Titan Watches

Vision : To be Innovative,
World class, Contemporary and
build Indias most desirable
brands. Being more than
just a watch brand.
In line with this vision, the
company focused on brand
building
History of Titan
Watches
Titan, a brand from TATA
was launched in 1987.
During the time Indian
watch market was
dominated by !T where
watches were seldom
stylish and was catering
to the basic need of
knowing the time, Titan
took the market by storm
with its stylish watches
and smart ad"ertising.
Titan in fact changed the
way watches was
manufactured and
marketed in India.
Before the entry of Titan in the
Indian market wrist watches
were considered to be a
functional product. The major
weakness of the watch industry
in the eighties was that no brand
had a strong personality. Titan
changed the popular perception
about watches from a functional
utility to a personal luxury
product in the mind of the
consumers. Titan watches
positioned itself as a world class
brand with elegant design.
Today, Titan Industries is
the world#s $fth largest
and India%s leading
manufacturer of watches.
The com&any has
manufactured more than
a 1'' million watches till
date and has a customer
base of o"er 8' million.
The umbrella brand Titan
is one of India%s leading
watch brands that
brought about a &aradigm
shift in the Indian watch
market, o(ering )uart*
technology with
international styling.
The brand Titan is
committed to o(ering its
consumers watches that
re&resent the com&ass of
their imagination. Titan%s
customers are therefore
consistently introduced to
e+citing new collections,
which connect, with
"arious facets of their
dee&,rooted yearnings for
self,e+&ression. The new
brand &hiloso&hy of Titan,
enca&sulated in the words
-.e !ore-, touches this as
well as all other as&ects
of the brand.
The Titan brand
architecture com&rises
se"eral collection and sub
brands, each of which is a
leader in its segment.
/otable among them are0
Titan 1dge The world%s
slimmest watch which
stands for the &hiloso&hy
of -less is more-2 Titan
3aga the feminine and
sensuous accessory for
today%s woman. 4e"eral
other &o&ular collections
like eritage, A"iator,
3egalia, 5ctane 6 778
also form a &art of the
Titan wardrobe.
Today, the Titan &ortfolio
has o"er 9': of the
domestic market share in
the organised watch
market. The com&any has
;<7 e+clusi"e showrooms
christened 7orld of Titan%,
making it amongst the
largest chains in its
category backed by 7''
after sales ser"ice
centres. The com&any has
a world,class design
studio that constantly
in"ents new trends in
wrist watches.
Brand Identity,
Personality and
Symbolism
Titan watches &ersonality
was enca&sulated in its
&erfectionism, elegance
and style. Titan watches
stands for reliability,
durability and to a great
e+tent style.
The brand is not focused
on a single segment but
caters to a multitude of
segments and each of the
&roducts in these
segments has its own
&ersonality. It has brands
that &retty much straddle
the entire s&ectrum of
costs. 4onata through its
sim&le elegance and
reliability is a &erfect $t
for the economy segment,
8astrack with its trendy
style and catching u& with
the current fad for youth.
The brand has taken great
e(orts to withhold this
image e"en in its choice
of brand ambassadors0
Aamir =han and 3ani
!ukher>ee who
&ersoni$es the brands,
Aamir =han for the male
segment and 3ani
!ukher>ee for 3aga
?@ollection for womenA
Titan,branded Bylys along
with /ebula caters to the
to& end of the market
segment where the focus
is on CAchie"ement, 4elf
.elief and Dife on one#s
own termsE. The Bylys
brand is targeted to
&eo&le who are or as&ire
to be su&remely con$dent
and conscious of the
image that they &ro>ect.
Bylys is infused with style
attitude and &ower and
these traits are
&ersoni$ed by the Bylys
brand &ersonalities0 Actor
3ahul .ose, international
su&ermodel 4aira !ohan
and tennis su&erstar
@arlos !oya.
Titan introduced 3age
collection which embodies
the )ualities of women.
The brand &romotes
Indianness, sensuality,
beauty and feminity and
the brand ambassador,
3ani !ukher>ee who
embodies all these
)ualities was hence
chosen as its brand
ambassador.
And, right at the lowest
end a recent launch has
been that of 4onata 4u&er
8ibre F &lastic watches
sold in the &rice band of
3s ;7G to 3s GG'.
Strategic decisions
taken to build the
Brand
Titan stands out from
among other brands
through the sheer scale of
its o(ering and the
conse)uent choice it
o(ers to multi&le
segments across taste,
age and economic
background. Titan saw
this a&&roach as the
foundation of its
leadershi& strategy in the
early days. 1"en the early
range had distinct
o(erings for di(erent
re)uirements0 formal
watches ?gold &lated
cases with $ne leather
stra&sA for the e+ecuti"e,
dress watch ?gold &lated
cases with ornamental
gold &lated braceletsA for
those with a &reference
for >ewellery, rugged
watches ?all steel watches
with a skew to
functionalityA for those
whose usage demanded
certain durability.
Titan has built on this
&rinci&le o"er the last 1G
years, almost year after
year0 In 1989, it was
A)ura, the trendy range
for the youth, colourful,
smart and a(ordable
&lastic watches for the
youth. In 199;, it was
3aga, the ethnic range,
with striking symbolism
from ethnic India, for the
so&histicated India
woman who a&&reciated
such things. In 1997, it
was 4onata, the
a(ordable, good )uality
range for the budget,
conscious. In 1998, it was
8astrack, the cool, trendy,
funky range for the young
and young,at,heart.
Fastrack
The under&inning of this
entire market
de"elo&ment and
segmentation is
Inno"ation. Titan has ke&t
inno"ation core to its
strategy, realising fully
that the only way to
sustain the fashion
accessory &erce&tion is
by continuously coming
out with collections that
make the current ones
somewhat dated, thereby
creating a certain
discomfort in the
consumers% mind, which
leads to another
&urchase. This im&act has
shown u& in e"ery one of
the collections s&oken of
earlier. They were fresh
and distincti"e, unlike
what consumers had seen
before, and thus created
curiosity, walk,ins and
sales.
Titan Raga
Consumer insights
!erce!tions used to
create its "alues
8actors such as increase
in the number of working
women and young
&o&ulation, higher income
le"el and s&ending &ower
ha"e combined to make a
set of new as&irations.
4&eci$c beha"ioural
trends which can be seen
in case of wrist watch
&urchase are as follows
Hast 7atch buying
Hractice0 Ty&ically urban
buyers used to go to any
sho& dealing with wrist
watch, s&ecify a &rice
range to the sho& kee&er,
and &ick u& the brand
andIor design among the
&ieces shown.
@urrent 7atch .uying
Hractice0 Heo&le wear
di(erent watches for
di(erent occasions. 7ith
the increased dis&osable
income and changing
as&irations, es&ecially
growing fashion
consciousness, watch
buying &atterns are
changing "ery fast.
Titan was e+tremely
res&onsi"e to the
consumer#s changing
needs and has been
incor&orating these needs
in its new designs. Titan
introduced its 8ast track
range of watches to
satisfy the trendy
re)uirements of the
contem&orary youth. It
introduced Titan raga to
woo the women.
Titan en>oys tremendous
brand e)uity in the
market. The watch market
has changed
tremendously from the
time when buying a watch
was a life,long buy.
Today#s consumers look at
watches as a symbol of
self e+&ression. They
want to be a whole lot of
things and the cam&aigns
looks at ca&turing that
sense of self disco"ery. To
enca&sulate this Titan
rein"ented its brand
&hiloso&hy. The
rein"ention of the brand is
enca&sulated in the words
-.e !ore-, and is
&resented through an
e+citing new $lm starring
brand ambassador Aamir
=han.
The new brand &hiloso&hy
of -.e !ore- was brought
about to a&&eal strongly
to e"ery contem&orary
Indian. The rein"ention of
the brand is the result of
an e+tensi"e study based
on cultural and social
trends undertaken by
Titan in consultation with
8uture .rands.
Titan also formed an all,
new ad"ertisement
cam&aign showcasing this
new &hiloso&hy featuring
Aamir =han. The new
&hiloso&hy of brand
Titan,-.e !ore-,will touch
all as&ects of the brand.
@onsumers can therefore
e+&ect e+citing new
collections of watches
which connect with
"arious facets of self
e+&ression.
Titan has always
res&onded to the need for
change and hence
kee&ing in touch with the
changing consumer. Titan,
a ;<,year old brand has
consistently &ushed the
case of a watch being
more than a watch.
Hre"ious cam&aigns too
ha"e attem&ted to trigger
a change , of watch as a
fashion accessory. J7hat#s
your styleK# tag line of
;''< dro"e home the
&oint about Titan ha"ing a
watch to match your
mood. The new
cam&aigns attem&ted to
con"ey an emotional
bene$t of s&ontaneity and
reLect the user#s
&ersonality.
Factors that sha!ed
the brand during its
life cycle
Although Titan started
o&erating in the mid
eighties, it did not
achie"e an instant
success. In fact, Titan
im&ro"ed its !arket 4hare
only from the beginning
of the nineties. Titan
understood the changing
understood of the Indian
market and accordingly
made its choice of design,
chose to make high
)uality ad"ertisements to
con"ey its su&erior
)uality. Thus Titan
became the highest
selling watch in India.
4trengths0
Titan retained its
ranking as the J/o.1
brand# in the .rand
1)uity sur"ey,
4u&erbrand sur"ey,
.rand 1)uity award
Integrated
!anufacturing and
world class design skills
Howerful distribution
and @ustomer ser"ice
network
Darge and high )uality
retail network0 C7orld
of TitanE
4uccessfully identi$ed
changing customer
tastes about watches
and &ositioned it as a
lifestyle and fashion
&roduct
.randed chain outlets0
9''' across the
country
7eakness0
Dess focus on lower end
le"el in rural areas
which is contributing
about <': share
/umerous sub,brands
catering to di(erent
segments, the
challenge that Titan
faces is to create a
strong brand image
5&&ortunities0
Dow Henetration MN;:
in the market
igher multi&le
ownershi& will dri"e
growth of mid u&&er
segment
Threats0
Du+ury watches are
highly cyclical
@ontinuously changing
trends in fashion
3aw material costs are
high because of im&ort
duties
Diberali*ation in watch
market allowing many
international &layers to
emerge
1mergence of
unorgani*ed &layers
Role of ad"ertising in
this brand building
!rocess
Titan chose to in"est
hea"ily into showcasing
all of its inno"ation to the
consumer through
ad"ertising. 8rom Day 1,
the %catalogue-
ad"ertising of Titan
became its trademark as
it was used regularly and
e(ecti"ely to
merchandise new models.
The catalogue ads also
hel&ed customers to sho&
o( the &age and almost
decide which model they
wanted to &ick. This
a&&roach continues to
this day, with mostly the
same e(ect.
In the early nineties, Titan
chose to de"elo& the
-Oifting- market. 7atches
had always been fa"ourite
things to gift, and Titan
had bene$ted from that.
Titan was con"inced that
there lay a greater
&otential in that segment.
A set of N $lms were
de"elo&ed in 1991 around
N relationshi&s, where the
gifting of a Titan
culminated in a mo"ing
&ersonal moment and a
strengthening of the bond
between the &rotagonists.
These $lms became a big
hit and created a genre of
ad"ertising $lms which
lasted a good 8 years.
During those years, a
series of $lms in"ol"ing a
"ariety of characters
?father, daughter,
teacher, boyfriend, e+,
boyfriend A and with local
La"our ?for 5nam in
=erala, Hu>a in .engalA
were created and
released. These not only
hel&ed build a good,si*ed
gift segment for Titan, but
also became Titan%s
Theme @am&aign,
building strong emotional
"alues for the brand. 5ne
of the $lms in the series,
where a man and his
younger daughter
cons&ire to gi"e his older
daughter a Titan as a
sur&rise gift at her
wedding, released around
199<, went on to become
the most &o&ular Titan
$lm e"er, e"en "oted by
the "iewers of Pee
Tele"ision as the second
most liked TQ commercial
on the channel.
The most enduring &art of
the Titan ad"ertising has
been the music track. The
segment from !o*art%s
;Gth 4ym&hony has
arguably become Indian
Ad"ertising%s most
memorable track. 4tarting
in 1987 in its &ure
classical "ersions, with a
single "iolin &laying the
melody, this &iece has
been rendered in
countless inno"ati"e
"ersions o"er the years0
Indian @lassical, Indian
8olk, 5&eratic, 3ock, 8unk,
and has become such a
&owerful audio mnemonic
for the brand.
In 199<, Titan a&&ointed
mega star Aamir =han as
its brand ambassador who
will be endorsing the
range of Titan watches.
Titan felt there was a
&erfect $t between Aamir
=han and Titan , their
stature. The association
with Aamir =han was
mainly due to the brand
"alues that both Titan and
the actor are associated
with. They are both
known for commitment
and obsession towards
&erfection, )uality,
inno"ati"eness, setting
new trends and market
leadershi&.
Intensifying its focus on
the women#s watch
market, actor 3ani !uker>i
was signed u& as the
brand ambassador. India#s
only watch brand which is
designed and crafted
e+clusi"ely for women
through this mo"e made
3aga#s uni)ue &ositioning
of sensual self,e+&ression
reach more directly to
women.
Foundations of the brand
! studies carried out among
Indian consumers showed India
customers still prefer to possess
a foreign made wrist watch,
especially "wiss watches are still
regarded as a style statement and
earned the reputation of superior
#uality. $lso, studies found
major gaps in service, showroom
interiors and retailing trends in
watch industry. "uch insights led
to the establishment of exclusive
showrooms along with a chain
of retail outlets.
%& 'ariety
Titan wanted to establish a brand
with a uni#ue and distinctive
style. It introduced a large
variety of models, compared to
the competitors at that time. It
collaborated with (uropean
designers to design new wrist
watches with a combination of
Indian and (uropean styles. $s
the models increased, the
reputation of the brand further
got enhanced.
)& *uality
The brand stressed on the
importance of #uality right from
manufacturing to the retail
stages. +or example, in a tropical
country like India gold,plated
watches lose their shine within a
few months of usage. Titan
identified this problem and
decided to go for vacuum
technology which would
increase the life of the product.
inimi-ing the number of
returns during warranty period
was set as a goal for the
company.
.& "ervice excellence
"ustainability of brand
excellence comes from excellent
service #uality. To provide the
excellent shopping experience to
the customers, Titan employed
trained service personnel in its
service centers. With excellent
post,sales service the brand
captured the customer
confidence. The service #uality
in the Titan outlets set the
standards for the entire industry.
Brand Positioning
4ince its introduction,
Titan has been &ositioned
as a &remium brand,
&ro"iding high )uality
&roducts. 7ith its
numerous sub,brands
catering to di(erent
segments, the challenge
that Titan faces is to
create a strong brand
image. Titan caters to
se"eral user grou&s,
children ?the DashA,
s&orts&ersons and
ad"enturers ?H4I<''' and
8astrack rangeA. The
8astrack range is seen as
being contem&orary,
sturdy and reliable. The
ad"ertising, &ackaging
and merchandising of this
range is young, "ibrant
and Jcool# ?the ad line
says C@ool watches by
TitanEA
Titan#s range of watches
has been &ositioned
towards the design and
fashion conscious
customer. As the Titan#s
ad co&y &uts it Cthose
from either the classic
elegance of gold with
leateher2 or the glamour
and glitter of only gold2 or
the business like look of
steel2 or e"en trendy
casualE. The consumer is
thus o(ered a wide range
of &roducts to choose
from.
In India, when watch
smuggling was at the
&eak le"els, Titan
&ositioned itself against
im&orted watches. The ad
said Cshould you really
trust an im&orted watch
when you can get
genuine Titan )uart*E. It
went on to describe the
Titan#s range of
collections, wides&read
after sales ser"ice and
assurance of years of
faultless &erformance
with the backing of the
Titan name.
7hen the com&any
launched its &roducts, it
was the $rst to bring
)uart* watches to the
Indian market. The
com&any successfully
le"eraged this to
&enetrate the market and
gain a market share.
3aga, @lassi)ue and
3egalia come under this
strategy. @lassi)ue has
been &ositioned as
elegant cor&orate wear
that lea"es a )uiet, but
de$nite im&ression and
fusion of function and
so&histication. Hower
dressing now has a new
wea&onR As !agic in gold
and bicolour look, the
%3egalia% range re&resents
the essence of dress,
wear. 3aga has been
di(erentiated and
&ositioned as e+clusi"e
watches for women. The
3aga and 4il"er 3aga
collection is elegant,
delicate and feminine
with each &iece being
truly uni)ue.
7ith the entry of se"eral
foreign watchmakers into
the market, Titan had to
counter the threat. !ost
of the entrants are
catering to the u&&er end
of the market, 5mega,
Tissot, @artier etc. Titan
already had the Tanish)
brand in this segment.
owe"er, it has tried to
re&osition this brand by
increasing the &rice range
to encourage more
customers. In the
o"erseas market,
es&ecially in 1uro&e
where it is com&eting with
4wiss and Sa&anese
watches, it is &ositioning
itself as J"alue, for,
money#0 reasonably
&riced ?less than 4wiss
watches and higher than
Sa&aneseA, attracti"ely
styled and of good )uality.
In Indian market, 4onata
is a &erfect e+am&le of
Hrice &ositioning, titan
came u& with this
segment when it was
facing hea"y com&etition
from lower end segment.
Future ste!s to
consolidate the brand
Titan is in a crucial &hase
where it is facing tough
com&etition from the
International &layers in
both the local market and
outside India. Titan must
increase its em&hasis on
the Inno"ation front to
stand out among the
com&etitors.
Ta&&ing the rural !arket0
The rural market o(ers
huge ad"antages because
of its sheer si*e continues
to show a huge amount of
unta&&ed &otential for the
wrist watch in India. Also,
tele,density and internet
&enetration is on the rise.
Daunch of 4onata range of
watches in the rural
market has had a great
res&onse from the buyers
in rural and semi urban
India. .esides, Indian
rural market is dis&laying
a market trend towards
consumerism and
demand for &ersonal
&roducts like wrist watch.
Also watches could o(er
ad"anced features such
as OH4 based automatic
time ad>ustment based on
location ?similar to the
one used in mobile
&honesA. The growing
&o&ularity of mobile
&hones is beginning to
erode the functional
im&ortance of a wrist
watch. To counter this
e(ect, Titan could
incor&orate features such
as storing information
from the H@ into the
watch and then e+tending
features like access to
344 content such as
news, stock markets,
s&orts scores etc.
New positioning slogan:
Durabilit to sophistication
Till %/01s watch marketers had
the typical positioning slogan
Durable, timeless watches
which can be handed over
generations 2T with its
rugged watches was the well,
respected brand in India.
Watches were considered a
durable item to be used for long
years and it was a one,time
purchase for many customers. In
%/03 Titan introduced the #uart-
range of watches. With its heavy
advertising campaigns and
introduction of multiple
varieties, Titan induced the
customer to own multiple
watches and also targeted at the
segment like first,time buyers.
The customer now4 Classic,
understated and elegant
This is the typical characteristics
of the young executive of the
present day corporate world.
This segment of the market is
characteri-ed by sophistication
and taste, desire for innovative
products, international style,
adaptable to formal 5party wear
at an affordable price. 6ustomers
are looking for a product which
would act as a fashion statement
as well as a status symbol.
Titan has catered to the youth
segment by the introducing a
mid priced brand called +ast
track . +or the women
executives, the brand !aaga,
with its feminine positioning
was introduced. $ll "teel look
and multi,dial models were
introduced for the male category.
Titan watches are sold through
various networks, the 7World of
Titan8 showrooms and through
various other franchisee
networks. The company has
developed its franchisees, their
managers and customer
relationship officers to maintain
its standards of high customer
service.
When the first Titan #uart- range
was launched in arch %/03, it
was accompanied by heavy
advertising. The first
advertisement described the
Titan #uart- as the international
watch one could pay for in
rupees. 9ater campaigns
emphasi-ed on the fact that to
find such watches it was not
necessary to go to (urope,
:apan, $merica, or a duty,free
shop.
;ost liberali-ation or after %//%,
Titan8s domination was
threatened by the entry of
various foreign companies and
their brands into India. The
sprouting of the grey market and
the entry of cheap 6hinese
products further threatened the
bottom end of the market. To
counter these threats, Titan
adopted various marketing
strategies.
In )11<, Titan appointed $amir
=han, noted Indian +ilm actor,
to endorse its range of brands.
Bijou =urien, 6hief >perating
>fficer ?Watches&, TI9, said,
@There is a perfect fit between
$amir and Titan ,, their stature,
timelessness, and the love and
trust they both share with the
people makes this an ideal
partnership. oreover, $amir
has a universal appeal that
extends to everyone, across age
groups, just as our watches do.@
With the celebrity endorsement,
TI9 hoped to promote the latest
trends in the industry. The idea
was to make watches that would
be seen as style and fashion
accessories rather than just
utilitarian devices. The company
decided to use $amir in brand
and product communication on
television and in the print and
outdoor media. The brand
repositioned itself to a style
brand, with the AWhat8s your
styleB campaign.
It introduced several
collections5ranges under each of
its sub,brands. oreover, it
participated in the retail boom
that the country was
experiencing. It opened several
outlets in the huge malls and
hypermarkets that were
mushrooming in the big cities. It
also paid attention to its
communication strategies.
Though innovative and
appealing, the marketing and
communication efforts of these
sub,brands were not integrated.
Initially, they were advertised
under the mother brand, but with
the development of the market,
TI9 developed separate
communication and marketing
campaigns for its sub,brands.