Fastrack was launched in 1998 as a sub-brand of Fast track. The brand entered the market saturated with International designer labels and has carved a niche for itself in the youth accessories market (watches and sunglasses), with designs that are refreshingly different, casual, eclectic & fun with prices that don‟t burn a hole through the pocket. 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 is positioned as the ultimate fashion accessory for the youth – youth – variety, variety, multiplicity and constant excitement being the order of the day. The brand brand revealed a new logo signifying the spirit of bonding among today‟s youth.
CURRENT STATUS At present, Fastrack, keeping in mind that it wants to be the ulti mate fashion accessory for the youth has adopted the following core brand values: 1. Fashionable and trendy 2. Affordable Pricing 3. 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 Fast track network, 122 Large Format Chain stores, i.e., Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Central, Westside, Pantaloons and Multibrand 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.
CREATIVE ADVERTISING
From Fast track Fastrack where fashionable jeweler was a gift on purchase of any Fastrack watch. This jeweler 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 Valentine‟s Day where the name scheme, The watch being advertised for (Fast track) as it pertains to the youth, jewellery (for the youth), valentine‟s day (more so for the youth) and adding to the excitement is a limited edition FASTRACK VALENTINE'S COLLECTION that is being made available in four designs. Only 300 watches of each design will be on sale across cities during this fortnight. These watches are designed is steel with leather straps in t he colors of the season – black, red and silver. The dials are in matched colors with heart patterns, making the collection a true blend of fashion and romance. "Young couples are looking for new ways to discover their relationships and this set of special watches and matching jewellery from Fastrack, gives them just the reason to do so. The most interesting thing in all these Ads was the last statement “HOW HAVE” which
MANY YOU
has a hidden strategy i.e. it is influencing buyers to have more than one
watch. Most of the people use a single watch at a time but Fastrack influenced people by its Ad to use more than a single watch that may be according to their get up or their style.
PRICING
The price of the models of Fastrack ranged from Rs.550 to Rs 2,430 and was designed exclusively keeping in mind the Generation X of the subcontinent.
Fast track ‟s primary pricing objective is to kill Competition. Being an Indian manufacture and infusing the advantages of the Indian market with t he dynamics of the western market the company has carved itself a place difficult to achieve by foreign players. PROMOTION
1. Advertising 2. Public relation 3. Sponsorship 4. Seasonality 5. Promotion through Contests ADVERTISING MEDIA
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Television
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Print
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Internet
PUBLIC RELATION
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Gift concept
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Promotion On Occasions
Bollywood rock star John Abraham was the brand ambassador for Fastrack . Fastrack has recently appointed cricketer Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador.
According to the company, Kohli makes a perfect choice for Fastrack as both are ambitious and symbolize style and fashion . Most of its advertisements were dominated by youth.
Fastrack brand posses a excited and rugged personality.
MARKET Fastrack was launched as sporty sub-brand of titan in 1998. As an independent brand, its establishment was done in 2005. The target of these watches was the youth market of Urban India. Being affordable and attractive, Fastrack emerged as a successful brand and sooner jumped into eye-wears market also. Now, it is the largest Sun-glass brand of the country. Now, fresh entry has been made by Fastrack into Handbags, Belts, Wallets, Wristbands and other Fashion Accessories. Here we are to consider Fastrack as a Wrist-watch brand only.
The size of the watch market currently is estimated to be around 40 to 45 million pieces annually. The average growth in the size of the market is slated to be around 10 -15% per year. Still, the penetration of watches is not more than 2.5% (as approximately 25 watches are being sold after 1000 citizens). On this penetration, the industry size is around 2000 crore. Many times, growth rate is single digit rather than 10-15%. The watch market has affected highly with the penetration of Mobile Phones, as Mobile has taken place of a time-keeping machine. Now, the use of a wrist watch is not timekeeping, but style, fashion and physical appearance. More than 58 percent of the customers are under twenty five and more than 80 percent are below 45 years of age.
SEGMENT The target segment of Fastrack brand is low age office-going people and the youth, having purchasing power, lies between 15-25 years age. According to survey by Fastrack itself in 2005, youth between 11 and 20 years account for 42 per cent of the overall watch buying. The average spending of a youth on his health and accessories is around 1000 per month, as it has decreased from last year (2009). In such category, a boy spends more than a girl on his looks and appearance.
STRATEGIES: Often, watches are taken as one-time purchase goods, Fastrack is the first company to promote the Multiple Watch concept, by promoting, “How many you have...?” Fastrack has used the design and style to attract its customers. Pricing has been done very attractively, from 500 to 5000. Giving stylish Branded watch for 500 has attracted customers much, where competitors have an average price of 4500 for the same. Fastrack has used John Abraham, a youth icon, for promotions.
COMPETITOR Timex
However, Timex has a joint-venture with Titan for production, as an independent Brand, Timex is a big competitor for Fastrack Brand. It covers the segments Kids, Youth, Fashion and Sporty, same as Fastrack is doing. The pricing does not have much difference, as a Timex RETRO watch costs around Rs. 500. Timex provides its ranges from Rs. 500 to 5500. Moreover, it has a perception of being a US brand in the minds of Customers. Timex messages its customers with “ Keep on Dashing. Keep on Pushing. Keep on Daring” statements. Timex lacks in having a different marketing strategy f or Indian customers. Timex has already covered 22% share of Indian Wrist watch Market, but in Fastrack segments, it is far behind yet. Titan has taken more than 40% of the wrist watch market, where youth, fashion and sporty segments have been covered 60% by Fastrack.
BRAND POSITIONING OF FAST TRACK Positioning statement For style loving, smart youth Fastrack is the premium stylish wrist watch, Which gives sporty look and style. Because of its gorgeous design, Appeal and Brand.
The Fastrack range is seen as being contemporary, sturdy and reliable. The advertising, packaging and merchandising of this range is young, vibrant and „cool‟ (the ad line says “Cool watches by Fast track ”)
The Fastrack Digital range offers the customer a functional watch that is also attractive. The digital watch has a “techno-geek” image, but Fast track seeks to differentiate its offering on the basis of superior style and attractiveness.
Competitor Positioning:
With the entry of several foreign watchmakers into the market, fast track had to counter the threat.Most of the entrants are catering to the upper end of the market- Omega, Tissot, Cartier etc. Titan already had the Tanishq brand in this segment. However, it has tried to reposition this brand by increasing the price range to encourage more customers.
Quality or Price Positioning:
In the overseas market, especially in Europe where it is competing with Swiss and Japanese watches, it is positioning itself as „value- for- money‟: reasonably priced (less than Swiss watches and higher than Japanese), attractively styled and of good quality. In Indian market, Sonata is a perfect example of Price positioning, Titan came up with Fast track segment when it was facing heavy competition from lower end segment.
Men’s segment: With Fast track positioning its range of watches as a life-st yle, the Indian market started viewing watch more as a complement to dress than just a time showing machine. They are also realising that, unlike other forms of art that are meant to be admired, high-end jewellery watches have that added bonus: practical luxury with a function other than beauty. Watches have joined the list of tie, deodorant and shoes to represent the occasion and flaunt your status.
Target Audience The target audience for this watch, in the 20-35 age group include working adults and postgraduate students of both sexes in metros and mini metros. The Fast Track user, in terms of attitude is one who wears an informal dress, wears branded jeans, shirts, sunglasses and branded informal shoes. The Fast Track personality is that of a young, energetic, achievement oriented person, who seeks to express his or her individuality by braking free from constraints of formal environment, without being a rebel. Built around the Cool concept, this watch from Fast track has virtually ver y few competitors because no one offers the feature combination and price but Casio (in digital range) and Espirit and Swatch (in the analog range) can be considered as competitors feature-wise.
The woman's collection presents the all-new international 'Frosted' look, which is trendy and chic. The ad line : „Fastrack - „Cool watches from Titan‟, aims at building the brand around the „cool „ concept. Fastrack is targeted at a personality that is young, energetic, achievement oriented, who seeks to express her individuality by breaking free from constraints imposed by formal environments, without being a rebel. The positioning of Fastrack for men and women is almost the same.
Consumers awareness Survey says that out of 100 individuals 72% of them use Fast Track and remaining of them use other brands of Titan.
2% 2% 4% 6%
14%
Fastrack Sonata Raga Nebula 72%
WWF Edge
Period of use Report says out of 100 individuals 64% of the individuals use Fast Track in the range of one to four years. 24% individuals replied saying they use Fast Track in the range four to seven years and the rest 12 % are using it for more than seven years.
Figure 5: Period of Fast track use
7 yrs - 10 yrs
4 yrs - 7 yrs
1 yr - 4yrs
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Reasons for brand loyalty The respondents were asked to select the reasons from the options given for their preference for Fast Track brands. For this question, multi-responses were received from the individuals.
Reasons for brand preference Reasons
No. of respondents ( out of total 50)
Attractive designs
39
Reasonable Price
7
Brand image
22
Good quality
25
New Campaign of Titan Fast Track The 50% of the respondents who have seen the new campaign were asked to rate it with respect to how effective the campaign is in inspiring consumers to have a new look everyday and be more in lives.
Consumer perception of new campaign
16 14 12 10
Not at all effective Effective
8
Highly effective 6 4 2 0 Not at all effective
Effective
Highly effective
BRAND INVENTORY: Fast track sells different products like Watches, Sunglasses, Bags, Belts, Wallets and Wrist bands. Fast tracks brands all its products in a way where all the youths are attracted as fast track is a youth oriented brand. We can see in any of the Fast track advertisements and its campaigns, that it has always taken up these campaigns by keeping in the mind the youth. Even the brand ambassadors of this brand are youth (Virat Kohli, Jenneila)
BRAND AUDIT Most of the Individuals in the age group of 20 – 30 years possess fast track watch.
This shows that the positioning strategy of these watches has been good.
Most of the consumers prefer Fast Track watches for their attractive designs and good
quality. However, there is a misconception about pricing of Titan products among the consumers. They perceive them to be high priced.
Logos and taglines are rarely noticed by the watch consumers. Hence, any change in
them also goes unnoticed.
Advertisement in mass media such as television, newspapers, and magazines are best
means to spread awareness about brand.
Celebrity endorsement of watches not only increases the visibility of the product but
also gives an assurance to the consumers that it is of high quality.
Titan watches‟ designs are rated as “good” by 78% of the consumers. This indicates
that they are looking forward for more innovative designs to be introduced by the company.
Only 50% of the consumers have seen the new campaign launched by Fast Track.
This implies that the reach of the campaign in six months has been to more or less
half of the consumers. However, those who have seen the new campaign consider it to be effective in conveying the message it intended to deliver.
RECOMMENDATIONS Introduce more trendy and innovative designs.
Focus on niche markets such as working men and women.
Spread awareness about availability of watches in lower segments as most of the
consumers feel that Titan brand is synonymous with premium watches.
Take steps to change consumer perception that Titan watches are high pr iced.
Improve after sales service.
To increase its visibility, Fast Track can sponsor events similar to fashion shows in
which all latest designs launched are displayed. This would have multiplier effect as the latest designs launched by the company gets noticed by different segments of the customers in varied ways.
Tie – up with FM radio channels for reminder advertisements and informing
customers about various sales promotion offers from time-to-time.
Invest more in R&D as customer expectations are changing rapidly. Though Fast
Track has got more varieties, it should focus on introducing some more varieties in already existing product collections. In other words, having a limited but more depth in product collections would be more advantageous.
Introduce exclusive collection for working women which is more contemporary and
complements both traditional and western wear.
Majority of the population in India live in rural areas. So, showrooms should be set up
at places nearer to them. Introduce cheaper and rough use watches for this segment.
After sales service has to be improved. That is, the process of servicing and repairing
of watches should be made faster. This can be done by ensuring the spare parts availability and training all sales personnel in Titan showrooms to undertake these tasks.
Make use of internet to spread awareness among consumers about the brand.
