Adding Class to Time
Brand legacy at times becomes a burden for the brand if not reinvented. With this in mind, Titan Company Limited has launched its Celestial Time collection, along with a new marketing campaign. Rajan Amba, General Manager at Titan, talks about premiumization of the brand to broaden its appeal and relevance to consumers By SALONI DUTTA Titan Company Limited has mastered the art of striking an emotional chord with audiences across age groups through various campaigns for different brands across its product portfolios, like the recent Katrina Kaif campaign for Titan Raga or Springers for Fastrack, or the new Sonata campaign. Elaborating on the brand’s journey towards premiumization in the last two to three years, Rajan Amba feels that it has worked for the company in a big way, “There are two parts to it - product and positioning, and the retail environment in which we sell. The heart of it all is the product and retail environment because you can drive the consumers to your store but they need to see the premiumization come to life. So we are focussing on that since the past three years; our stores have undergone massive upgrades and refurbishments,” he adds. Featuring the moon phase movement created by Titan, the Celestial Time collection continues the brand’s journey into premiumization. According to Amba, Titan aims to be current in its communication and hence the campaign talks about the current scheme of things in the Indian marketplace. “We just wanted to take all those things and reflect that back to our audiences on how Titan the watch can play an integral part in their lives. Rajkumar Rao, the brand ambassador embodies what the brand stands for - he comes from a small town and has given some powerful performances which have put him in the limelight and won him awards,” he says. The campaign has a big above-the-line (ATL) focus with use of Television, Print and Outdoor. Digital has also increasingly played an important role in the media mix, adds Amba. With presence across both brick and mortar and e-commerce platforms, the company is trying to ensure a balance of interests between partners at both the platforms. It is a challenging task, according to Amba, who says that despite being a traditional brick and mortar retail player, Titan is continuously monitoring and investing in e-commerce through their own portal and relationships with online companies such as Flipkart, Amazon, etc., in order to be wherever the consumer is present. With brand launches planned across the year, Titan continues to invest in its products. The launch of the Celestial Time collection is the first launch in the first quarter of the year and Amba says they have about 350 variants to launch in the next three quarters. “We churn one-third of our line every year. Every month there will be additions, so these 350 variants will be spread across 12 months. We are also looking at investing more in Raga, which is our women’s brand. We also have a sports segment called Octane where we are planning to invest more because it is very popular and appeals to the 20 to 45-years age group. It is a ‘coming of age’ kind of a segment and everyone tends to have a sporty watch in their collection,” he adds. Titan has always been a brand for the upper middle segment of consumers and is now working at an accelerated pace to reach out to consumers in smaller cities and towns as the next leap of growth lies there. FACTS Creative agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Bangalore Media agency: Maxus Social and digital media marketing agency: 22 Feet PR agency: Rediffusion/Edelman India Feedback: saloni.dutta@exchange4media.com
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