Abstract Titan Industries Limited (TIL) is a dominant player in the Indian branded watch industry.

The company has a presence in most segments of the watch market. The case discusses the various brands/sub-brands of TIL's watch division and talks in detail about the marketing and communication strategies followed by the company. The case throws light on the company's decision to use celebrities to market its products. It gives an account of the evolving market dynamics in the branded watch market in India and TIL's efforts to sustain its market share. The case also discusses the challenges that the company may face in the future Issues: Pros and cons of using celebrity endorsements. Efforts made by TIL to evolve a communication strategy to suit the changing times. Analyze the positioning and targeting issues of multi-brand marketers. The issues concerning branding and brand management in the Indian watch industry. The efforts made by the company to expand the watch market. "There has been a perceptible shift in consumer attitudes, which has tilted towards established brands. More and more people are actually willing to buy branded timepieces at a premium to flaunt them. Today, watches are all about style and statement"1 - Manoj Dhanwani, Managing Director, Megan Impex Pvt. Ltd.2 in 2005. "The association with Aamir Khan3 was mainly due to the brand values that both Titan and the actor are associated with. We are both known for our commitment and obsession towards perfection, quality, innovativeness, setting new trends and our market leadership."4

- Bijou Kurien, Chief Operating Officer (Watches), Titan Industries Ltd. in 2004. "With the re-invention of Fastrack, what we are going to be seeing in the future is certainly a lot more investment in the brand, a lot more in terms of product collections, which will come in, in both watches and sunglasses and hopefully a more unified campaign that will span both categories."5 - Bijou Kurien, Chief Operating Officer (Watches), Titan Industries Ltd. in 2005. Introduction In October 2004, Titan Industries Ltd. (TIL), a leading manufacturer and marketer of watches, jewelry, eye wear, and other lifestyle products, appointed Aamir Khan (Aamir) as the brand ambassador for its Titan range of watches. Bijou Kurien (Kurien), Chief Operating Officer (Watches), TIL, said, "There is a perfect fit between Aamir and Titan -- their stature, timelessness, and the love and trust they both share with the people, both nationally and internationally, makes this an ideal partnership. Moreover, Aamir has a universal appeal that extends to everyone, across age groups, just as our watches do. With the celebrity endorsement, TIL 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 Aamir in brand and product communication on television and in the print and outdoor media. Though the vast distribution and service network of TIL had served as an effective entry barrier in the 1990s, foreign brands were becoming increasingly popular in the early 2000s, thanks to the paradigm shifts in the retail scenario and the growing affluence of the Indian consumers. And TIL found that it was not safe even at the bottom of the pyramid. The grey market with cheap Chinese imports and the unorganized sector had cornered a sizable chunk of the low-end market. The appointment of Aamir Khan as brand ambassador for the Titan brand was seen as

an attempt to broad base the appeal of the Titan brand. In 2004, besides appointing a brand ambassador, TIL made several attempts to revitalize its sub-brands. It introduced several collections/ranges under each of its sub-brands. Moreover, 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. And its attempts seemed to have paid off -- the company posted good annual profits. Background Note TIL, a joint venture between the Tata Group and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, commenced operations in 1987 under the name Titan Watches Limited (TWL). With the diversification of TWL into jewelry in 1994, the company changed its name to TIL. In June 2004, the company diversified into other lifestyle products like eyewear by extending its watch sub-brand Fastrack and perfumery with a new brand Evolve, launched in early 2005. The main manufacturing plants of the company were situated at Hosur in Tamil Nadu. It also had an assembly unit at Dehradun in Uttaranchal and a unit that produced electronic circuitry for quartz watches in Goa. TIL reported a turnover of Rs.9.58 billion for the year ended 2003-04. Till 2004, TIL had sold more than 60 million watches. TIL's brands were sold from more than 5,000 multi-brand outlets and 175 exclusive 'World of Titan' outlets. In 2004, TIL manufactured and marketed more than 7 million watches. It was India's leading producer of watches and the sixth largest global player in the category of manufacturer brands7. Its watches were sold in about 40 countries through its marketing subsidiaries based in London, Dubai, and Singapore. TIL also made watches for international labels. TIL's Communication Strategy TIL's communication strategy evolved over time. In 1987, the company was

known only for the parent brand. Through the 1990s, the company introduced several collections and sub-brands for different segments of the market. 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, it became necessary for TIL to develop separate communication and marketing campaigns for its sub-brands. Titan When the first Titan quartz range was launched in March 1987, it was accompanied by heavy advertising. The first advertisement described the Titan quartz as the international watch one could pay for in rupees. Later campaigns emphasized that to find such watches it was not necessary to go to Europe, Japan, America, or a duty-free shop. The Aamir Effect Though the decision had been made to use Aamir, the company was apprehensive that the actor might dominate the brand (Titan) or the message (multiple ownership). The marketing team at Titan wanted to keep the focus on the brand and the message. A TVC created by O&M was launched in October 2004. The commercial showed Aamir packing to leave for a tour and his assistant bringing him his collection of watches to ask which ones he should take out for the trip... Titan's Collections Over the years, TIL launched several collections/ranges under the mother brand Titan (Refer to Exhibit III for a list of the collections). Dash! In July 1999, TIL launched Dash!, an exclusive children's watch targeting those in the age group 6-14. The watch was priced in the range of Rs.250-Rs.395 and came in plastic straps and colorful dials. With this launch, TIL made a serious attempt to

change its 'elegant' and 'old' image. TIL tried to tap the children's watch market, which was an unpenetrated segment, and believed to be as large as Rs.35 million. The company aimed to achieve volumes of around one million units from Dash! within a period of 2-3 years of the launch... Steel In September 2001, TIL launched Titan Steel watches in Kolkata. As the name suggests, the watches were created out of steel. The Titan Steel collection had a range of bracelets and leather strap watches for both men and women and were priced between Rs.1,250 and Rs.6,000 Edge In May 2002, TIL launched the Titan Edge, the slimmest commercially available watch "in the universe". Produced indigenously after four years of intensive research and development, the Titan Edge had a thickness of just 3.5 mm and a wafer thin movement of 1.15 mm. Flip TIL launched Titan Flip in July 2004 at Mumbai's Taj Mahal Hotel. And again a celebrity -- film star Akshaye Khanna -- was invited for the launch. The watch was unique in the sense that it was India's first dual face watch with dual functionality and styling and had two movements. One could use two watches with the mere 'flip' of the dial. The dual-faced watch allowed customers to switch between international time zones and alternative lifestyles - formal/casual, minimal/sporty etc. Sonata In 1998, to exploit the huge potential in the budget segment, TIL launched Titan Sonata. Priced between Rs.300 and Rs.1,050, Sonata watches were available in plastic, leather, stainless steel and gold plated-straps. The brand Sonata did remarkable business, (it sold around three million watches during 1998-2001) but the company had to contend with two issues.

Fastrack - From Cool to Bold Fastrack was launched in the late 1990s as a product range within the Titan umbrella. These watches were positioned as 'cool watches from Titan' and as the youth face of the Titan brand. The communication of the brand also reflected the heavy fashion quotient of the watches. In the early 2000s, the company started developing Fastrack as a distinct subbrand. A commercial featuring ace Formula-1 driver Narain Karthikeyan.with the tagline -- Are you on it? was launched in 2002. Raga Raga was introduced as a range for women, with a distinct ethnic character. Though popular among women, the range was not considered 'up-to-date'. Moreover, TIL wanted to broaden the customer base for the brand. Till 2004, many efforts, short of a full-fledged campaign, were made to revive the brand and infuse new energy into it. The range was targeted at the top end of the market and was intended to persuade people to wear gold watches instead of plated metal. These watches were positioned as 'classics in solid gold'. In August 2004, TIL launched four new 'bridal collections' of Nebula designer jewellery watches. The watches in the collection were embellished with precious stones and crowned with sapphire crystal glass and priced between Rs.35,000 and Rs.40,000. Nebula Nebula launched in 2000, was a premium range of light-weight gold watches, costing anywhere between Rs.8000 and Rs.70,000 (2005 prices). Most watches in the Nebula collection came with an 18 carat gold dial and a leather strap. The range was targeted at the top end of the market and was intended to persuade people to wear gold watches instead of plated metal. These watches were positioned as 'classics in solid gold'. In August 2004, TIL launched four new 'bridal collections' of Nebula designer jewellery watches. The watches in the collection were embellished with precious stones and crowned with sapphire crystal glass and priced between Rs.35,000 and

Rs.40,000. The collection targeted the luxury segment. "Nebula is an asset, which has lifetime warranty and can be passed on from generation to generation. Challenges To a large extent, TIL was successful in enhancing the presence and acceptance of most of its sub-brands. As an IIM-B professor said, "The varied offerings to diverse segments with a clear cut positioning strategy have been instrumental in sustaining the market share of the (Titan) brand.
(TIL)

has to a great extent attempted to balance the positive aspects/associations of the mother brand with the option of using sub-brands to appeal to several segments." Titan's strategy to project watches as part of one's personality, and not just as a functional product, had also gone down well. But TIL was also facing several challenges. And industry experts warned that the future would bring with it greater challenges, both in number and severity. TIL had always followed a strategy of serving the entire watch market by offering different variants/sub-brands to each market segment.