Brand Update : Katrina is the new face of Titan Raaga

Titan Raga has got a new face in Katrina Kaif. In continuation with its celebrity endorsement centered brand strategy, Titan signed the reigning Bollywood Diva Katrina Kaif as the brand ambassador for its sub-brand Raaga. The brand is currently running the campaign featuring the brand ambassador.

Watch the ad here : Katrina Titan Raaga

Titan Raaga which was born in 1992 was able to carve out a space for itself in the Indian watch industry. The brand is targeting the Sec A/B segment with a value proposition combining elegance and quality. 

Regarding the brand communication, there is nothing great about the new advertisement. The ad follows the standard theme and except for a small glimpse of the brand, celebrity rules the entire campaign. The ads featuring Katrina also sports a tagline  " Stay New " . 

 The brand has fallen into the celebrity trap where celebrity gains more importance than the brand. Remember that in most of the Titan ads featuring Aamir Khan , the brand was carefully placed with equal importance as the celebrity. 

Another interesting factor I noticed in the new ad was the absence of any mention of the sub-brand Raaga except for the half-a-second glimpse of the watch. Infact I mistook the campaign for the parent brand. This is another classic case where the agency underplayed the brand in favor of the celebrity. Further there is not much connect between the sub-brand and the theme of the ad. May be the brand is trying to economize by promoting the umbrella brand Titan rather than Titan Raaga. 

Even in the print ads, there is no mention about the sub-brand. This may be a part of the strategy where the Above-The- Line campaigns will be for the parent brand Titan and the Raaga will be relegated to a sub-brand visible only in the product. More clarity will come only after the rolling out of further campaigns.

Does it make a big difference ? 

Related Brand

Titan 

Brand Update : Titan does an Eco-Drive with HTSE

Aiming to consolidate the leadership position in the Indian watch industry and to further thrust the brand's attempt to enter the premium watch segment targeting young consumers ,Titan launched a new series of watches branded as HTSE.

HTSE stands for High Tech Self Energised . 

Titan has been trying out various strategies to enter the lucrative luxury  and  premium segment in the Indian watch market. Titan was always associated with the premium segment targeting the middle and upper middle class of the social strata. The Luxury segment of the market is now occupied by the global iconic brands like Cartier, Rado, Omega etc. Titan tried to enter this market with the brand Xylys recently. HTSE is an attempt from the brand to tap the lucrative segment of upwardly mobile young Indian consumer.

HTSE range of watches is characterized by its ability to energize itself using the light from the surroundings. That means the watch does not run on a battery. The brand is targeting the techie youth who would like to flaunt their gizmos ( source  : afaqs). 

The brand is currently running a campaign featuring the brand ambassador - Aamir Khan

Watch the ad here : Titan HTSE

The ads are undoubtedly well made and gives an ultra-cool image for the new range. Aamir Khan perfectly gels with the brand. Aamir and Titan can be termed as a classic example of a perfect celebrity-brand match.

The technology that drives HTSE is not something new. Citizen was a pioneer in bringing this technology to the watches through its Eco-Drive range of watches. Eco-Drive saved the Citizen brand from near-death and gave the brand a tremendous boost in the Indian market. Eco-Drive was positioned as a sophisticated ultra-cool watch and the brand caught the attention of the young Indian consumers who wanted to flaunt their savvy personality. While Titan was perceived as a great brand, it was never considered techy or ultra-modern .Titan felt that such a serious persona will alienate the young consumers who look for exciting , modern brands.  

According to Business Standard ( Link) Titan was working on technology to compete with Eco-Drive.And that effort has been fulfilled in the launch of HTSE. HTSE thus fills in a big positioning gap in the brand. The brand now can boast of being as technically advanced as any other watch brand in the world. 

One of the interesting factor that was noticed was the branding of this range. Titan chose to brand this range using an acronym HTSE. I am not really convinced about the effectiveness of this naming strategy. The brand could have chosen a proper name for the range rather than a dull acronym. It could have used HTSE as an ingredient brand and extended this ingredient brand to support all its other range of watches. So by using HTSE as a sub-brand, the company has limited the technology to a range of watches. So every watch that runs on this technology would come under HTSE range. If it had used HTSE as ingredient brand, that would have been a powerful differentiator and can be leveraged across the various sub-brands of Titan. Eco-Drive is used by Citizen as an ingredient brand and uses this technology to support all the range of watches. 

However as a sub-brand, HTSE has the potential to further Titan's leadership position among the lifestyle segment. This technology will help Titan to reposition itself as a exciting brand rather than the current image of a serious brand.

Related Brand

Titan

Brand Update : Fastrack Goes Celebrity Way

India's youth accessory brand Fastrack has gone the celebrity way. The latest series of campaign for Fastrack bags is featuring the brand ambassadors - cricketer Virat Kohli and actress Genelia. I think this is the first time that Fastrack has chosen to have celebrity endorsement as a part of the brand strategy.

In my earlier update, I have mentioned that Fastrack has extended itself into accessories like Bags, wallets and belts. The brand also went into retailing by launching exclusive Fastrack stores. The current campaign is the first for accessory and the brand has chosen to promote 'bags' in this campaign.

The brand has rightly identified a need for a branded bag targeting the youth. Currently the market is dominated by unorganized sector and a branded bag priced competitively and marketed properly is certainly a good idea.

Although I am principally against brand extensions, Fastrack extending into the bag segment will open up new opportunities of the brand although at the cost of diluting the primary product line - Fastrack Watches.

The brand is currently running a series of campaign featuring Virat Kohli and Genelia.

Watch the campaigns here : Fastrack lovemark

Fastrack Airport ad

Fastrack ATM Ad

I was shocked at seeing the ATM ad and found it very very bold especially in the Indian context.Frankly I never expected such an Ad theme from Fastrack.

I am getting old and my understanding of Indian youth and their psyche is becoming outdated but I think Fastrack is moving little too much on the theme of " Move On ". The current campaign is giving an impression that " Move On " means only flirting and fleeting physical relationships. That interpretation will hurt the brand in the long run.

I understand that such kinds of relationships happen in campuses and encounters happen in dark corridors but that cannot be projected as the psyche of youth. Youth have an irreverent attitude towards life and are keen to experiment on everything including relationships. I hope that Fastrack will be careful and desist from narrowly interpreting " Move On " theme.

"Move On " as a theme has lot of creative potential beyond flirting relationship. There are other sides of this concept which is much more sticky and can take the brand to iconic status. Hope that the creative team will consider an holistic approach in this positioning.

Another interesting development for Fastrack is that the brand launched a sub-brand called Fastrack Denim.

Watch the ad here : Fastrack Denim

It is interesting to see Fastrack which was launched as a sub-brand of Titan becoming a full fledged independent brand and then having a sub-brand on its own.

Now looking at the logic of having a sub-brand Denim. I think Fastrack is looking at Sub-brand like Denim to cater to the lower-price points. If you notice, Fastrack brand ( primary brand) has been moving higher in terms of the prices. It started off in the range of Rs 500 and above and later moved over to Rs 1000 and above. Now Fastrack Denim range is priced at Rs 500 and above. So using the sub-brand , Fastrack is protecting its lower-price Flank from attack from competitors. Other than this I do not see any need or relevance of such a sub-brand.

Related brand

Fastrack

Xylys : It Possesses You

Brand : Xylys

Company : Titan Industries Ltd

Agency : Rediffusion

Brand Analysis Count : # 460

Xylys can be termed as India's own premium watch brand. The brand created by Titan Industries is taking on the iconic premium watch brands like Omega, Rado,Patek Philippe, Rolex,Cartier etc. The brand was born in 2006 gain rapid acceptance in the Indian watch market.

Indian luxury watch market is worth Rs 500 crore and is dominated by Swiss and other European brands. There is virtually no presence of any Indian brands in that segment. The rising affluent Indian consumer class and the trend towards more expressive lifestyle accessories prompted Titan to seriously look at this segment. Xylys is currently targeting the lower spectrum of the luxury watch segment.

Xylys was initially launched as a flanker brand for Titan. Titan which is the market leader in the mid-price segment felt that the upper end of their target customers were moving towards iconic global premium brands. With that intention of blocking any such migration , Xylys was introduced at the price range of Rs 8000- Rs 33,000.

Xylys however gathered good momentum with the brand clocking a 50% CAGR growth rate. From being a flanker brand, Xylys morphed to be a powerful growth brand in the course of time.

Titan while carefully analyzing the consumer behavior of premium watch customers, it found that the consumers were highly influenced by the "Country of Origin " association. The consumers loved the Swiss Made proposition and there is a huge association between " Swiss Made " and quality, precision , premium etc. The insight was that it would be difficult for an "Indian Made " tag to impress upon the target segment. Titan thus made Xylys - a Swiss Made watch. Xylys is manufactured at a state-of-the-art factory in Switzerland which has a rich heritage of 80 years in precision watch making.

Xylys' strong point was its design . The brand is being crafted in association with Swiss designer Laurent Rufenacht along with Titan's own designer Michael Foley. The sharp unique designs quickly made Xylys a fast growing brand in the segment.

Xylys was launched as a contemporary brand targeting the upwardly mobile successful men & women. The brand has segmentedthe market based on psychographic profiles. Xylys defines its customers as contemporary dynamic successful persons who has attitude and confidence. The brand wants to celebrate success with them. The customers of Xylys are highly individualistic persons who does what they love. These people would love to express themselves and loves to show their success to the world. The brand has a very well defined brand charter and values which I feel is an excellent marketing practice. ( Read Xylys Brand Charter here).

During the launch phase, Xylys was endorsed by the Actor Rahul Bose, tennis player Carlos Moya and super model Saira Mohan. The basic theme of the launch campaign was the story of how these people tread their own path and became successful.

Watch the launch ad : Xylys Launch

Xylys -Saira Mohan

The brand at that time had the tagline " The power of X " . The brand used " X" to symbolize the differentiating factor in the highly successful people. X also denotes Xylys-the brand.

In 2010, the brand changed its positioning from " Symbol of Success " to " Feeling of Love ". The brand now is talking about falling in love with Xylys. Xylys is currently running a campaign reflecting the new positioning.

Watch the new campaign here : Xylys Possession

The brand have also adopted a new tagline " You do not possess Xylys , it possesses you ".

The new campaign is a significant deviation from the core positioning of the brand. The entire brand personality of Xylys was changed in the current campaign. I wonder why a brand which is growing should try to change its positioning at this critical juncture.

The earlier positioning of Xylys were talking about the highly individualistic expressive nature of successful people while the current positioning talks about how Xylys takes control of such a person. If you look closely the brand is totally off the mark regarding the core values that it stands for. I feel that the agency has not read the brand charter before creating the campaign. The purpose of creating a brand charter is to protect continuity in the communication. The product managers should use the charter as the basis for devising their communication strategies. The current campaign is very difficult to fit into the brand charter.

Regarding the execution of the new positioning , there is nothing worthwhile in the advertisement. The idea of a man being possessed by a product and forgets everything is an idea which has been raped a million times. Even the chocolate brand 5 star uses this idea as the central theme.

Having said that, Xylys' core strength is its design and since watch is an experiential product , consumers may fall for it when they see the designs. But the brand needs to create clutter-breaking campaigns if it wants to fight the likes of Omega , Rado etc.

Xylys has took lot of effort in creating a very good brand charter. Why not follow it ??

Titan Zoop : Be Cool

Brand : Zoop

Company : Titan Industries

Ad Agency : Ogilvy

Brand Analysis Count # 455

Titan has re-entered the kids' watches category with a new brand Zoop. Titan has been launching a series of watch brands in recent years. According to a newspaper report, the company is transforming itself into a house of brands with a number of brands catering to various segments. The company had recently launched brands like Xylus, Obaku, Zoop etc all endorsed by the corporate brand Titan.

Zoop is a brand targeting the kids aged 5-12. Through Zoop, Titan is filling a gap in their brand portfolio. Kid's watch segment although a high potential market is dominated by unorganized players.

In 1998-99, Titan tried to tap the market with a brand Dash. But the brand failed to catch the fancy of the market at that point of time. Analysts says that Dash was too early for the Indian consumers. During that time, parents were not that interested in spending on kid's accessories like Watches.

Now the company feels that the market is ripe for a brand like Zoop. Zoop is being positioned as a cool , must-have accessory for kids. The brand is running a launch campaign in most of the channels.

Watch the ad here : Zoop

Zoop is endorsed by brand Titan. The brand has the tagline - Be Cool ; which will be well liked by the target customers.

While researching on the brand, I found a couple of articles which mentioned that Zoop's positioning itself as "Be a Star ". The brand wanted to talk directly to the kid and acknowledges the star in him. But from the launch ad, it seems that the brand is focusing on " coolness " quotient rather than the " stardom". Hence the brand has focused on bringing in new funky designs in its range.

Zoop will be definitely a brand to watch out for . The brand has the equity of Titan and the pricing is exceptionally good. Zoop is priced between Rs 350-Rs 900. And it makes a perfect gift to kids too.

Zoop faces competition from the host of unorganized players in the market along with cheap Chinese imports. For Zoop, budget competition will also be something to be concerned about. Budget competition is the competition for the money . Budget competition for Zoop will be those kid's products across various categories that falls in the price band of Rs 350- Rs 1000. That include toys, clothes, video games, etc. If you look at the launch campaign of Zoop , the brand subtly addresses that competition by pointing at the ' need ' for a watch.

Although there are many positive things going for the brand, it is not easy to catch the attention of this segment. The kids get bored with products/brands easily. Functionality may not be on the priority list of this segment of customers. It may not be realistic for Titan to assume that kids will pester their parents to buy more than one watch to quench the style thirst of kids. So the task is to get more and more kids to purchase the brand and be happy about it. So constant campaign innovation will be the key to brand success.

Zoop has rightly positioned itself on the style factor and I am sure many young customers will fall for it.

Brand Update : Titan

Titan Industries has ventured into the prescription eyewear category with the brand Titan Eye+. The launch was pilot tested in 2007 and now is on the advanced stage of national roll out.The Indian prescription eyewear market is worth around Rs 1800 crore and is dominated by the unorganized sector.

Titan Industries is trying to corner a big pie in this huge untapped market. Titan Eye+ is currently running a campaign across the various channels,

Watch the TVC here : Titan Eye+

There is no question about the opportunity that Titan Industries is trying to tap. Organized eye wear market offers excellent potential for a company like Titan. There is a latent need in the consumers for a trust worthy branded outlet.

The question here is whether Titan Industries made a branding mistake in extending Titan brand into this product category. Does this brand extension augur well for the parent brand Titan or will it erode the intrinsic brand value of Titan ?.

I am always wary about brands extending themselves to unrelated categories. How ever large the potential may be, these brand extensions run the risk of diluting the brand value of their parent brand's equity.

Titan Industries had the opportunity to build a new brand in this category. It could have launched Eye+ as the standalone independent brand rather than launching Eye+ as a sub-brand of Titan.

The only one reason for launching Eye+ as a sub-brand of Titan is to gather the initial momentum in terms of acceptance . Eye+ wants to ride on the huge brand equity of Titan. And it will. As a consumer, I will naturally be tempted to opt for a Titan Eye+ showroom rather than a local store. So without spending huge amounts of money, Eye + will quickly gain acceptance in the market.

Another argument in favor of such brand extension is that over a period of time, the sub-brand will gain independence from the parent brand. Like the Fastrack brand which was launched as a sub-brand of Titan now has an independent status. So over a period of time Titan Eye+ will also be a standalone brand.

What about the parent Titan brand ?

Does this brand extension add value to the Titan watch brand ? Does it support the core positioning of Titan ?

Looking at the launch campaign, the ad is neutral in terms of the effect on the parent brand. The agency had tried to put in the " Jingle" of Original Titan brand in the Eye+ ad. The similarity ends there.

Eye+ is being positioned as a style enhancer .The brand follows the basic positioning that wearing Eye+ makes you attractive. Compared to the brand laddering of Titan ( Be More campaign) the positioning of Eye+ is nothing but very very basic. Eye+ has the tagline " Kuch To Hua Hai" meaning " Something (new) has happened to you".

This is the issue with brand extensions. What ever the ad agency do, the extensions seems to drift away from the core positioning of the parent brand. Titan with the endorsement of Aamir is perceived as a premium brand . Eye+ cannot afford to concentrate on the premium positioning as of now since it will repel many consumers and create a negative perception of " over- pricing".

Is it not a better option if Titan Industries launched Eye + as an standalone brand endorsed by Tata rather than Titan ? That would have given Eye+ lot of room for its promotional strategy. It could easily move across various price ranges. More than that , Eye + could afford to have its own positioning rather than being constrained by the parent brand. About the equity, endorsement by Tata could have been equally good in terms of bringing in consumers.

Eye + has lost a chance of creating a place for itself .The brand will have to move through a series of promotional experiments before gaining independence from Titan. With in the constraints of the parent brand, Eye + needs to prove itself successful in order to gain freedom.

Related Brand

Titan

Essilor

Fastrack

Brand Update : Fastrack

Fastrack has recently launched a new campaign based on its new positioning " Move On " .The latest campaign comes in two version - His Story and Her Story

Watch the commercial here : His Story
Watch the commercial here : Her Story

The new ads are an extension of the Move On positioning of the brand. The brand is based on the current psyche of youth .The premise of the new positioning is that Indian Youth tend to be very "detached " in their relationships.

The new campaign has taken this premise to a new level. While the previous campaign was based on a romance break up , the new campaign goes deeper than just flirting.

The ad is definitely interesting and the two versions makes it more interesting. The younger crowd is going to enjoy it .

How ever the question is whether the brand is taking the Move On concept a bit too far. It is true that such kind of dating and experiments happen and the debate is still there as to whether such a kind of indulgence is to be encouraged or not.

I am not a moral advocate or a Srirama sena member !!! . I personally believe that it is the choice of an individual to live the life he/she wants provided it is within the social framework.

It may be true that the younger generation are non-committal in their relationship. It is also true that there is a trend of irreverence and " take it or leave it " attitude prevalent among the urban youth community.

But the question is whether a brand like Fastrack should align with such a trend ?

Read the perspective of Adman Lakshmipathy Bhatt here .


There is nothing immoral or unethical in the new TVC. But I personally feel that such a trend among the new generation is not something that should be celebrated.

"Gotta get rid of him " and " Who s next " seems too extreme for me ( conservative as Iam). How ever I am sure that the youth will love it .


Related brand

Fastrack

Brand Update : Titan

Titan has launched a new series of watches. The series is called Titan-WWF series. This series isbeing launched in collaboration with the International NGO -Worldwide Fund for Nature ( WWF).

Titan and WWF had entered into a tie-up to celebrate the World Environment Day. World Environment day is celebrated on June 5 every year. This year's theme is on Low Carbon Economy.

The current launch is an extension of the tie- up between Titan and WWF.

The aim of the collection is to raise the awareness about endangered species among Indian consumers. The new series is inspired by six species of animals who are fast getting endangered. The six species are

Indian Tiger
Indian Rhino
Gangetic River Dolphin
Red Panda
Whale Shark
Oliver Ridley Turtle.

The collection is targeted at the new generation consumers who wants to express their concern about animals and nature .

According to press reports, some contribution will go to the WWF from every sale of these series of watches.
More than the monetary part, this collection is aiming at the non-monetary benefit of awareness among the public. These series of watches are priced at the range of Rs 3000- 38000 and comes in 13 different styles.
Already the brand is running a series of print ads featuring the brand ambassador Aamir Khan.

The launch of this series is a good move by the brand to add a touch of social equity to the brand. Its a way for a brand to show concern to matters that affect the consumer . Another positive about this series is that the designs looks good and may prompt many customers to buy this brand because of the style rather than the cause.

On the negative side , Titan is far ahead of its time because Indian consumers are less sensitive towards Nature ( my opinion ). Hence I am doubtful about the actual number of customers who will opt for this series for the actual cause. The sale of this series will be a good indicator of Indian consumer's sensitivity towards this cause.

Related Brand
Titan