agency and build the capability to manage performance marketing internally.
I helped CodeBrwn hire the right resource and established the structure for managing Meta and Google Ads in-house.
This included campaign architecture, keyword strategy, performance metrics and frameworks for evaluating campaigns based on business outcomes. The focus was not simply on running campaigns, but on creating the systems and understanding required to make better marketing decisions internally.
2. Focusing on the Indian Market
CodeBrwn was initially advertising across India, the US and UAE. We identified an opportunity to focus the growth strategy more sharply on India.
This allowed us to align the website, messaging and customer journey with the Indian consumer and the cultural context that is central to the brand.
The shift contributed to a significant improvement in conversion rate, from approximately 0.2% to 0.7%, with strong days reaching approximately 1.6%.
3. Turning Culture Into Performance Creative
For an art-led fashion brand, the creative itself is a major part of the growth strategy.
We explored UGC-style content, founder POVs and different persuasion techniques to communicate the stories and cultural observations behind the products.
Rather than simply showcasing a shirt or garment, the advertising focused on the idea, emotion or cultural insight behind it. This helped us test different hooks and narratives while staying true to CodeBrwn’s distinctive point of view.
The approach combined creative storytelling with performance analysis to understand which messages and formats were most effective at driving action.
4. Building a Community-Led Retention Strategy
Email marketing was structured with a broader objective than promotional communication.
CodeBrwn has the potential to build a community around people who connect with its interpretation of brown culture, humour, art and everyday experiences. The retention strategy therefore focused on storytelling, brand awareness, engagement and repeat purchases rather than relying purely on discounts and promotions.
WhatsApp was also introduced as an important retention and communication channel for the Indian market.
5. Rebuilding the Website as a Premium E-commerce Experience
The website became a significant part of the growth strategy.
With CodeBrwn positioned at a premium price point, the digital experience needed to communicate the value behind the artwork, design and storytelling.
I helped identify the need for a complete website redevelopment and connected the brand with a suitable developer who fit both the budget and strategic requirements.
The new website is being redeveloped as a premium e-commerce experience, with greater emphasis on product presentation, brand storytelling, positioning and conversion.
6. Building the Next Layer of Organic Growth
Alongside Meta, Google, email and WhatsApp, we have also started building the foundation for SEO.
The focus is on creating a sustainable organic acquisition channel that can complement paid marketing over time. Since SEO is a longer-term investment, the results will develop over the coming months.
I have also provided limited social media strategy support to ensure that brand communication remains aligned with the broader growth direction.
Results
- 2X improvement in Meta Ads ROAS
- Revenue consistently increasing by approximately 20% month-on-month
- Website conversion rate improved from approximately 0.2% to 0.7%
- Strong days reaching approximately 1.6% conversion rate
- Performance marketing moved from agency dependency to an in-house structure
- Dedicated in-house performance marketing resource hired
- Meta and Google campaign structures established
- UGC and founder POV creative frameworks introduced
- Email and WhatsApp marketing structured around retention and community building
- Full website redevelopment initiated to strengthen premium e-commerce positioning
- SEO foundation initiated as a long-term acquisition channel
Conclusion
CodeBrwn already had something many fashion brands struggle to build: a distinctive point of view.
The opportunity was to build the growth infrastructure around that point of view without losing what made the brand interesting.
The engagement has brought together performance marketing, creative strategy, conversion optimisation, retention, technology and brand building into a more cohesive growth framework.
By bringing performance marketing in-house, sharpening the focus on the Indian market and rebuilding the digital experience around its premium, art-led positioning, CodeBrwn is building a stronger foundation for its next phase of growth.
The opportunity goes beyond selling fashion. It is about turning art, culture and identity into a brand and community that people want to be part of.