Aniruddha Haldar, VP Marketing, TVS Motor Company talks to us about the brand’s latest campaign for TVS Jupiter, ‘Zyada ka Faayda’ featuring Amitabh Bachchan and the brand’s move towards exploring the online market
Q] Tell us about the latest campaign ‘Zyada ka Faayda’ for TVS Jupiter that stars Amitabh Bachchan. What was the thought behind the campaign?
TVS Jupiter is a brand that has been crafted for the Indian man. A common thread connecting the common Indian man across the diverse geographies and cultures of India is their willingness to strive for the happiness of their dear ones, in every aspect of life, almost like a life mantra, ‘Apne se bhi zyada apnon ke liye’. TVS wanted to salute and recognize this spirit of the Indian man and hence crafted the TVS Jupiter for him and brought in Amitabh Bachchan, who is also the defining icon of the Indian psyche. At its core, this beautiful creative is a salute to the life philosophy of the Indian man, defined best by ‘Apne se bhi zyada apnon ke liye’ and the icon Bachchan whom the common Indian holds above everyone else. It places the TVS Jupiter firmly as the ride of preference delivering ‘Zyada ka Fayda’.
Q] How have associations with stars including Amitabh Bachchan, Anushka Sharma and MS Dhoni helped the brand?
TVS has effectively leveraged brand ambassadors in the past to go beyond just the noticeability to a real ‘values’-based fitment. Whether it was Virat Kohli for style, MS Dhoni for his aura of masculine rugged dependability or Anushka Sharma as the embodiment of the confident new age Indian woman, the brands they have represented have not only been noticeable for their presence but symbiotic in the way the endorser and the celebrity have reinforced the values associated with each other. When it comes to Amitabh Bachchan, he is alluring not only for his larger-thanlife stature, but also his authenticity in having battled odds and won in various dimensions of his life. A patriarch who is fiercely loyal and committed to his family, his was the one voice which could laud the life mantra of the Indian male – seeking ‘Zyada Ka Fayda’ but ‘Apne se bhi zyada apnon ke liye’.
Q] What is your marketing mix for this campaign?
While we have employed TV as our lead medium for this campaign, we have followed it up by using Digital, Print and Radio.
Q] TVS Motors has recently entered the e-commerce market through a tie-up with Snapdeal. What are your expectations from this tie-up? Why did you decide to enter the e-commerce market?
Exploring the online medium has become a strong trend and we work with many partners in this aspect of our consumers’ behaviour. We wanted to ensure that as they evolved to wanting to close the transaction online, we should have ample touch-points within easy reach of our target consumers.
Q] What are you doing in the digital space to connect with your consumer? How are the different initiatives working out in terms of connect and reach?
On the digital space, we have been conscious to engage in conversations with our target group, making us one of the scooter brands with the largest footprint in the country today. In addition, we have ensured that we use the medium to showcase the stories of our users through testimonial videos. We have embarked on strengthening the local connect and are showcasing Jupiter’s prowess through Jupiter Diaries that showcases travelogues of scooter touring in India.
Q] TVS Motors is one of the sponsors of the Pro-Kabaddi League, which is increasingly gaining popularity in the country. How important is such an association for brand TVS? How does association with a property like Pro- Kabaddi help the brand and can we expect more such associations in the future?
TVS has always been associated with sports in India, right from TVS Cup to the more recent IPL. Kabaddi appealed to us as just like TVS itself, Kabaddi too is true-blue Indian with a pan-India appeal across ages and genders. The classes and masses both enjoyed the viewership experience. The Indian consumer evolved in urban centres and smaller towns and while many smaller sports niches have emerged, at TVS we believe that the game of Kabaddi captures the sweet spot between classes and masses and the quality of the game is at the highest level of the sport. It also lends itself very well to a televised viewership experience, due to its energy, speed and thrilling moves. At this stage, Star India should also be lauded for the kind of production quality that they have brought about, making the sport a winner. We have a robust mechanism of evaluating impact through our consumer insights and brand metric measurement processes apart from the media effectiveness measures. We are very happy with the level of buzz and affinity that this association has generated. We see a continued association over a long tenure.
Q] What is the brand’s current market-share in India? What is your target market-share? Which is the biggest brand in your portfolio and which brand are you betting on, going ahead?
TVS Motors scooters were ranked No. 2 by market-share till YTD – Q3. TVS Jupiter is also the second largest scooter brand in the country and our flagship brand in addition to TVS Wego, which is the best executive scooter in India and the iconic TVS Scooty range of Zest 110 and Pep+.
Q] Give us an idea of your advertising spends and which medium is your priority.
We believe in consistently investing in each of our brands and our media mixes are optimized as per
the objective of each of the campaigns. However, our leading medium is TV which is followed by Print. We also make substantial use of the Digital, Radio and OOH platforms, in that particular order.
Q] How does the brand approach Tier II and Tier III markets? Do you compartmentalize your strategy for rural and urban consumers?
The differences and gap between rural and urban consumers is constantly reducing in today’s world. So while the brands are crafted to appeal across India, we do make differential and specific choices on communication, media and geo-localized campaigns to ensure that we are able to reach out to the smaller markets and a larger audience. On the whole, about 30% of our business emanates from the smaller centres and hence they are well tended to.
Q] How is the company planning to expand its offering?
We believe that with the overall industry poised to expand, the differentiated TVS portfolio would ensure that we will be able to cater to a wide range of consumers. With our range of products, we aim to make customers feel that each of the products has been custom-designed to serve their need.
Q] What is your overall marketing strategy for the next few years?
Our aim for the next few years would be to gain a keen understanding of consumer behaviour and translate that to come up with effective products. We also aim at improving our communication strategies. That is what lies in store for TVS Motors Company in the near future.
