Dissertation Report

ON

“PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES OF FASTRACK”

(Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of Bachelor of Business Administration Program under Utkal University)

By

Name of the Candidate- RISHA MISHRA

University Roll No:–56317UT09042

Name of the Faculty guide:

Mr. Ajay Senapati

Designation: Professor in Information

Technology

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I have taken efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible without the kind support and help of many individuals and the organization. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them.

I am highly indebted to Mr Ajay Senapati for his guidance and constant supervision as well as for providing necessary information regarding the project & also for their support in completing the project.

I would like to express my gratitude towards my parents & members of “ASBM Institute of BBA” for their kind co-operation and encouragement which helped me in completion of this project.

I would like to express my special gratitude and thanks to industry persons for giving me such attention and time.

My sincere thanks and appreciations also go to all the people who have helped me immensely in developing the project.

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the project work entitled “Promotional Strategies of Fastrack” submitted to the “ASBM Institute of BBA” is a record of an original work done by me under the guidance of Mr. Ajay Kumar Senapati, faculty member of “ASBM Institute of BBA, Bhubaneswar” and this project work has not performed the basis for the award of any Degree or diploma/ associate ship/fellowship and similar project if any.

Risha MishraRoll no-09BBA052ASBM Institute of BBABhubaneswar

CERTIFICATE FROM THE FACULTY GUIDE

This is to certify that the project work entitled “Promotional Strategies of

Fastrack” has been carried out under my guidance by Risha Mishra for the

partial fulfillment of her Bachelor of Business Administration for the year 2009-

2012.

To the best of my belief and knowledge this is an original piece of work

based on her own research and methodology.

Date- Prof. Ajay Kumar Senapati

ASBM INSTITUTE OF BBA,

BHUBANESWAR

TITAN INDUSTRIES

Titan Industries is a manufacturing company that produces India's largest and best-known range of personal accessories – watches, jewellery, sunglasses and prescription eye wear. Titan Industries was established in 1984 as a joint venture between the Tata group and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation.

The company brought about a paradigm shift in the Indian watch market, offering quartz technology with international styling, manufactured in a state-of-the-art factory at Hosur, Tamil Nadu. In 1995, the company diversified into jewellery under the brand Tanishq to capitalise on a fragmented market operating with no brands in urban cities. In 2005, the company launched its second jewellery brand, Gold Plus, to capitalise on opportunities in small towns and rural India. The company has now entered into eye wear, launching Fastrack eye-gear sunglasses and prescription eye wear.

Main areas of business

Watches:

The four main watch brands include Titan for the mid-premium segment, Fastrack focused on the youth and trendy fashion space, Sonata for the mass market and Xylys for the premium market. The Titan brand architecture comprises several sub-brands: Titan Edge, Titan Raga, Nebula and several other collections like Wall Street, Heritage, Regalia, and the Aviator series.

The company manufactures over 10 million watches per annum and has a customer base of over 100 million. Today, the Titan portfolio has over 60 per cent of the domestic market share in the organised watch market. Watches are sold through exclusive 'World of Titan' showrooms and at 12,000 outlets in more than 2,500 cities in India and internationally in over 30 countries, primarily in the Middle-East and Asia Pacific. Its after-sales-service is itself a benchmarked operation with service centres and amongst the world’s fastest

turnaround times. The company has a world-class design studio for designing watches and accessories.

Jewellery:

Tanishq is India’s largest, fastest growing jewellery brand with a premium range of gold jewellery studded with diamonds or coloured gems, and a wide range in 22kt pure gold and platinum jewellery. Gold Plus is the recent retail plain gold jewellery offering for the mass market. The jewellery division has its own design studio.

Eye wear:

Titan Eye+ retails sunglasses under the Fastrack brand and prescription eye wear consisting of frames, lenses, sunglasses, accessories and contact lenses of its in-house brands and other premium brands.

Precision engineering:

The company’s Precision Engineering Division supplies precision components to the aviation and automotive industries. It also manufactures dashboard clocks as OEM to car manufacturers in Europe and America, and provides fully integrated automation solutions. This division is certified under AS 9100B for the aerospace segment, TS 16949 for the automotive segment and the coveted Ford Q1 status – the highest possible supplier recognition from Ford.

Introduction

In 2004, Titan, the world's sixth largest manufacturer brand of watches after Casio, Citizen, Seiko, Swatch and Timex enjoyed a 58% market-share in the Indian watch market. The company's watches were sold across India in over 1800 towns through some 7000 outlets. Of these, 150 were exclusive World of Titan stores and another 136 were multi-brand Time Zone outlets.

The company's watches were also sold in about 40 countries across the world through its marketing subsidiaries.

Titan International Marketing Ltd. (TIML) based in London looked after the European operations; Titan International (Middle East) took care of Titan's business in the Middle East and Africa and Titan Watches and Jewelry (Asia Pacific) Ltd. based in Singapore, managed the South Asian and South East Asian markets.

In a survey conducted by The Economic Times in 2000, Titan was voted the 'Most Admired Brand' by consumers all over India across all product categories.

History

The history of watches in India dated back to 1957. During a visit to Japan, Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru (Nehru), received a watch as a gift. This sparked off his dream of seeing watches being manufactured in India.

The dream became a reality in 1961, when the government owned Hindustan Machine Tools Ltd. (HMT), entered into a tie up with Citizen of Japan, to set up the first watch factory. Citizen also trained select Indian people from HMT at its watch manufacturing facility in Japan.

The first watch model manufactured by HMT- the Janata model- was gifted to the senior most employee of the company by Nehru. In the next ten years,

HMT's production increased to 15,000 - 20,000 mechanical watches every month. The early 1980s saw a technological revolution, with the invention of the integrated chip in the US. Digitals were in demand and LED (Light Emitting Diode) watches gained in popularity. Japanese companies took over the manufacture of LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) for digital watches. There was a discernible shift in focus from mechanical to quartz watches in the international market. The Swiss watch industry declined because of its attachment to the mechanical watches. HMT made the same mistake in India.

Titan's EntryTitan came into existence in July 1984, as a joint venture between the Tata Group and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO). When Titan entered the market, the industry consisted of the organized segment dominated by HMT, the unorganized segment consisting of small, local players and the grey market. HMT, which was entirely focused on functional needs, manufactured only mechanical watches. The small time players lacked the nation wide sales and support network which HMT had made at large by that time.

Marketing Strategies of Titan Industry

Segmentation

Titan had traditionally focused on the premium segment. In the late 1990s, Titan segmented the market into different groups based on lifestyle, socio-economic groups and personalities.

Fastrack

Launched in 1998 as `Cool Watches' from Titan, Fastrack targeted customers in the age group of 22-30. Titan decided to promote Fastrack as an independent brand...

Sonata

Titan's stakes were high at the lowest end of the watch market where around 15 million watches were sold. Of this, only about seven million were branded. The Titan Sonata was a watch for the middle class people and it therefore reached successfully to the markets having a firm grip over them for a long time.

New Collections and Designs Sonata’s sub-brands

Sonata has launched the following:

Yuva 2008

collection, a series of colourful watches.They are available in both casual and formal styles to complement the young, newlook for college or office wear. The collection has watches for both men and womenat price s starting at Rs 645. They are available in both gold and steel looks, withboth metal and leather straps. Sonata, the watch brand from the Tatas, launched the super fibre targeted at the sub-Rs 500 market in urban, semi-urban and rural India. The watches have been designed primarily for youth in the 16-30 age group, and will be available in a price range of Rs 275 to Rs 550. The tag line for this sub-brand is:

‘Super Strong , Super Style.’

The company announced 360-degree marketing campaign for the new offerings. It also unveiled its TV commercial featuring Indian ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, “in a brand new avatar”.

Titan Raga – Hazel Collection

Titan Raga has launched the Hazel collection, inspired by the hues of nature. Priced between Rs 2,195 and Rs 4,000, this range comprises five styles with versions in gold, steel and bi-metal finish. They are available as bracelets with textured or patterned look and mother-of-pearl dials.

Octane

Titan has launched the Octane collection of chronograph, multifunction and retrograde watches for the urban man. The range is described as blending style and technology. The collection has over 35 styles and is priced between Rs. 5,000 and Rs 7,500.

Nebula Celeste

It is a limited edition collection of jewellery timepieces. They are crafted in 18kwhite and yellow gold. Prices range from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 12 lakhs.

Raga Crystals

Titan Industries Ltd has unveiled its new Raga Crystals collection of watches in Kerala. The two new watches, called Venus and Fairy Dust, are available in

yellow metal and bi-metal versions. Venus is priced at Rs 4,450 and Fairy Dust at Rs 4,750.

Titan’s Stambha

A new ladies Heritage wrist watch ‘Stambha’ signifying fame, prosperity and good luck was unveiled as part of Heritage collection. MrVijesh Rajan, Regional Sales Manager (South), launching the watch collection, said that plans are on the anvil to launch one new collection every month, reflecting the 3000-year old art and cultural history of the country. A sale of around 7,500 watches has been fixed as a target for this financial year in the Heritage collection, he added. The prices in the collection range between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000.

Nebula Zeus

It is a mechanical automatic watch in solid gold for men. Priced atRs.1,10,000, the limited edition watch (500 pieces) harks back to an older era of luxury and romance.The Nebula Zeus watch has been crafted using Swiss made mechanicalautomatic movement with gold finish and a sapphire crystal back cover. Other features include an instant start, a second hand stop device for accurate time setting;42 hours reserve powers and auto wind convenience. The watch collection waslaunched by singer and actor, Vasundhara Das.

Raga Shimmer

It comprises of a collection of exquisitely designed studded watches thatcomplement both Indian-wear as well as Western-wear. Priced between Rs 2,995and Rs 4,495, the new collection comprises watches in gold, steel and bi-metal finishes.

Raga Diva

An exquisite range of watches for women in the Kerala market. Inspired by traditional Kundan work, this collection has been rendered in a delightfully contemporary form. It is priced between Rs 4,000 and Rs 10,000.

Titan Nebula – Duet Collection

Titan Nebula, the premium 18K gold watch brand from Titan, today launched the Duet collection – three pairs of specially crafted gold watches for the wedding season. The most premium collection for this wedding season was unveiled by popular actor Gul Panag. Available in mother of pearl dials in both champagne and white options it is priced between Rs.30,500/- and Rs.1,35,000.

Dash

In July 1999, Titan launched a new children's watch brand called 'Dash'. This watch was trendy and attractive so as to cater to the market of the young children(basically school going kids at large).

Edge

Introduced in 2002, Titan Edge was positioned as the world's slimmest watch, with a slimness measure of 3.5 millimetre (mm), a movement of 1.15 mm, beating the Swatch Skin range by 0.45 mm.

Launch of “Fastrack”

The “fastrack” watches looked at a mix of plastic and steel. It was a perfect cut-copy from the strategy adopted by Swatch. By doing so, Fastrack was able to reduce the starting price to Rs 500 and was available in a price range of Rs. 500 – Rs. 2000.For its positioning, Fastrack captured the essence and philosophy of today’s fun loving, free spirited youth through the new positioning encapsulated in a tongue in cheek colloquial phrase - “How many you have?.” Thus they launched a campaign with the slogan “How many you have.”Fastrack then promoted itself through a 360-degree media blitz through television, outdoor, events and promotions to change the perception of watches as a functional tool to a fashion accessory. Fastrack was now positioned as the ultimate fashion accessory for the youth– variety, multiplicity and constant excitement being the order of the day. They also revealed a new logo signifying the spirit of bonding among today’s youth. Titan also earmarked Rs 8 crore (Rs 80 million) for Fastrack's advertising. The campaigns were aimed at students in the 15 to 25 year age group, belonging to SEC A and B, in the top 30 towns. The communication promoted the idea that owning several watches is acceptable, if not a required behavior. The campaign, the positioning and the price was a great hit. The brand sales zoomed to Rs 35 crore. The sunglasses also contributed significantly to this sales boost.

Current Status

At present, Fastrack, keeping in mind that it wants to be the ultimate fashion accessory for the youth has adopted the following core brand values:

Fashionable and trendy Affordable Pricing

Fresh Communication to attract the young consumers Fastrack has been maintaining this image by continuously maintaining freshness in its communication. Most of the Fastrack ads have been refreshing. The adaptation of the 360 degree approach in its communication and the use of

social media have helped it become the ultimate fashion accessory of the youth.

In order to satisfy the want created in the market, Fastrack has its presence through 6000 outlets across 800 towns including 228 strong World of Titan network, 122 Large Format Chain stores, i.e., Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Central, Westside, Pantaloons and Multi-brand watch outlets. One can notice this brand in the wrist of most of the students. The brand had successfully established itself as a fashion accessory rather than as a watch without compromising on quality.

“Fastrack” as a brand now

Fastrack ,the most successful youth brand of India has started getting provocative. In a strategy emulating the likes of United Colors of Benetton , FCUK etc, the brand has embraced a double-edged sword in order to keep connected to the fickle Indian young consumers.

Fastrack is one of those few brands which could break into the young consumer's minds. Over these years, the brand was able to position itself as a young, vibrant, brand and through very smart campaigns has created as space for itself.

The brand evolved from a sub-brand to a powerful independent brand through some smart product strategies ( design + affordability + promotion) and clever advertising.

Now it seems, the brand is entering the next phase of its evolution. From a watch brand, Fastrack has grown to become an umbrella brand endorsing products from watches to tees.

The current campaign which is more of a digital campaign is provocative at its best. The brand is now starting to walk through the thin-line separating decency and the other-side. Many brands especially those who target the youngsters are tempted to be provocative with a dash of erotica/nudity. Lot of researches has been done on the effectiveness of such provocative ads. Research says that provocative ads drives its power from three factors (a) Shock Value (b) Ambiguity (c) Transgression to some cultural taboo (Pope Voges & Brown, Journal of Marketing) . The ads which aims to be provocative needs to shock people so that attention is taken. The ads should be ambiguous confusing the audience as to the real meaning of the ad, so that they discuss it longer and finally the ads should break some rules or taboo. In all these counts, the Fastrack campaign scores brownie points.

The real question is the advantage of getting provocative. Earlier researches categorically stated that provocative ads although has an effect on the audience's attention towards the campaign creates a negative impact on the brand image. But recent researches tend to be gentle in criticizing such ads since there is a marked shift in the audience culture. But researchers were not able to clearly measure the impact of such ads on the overall brand image.

So here Fastrack is taking a risk. The short-term benefit is the attention that these ads will shower on the brand but the risk is whether the brand gets trapped in these type of ads and finally ruining its image.

Its for sure that the youngsters will find no issues with the current campaign and that is what the brand also wants.

The Titan brand has three attributes - leadership, innovation and pride in the consumer's mind. Research tells us that even to an up-market SEC A customer, Titan means style and elegance. Where we fell short was in these "softer" attributes. Primarily because innovation was less frequent and less visible from Titan in the last few years. However, we are back on the track with innovation, which is the essence of Titan, apart from leadership and pride.

Fastrack’s strategies

Promotional strategies are as follows:

Segments are being targeted

The target market for FAST TRACK MARKET are youth between the age of 18-35 ages including working adults and the post graduates students of both metros and mini metros. The fast track user wears branded jeans ,shirts ,sunglasses and branded informal shoes. They target the personality that of a young energetic , achievement oriented person .they are very fashion oriented and always try the new things.

Fast track is for people of today. This range is broadly aimed at young Indians looking for watches which are stylish and fashionable .With the attention of making it more youthful and relevant to the changing time.

A collection of watches will contemporary styles that are young and distinctive. Designs that go from the relaxed and informal to the definitely sporty. The woman's collection presents the all new international `Frosted' look, which is trendy and chic. The Fastrack collection has elements like cool mesh straps and features that include EL back-light and dual time. Also presenting a range of fashion digitals in contemporary wrist hugging cases with oversized displays and features that include countdown timers, chronographs, lap timers, hourly chime, alarm and Hi-light glow.

Strategies used to influence the target segment.

DIFFERENTIATION

Fast track watches are developed in such a way so as to enhance quality and features to increase buyer value. This is a perfect example of differentiation through technological leadership and product technological change. Fast track creates competitive advantage through differentiation. The first concentration is on technological leadership.

STYLES

Fast Track was first in India to introduce the `style' concept for the young generation. They projected the watch as a fashion accessory. Style is a very evident factor in Fast track watches and is a part and parcel of the company. Fast Track watches are shapers and not adapters. Over the years Fast Track had built a formidable distribution and support network. Titan's customer orientation was reflected through their advertising campaigns. By providing a lifestyle product(Fast Track), Titan not only got a premium but also convinced consumers to buy multiple watches.

Today Fast Track offers the best and the biggest range to choose from offering from the scratch to the highest level in watches. With offering such a variety of models. Fast Track provides variety to the customer and still is able to segment itself creating not a niche but its ability to segment takes it a step further in terms of its product offerings.

1. Different promotional tools used and the strategy behind using these tools.

For the promotions of the fast track , titan is indulging in various promotional activities like creative advertisement . In the very initial stages fast track introduced a contest on cartoonnetworkindia.com which invites children to use their creativity imagination to design a watch. The winning design was launches as e new watch in the summer 2002 collection and the winner received the first watch of this collection.

Promotions tools:

o Sponsorship:

They are involved in sponsoring major events, cultures and other fests in colleges, schools and national wise happenings. This way of the promotion

gives it the extra mileage to increase its data base by directly tapping the customers to convince them about the brand.

o Seasonality:

Fast track brand is promoted in the months of june -august when schools and colleges re-open and since these watches cater to the segments of youth ,these watches get the extra mileage on the sales if promoted during these seasons.

o Occasions:

Titan is one of the companies which formally believes in the policy of promotion the product based on the occasions of the calander.Not only the promotions of the existing products is done on these occasions but new products which would sell like hot cakes are launches for the sole reason it creates an impact in the minds of customers and appeals to the occasion thus making it evev more special..

o They also focus on the gifts with the purchase of the watches. TITAN launched the THE BIG HEART OFFER FROM TITAN FASTRACK where fashionable jewellery was a gift on purchase of any Fast track watch. This jewellery set of a pendant and earrings is contemporary and unique in form and material, with steel and acrylic being used together for stunning effect. This was launched for Valentines day .

o Banners -hoardings:

It is difficult to see Titan's fast track hoardings displaying its prominence in the streets of an urban city. The prime locations, next to dealers outlets hoardings with attractive, clear ,simple but cachy slogans are put up and a particular product or sometimes the name in general.

2. Promotion through contests:

They are tied up with various magazines , televisions ,outlets where titan gifts could be own for winning the contest .one of them is the week magazine

where one could win TITAN watches and also many magazines offer many watches depending upon their needs.

3. Which strategy out of Pull or Push is used and why?

Fast track always apply the Pull strategy for the promotion or the success of their product in the market. They have created the useful image of their product in the minds of the customers .actually they target market are youth and the fast trask wacthes are made according to their living styles ,so its this strategy has very good image in their minds .

A "pull" selling strategy is one that requires high spending on advertising and consumer promotion to build up consumer demand for a product. The same in the case of the fast track watches ,look at their promotions strategy, they are too keen towards the promotions of their watches and spend the huge money in their promotions tools like promotions through contests, sponsorship in various functions, promotions in various seasons, banners -hoardings.

Fast track this pull strategy is highly successful ,the customers go to retailers or showrooms and ask them for the particular fast track watches because they have already created the image by various promotions and watches features and this motivates them to apply only the pull strategy. so this creates the demand the fast track demand.

Reasons for pull strategy:

o Sponsorship: They are involved in sponsoring majour events ,cultures and other fests in colleges,schools and national wise happenings

o They also focus on the gifts with the purchase of the watches.

o Seasonality: Fast track brand is promoted in the months of june -august when schools and colleges re-open.

o Occasions: Titan is one of the companies which formally believes in the policy of promation the product based on the occasions of the calander.

So from the above mentions activities we can analyse that they spend high on advertisement and consumer promotions to build consumer demand for the fast track watches.

4. Critically Appraise the Promotional strategy of your selected brand.

The fast track watches are positioned as cool watches from titan and as the youth face of the titan brand .The promotions activities of the brand also reflected the heavy fashion of the watches.

As their target market is youth between the age of 18-35 and the customers between this age are very fond of stylist watches and also fashionable one. so the fast track is the best choice for them. Not only with the features of the fast track but the promotions strategies or activities also play the vital role for their success.

Fast track this pull strategy is highly successful , the customers go to retailers or showrooms and ask them for the particular fast track watches because they have already created the image by various promotions and watches features and this motivates them to apply only the pull strategy. so this creates the demand the fast track demand.

o In their promotions they tried to touch every aspects of their target market and that's why they spend huge money on their promotions activities like Sponsorship. They are involved in sponsoring major events ,cultures and other fests in colleges, schools and national wise happenings. Because to attract their young school college customers.

o They also focus on the gifts with the purchase of the watches. This promotional activities is something different and youth are very fond of gifts etc.

o Seasonality: Fast track brand is promoted in the months of june -august when schools and colleges re-open. It is one of their best promotional activities to attact at the time of opening of the schools and colleges. At that they are willing to shopping type of activities

o Occasions: Titan is one of the companies which formally believes in the policy of promotion the product based on the occasions of the calendar. On various calendar dates ,they use various activities to promote their activities.

So on the whole we can analyse that they are very keen for the promotional activities of their product. And the promotional activities are the best whether for special occasions or for seasonality.

Other promotional strategies

Titan is also trying to reach new customer segments. They are now trying to target all adults in socio economic classes A&B.

Titan is also looking at innovative retail strategies and planned to launch techno innovative product.