Brand Track: Fastrack

Fastrack: Launch and Initial Positioning

By 1998, Titan was one of the most trusted brands in watch segment. But, Titan had moved up the age spectrum. The youth associated the brand with their parents and stayed away from it. It was missing out on the 450 million potential segments for which it had no market offering. Titan recognized the need in the watch market – a resonably priced watch for the youth between the age group of 15-25 years. Fastrack was launched in 1998 as a sub-brand of Titan. Then it was spun off as an independent brand targeting the urban youth. Fastrack entered the market saturated with international designer labels-like Citizen, Seiko, Swatch, Casio, Timex - but managed to carve a niche for itself in the youth accessories market, with designs that are refreshingly different, casual, eclectic and fun clubbed with prices that do not burn a hole through the pocket. Fastrack was promoted with the slogan ‘Cool Watches from Titan’.

Repositioning

During 2003-2004 the brand went in for a repositioning targeting the executive segment as well as the casual watch segment. It backfired and the brand sales came down.

In 2005 the brand went for another repositioning exercise with a new logo and a new positioning. They adopted the famous break-away positioning of Swatch and decided again to target the youth. But for this they had to break the price barrier. The brand discarded the steely look of the watches and looked at a mix of steel and plastic. It was a perfect cut copy from the strategy of Swatch.

Fastrack then promoted itself through a 360 degree media blitz through television, outdoor, events and promotons to change the perception of watches as a functional tool to a fashion accessory.

Since then it has carved a niche for itself with designs that are refreshingly different and affordable. During 2005 Fastrack also extended its footprint and in the last 4 years has quickly notched up the title of being the largest sun glass brand in India.

Fastrack has strongly associated itself with the youth. Its tagline ‘Move On’ speaks volume about its branding strategy. Targeted at Generation Next, the brand captures 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’

Fastrack has now chartered into newer categories- bags, belts, wallets and wrist brands. It has now a vision to become a complete fashion brand for the youth. Fastrack has moved on to open its own stores for its young customers. The stores are positioned as a complete accessories destination with all Fastrack gear under one roof. The first store was opened in early 2009 with a vision of 50 such stores by 2010.

Strategy Analysis: (Period- 1998-till date)

So, Fastrack was positioned to bring the new and young Indian into the company fold. This would also provide an opportunity to convert them into "classic Titan customers" in the long run. The promotional campaigns showed “Cool Watches from Titan”. It marked Fastrack’s growth from being a product category to a sub-brand of Titan.

Fastrack: Digital Watches

Initially it was a steel design look targeting age group 22-30 yrs. Then the age group was reduced to 15-20 yrs. After this it came up with a digital collection which was marketed as    “Too sexy for your wrist”. But this was not it, because it was not the intention to keep Fastrack as a sub-brand. They wanted to establish it as a separate big brand which had a story of its own. This needed more penetration into the target segment. It used aggressive marketing strategies to make more impactful emotional connect with its target audience. It hit the television channels with this new mega campaign “Are you on it” using the independent brand status of Narain Karthikeyan. The main thrust of Fastrack’s branding strategy was “FASHION”. It leveraged on this by creating a range of aspirational products for the youth. It also leveraged on Titan's extensive retail network covering about 92 cities and urban centres in the country. Its media plan included music channels, select magazines and a significant online campaign.

Fastrack Watches: After re-launch in 2005

Titan as a brand does not play much in the price below 1000 because it is the brand sonata which takes care of that. But moving to lower price points of the fashionable youth brand came at a time when it wanted to penetrate more into the domestic market because its international market was eroded in by other competitors in the price segment above Rs. 5000. While Titan as a company accounted for 60 per cent of the organised market by volume, its share by value was just about 50 per cent in the wake of some erosion. Global names made an impact in the high-value segment of the overall organised watch industry pegged between Rs 1,200 crore and Rs 1,300 crore annually. So it was this huge effort to make up in the domestic market by catering to the most potential growth segment. Also higher prices put the brand beyond the scope of purchase of several youth. So the efforts continued for establishing it as an independent brand by combining the watch and eye gear business. They allowed the price to be determined by the dynamics of the youth segment rather than being guided by the imperatives of the Titan brand structure. For this it used the new evolving style icon, John Abraham, for its ad (eyewear).