Brand Update : Where is Fastrack heading ?

afaqs! today carried an interesting piece about Fastrack's new OOH campaign titled " Sorry for What".The new bold campaign features various models showing their shaven heads, unshaven armpits, guys wearing thongs and with nipples pierced . The campaign has the theme " Sorry for What ".  

Over the last few years , the brand has been trying to project itself as an iconoclastic brand. I think the brand is trying little too hard in driving its message. While the attempts are creatively nice and clutter breaking, the brand seems desperately trying to create controversy propelled image probably inspired by the likes of UCB.

Although there is nothing wrong in trying to be the Indian UCB, the brand should not be seen trying too hard to be rebellious. Its always uncool if you are making an effort to be Cool.

One grouse about this brand is that although the brand is for the younger crowd, the brand is pricing itself out of the market. No advertising can justify an out-of-value pricing. Fastrack's recent helmet launch was  priced too high to justify the value.

Having said that , I like the way Fastrack trying to create a differentiation using the brand image. It is experimenting and one should give credit for that. 

Brand Update : Fastrack launches helmets

One of the most successful homegrown youth brand Fastrack announced its entry into Rs 400 crore organized helmet market recently. Fastrack has grown from a watch brand to an umbrella brand endorsing products from watches, eyewear, bags and accessories. 

image source : gaadi.in

Although I am not a big fan of brand extensions, I have to admit that Fastrack has been able to spot opportunities ( gaps) in the market where it can fit in without diluting its core positioning.

Helmet market is highly cluttered with lot of local brands and minimal differentiation. Although there are established players like Studds, the organized market constitutes only 20-25% of the total market. Since the designs and styles of helmets can be easily copied, differentiation becomes very difficult in this market. 

Many motorists also feel that helmet is a grudge purchase since they wear it out of compulsion . Hence focus of many commuters will be to spent less, get a helmet and carry on.
Fastrack has priced its range between Rs 1495 - Rs 3495 charging a premium. The pricing , in my opinion, is steep and make the product out of reach for many consumers. 

It is in this context that Fastrack's foray into this market becomes interesting. Fastrack definitely will have a headstart because of the brand's equity. But how it fares will depend on the freshness it will bring into the design and style aspect of the product . Since competitors will waste no time in copying the design the challenge will be to keep one step ahead of the others.

Brand Update : Fastrack Gets Provocative

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 inorder 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.
What do you think ?

Related Brand
Fastrack : How Many You Have

Brand Update : Fastrack Goes Celebrity Way

India's youth accessory brand Fastrack has gone the celebrity way. The latest series of campaign for Fastrack bags is featuring the brand ambassadors - cricketer Virat Kohli and actress Genelia. I think this is the first time that Fastrack has chosen to have celebrity endorsement as a part of the brand strategy.

In my earlier update, I have mentioned that Fastrack has extended itself into accessories like Bags, wallets and belts. The brand also went into retailing by launching exclusive Fastrack stores. The current campaign is the first for accessory and the brand has chosen to promote 'bags' in this campaign.

The brand has rightly identified a need for a branded bag targeting the youth. Currently the market is dominated by unorganized sector and a branded bag priced competitively and marketed properly is certainly a good idea.

Although I am principally against brand extensions, Fastrack extending into the bag segment will open up new opportunities of the brand although at the cost of diluting the primary product line - Fastrack Watches.

The brand is currently running a series of campaign featuring Virat Kohli and Genelia.

Watch the campaigns here : Fastrack lovemark

Fastrack Airport ad

Fastrack ATM Ad

I was shocked at seeing the ATM ad and found it very very bold especially in the Indian context.Frankly I never expected such an Ad theme from Fastrack.

I am getting old and my understanding of Indian youth and their psyche is becoming outdated but I think Fastrack is moving little too much on the theme of " Move On ". The current campaign is giving an impression that " Move On " means only flirting and fleeting physical relationships. That interpretation will hurt the brand in the long run.

I understand that such kinds of relationships happen in campuses and encounters happen in dark corridors but that cannot be projected as the psyche of youth. Youth have an irreverent attitude towards life and are keen to experiment on everything including relationships. I hope that Fastrack will be careful and desist from narrowly interpreting " Move On " theme.

"Move On " as a theme has lot of creative potential beyond flirting relationship. There are other sides of this concept which is much more sticky and can take the brand to iconic status. Hope that the creative team will consider an holistic approach in this positioning.

Another interesting development for Fastrack is that the brand launched a sub-brand called Fastrack Denim.

Watch the ad here : Fastrack Denim

It is interesting to see Fastrack which was launched as a sub-brand of Titan becoming a full fledged independent brand and then having a sub-brand on its own.

Now looking at the logic of having a sub-brand Denim. I think Fastrack is looking at Sub-brand like Denim to cater to the lower-price points. If you notice, Fastrack brand ( primary brand) has been moving higher in terms of the prices. It started off in the range of Rs 500 and above and later moved over to Rs 1000 and above. Now Fastrack Denim range is priced at Rs 500 and above. So using the sub-brand , Fastrack is protecting its lower-price Flank from attack from competitors. Other than this I do not see any need or relevance of such a sub-brand.

Related brand

Fastrack

Brand Update : Fastrack

Fastrack has recently launched a new campaign based on its new positioning " Move On " .The latest campaign comes in two version - His Story and Her Story

Watch the commercial here : His Story
Watch the commercial here : Her Story

The new ads are an extension of the Move On positioning of the brand. The brand is based on the current psyche of youth .The premise of the new positioning is that Indian Youth tend to be very "detached " in their relationships.

The new campaign has taken this premise to a new level. While the previous campaign was based on a romance break up , the new campaign goes deeper than just flirting.

The ad is definitely interesting and the two versions makes it more interesting. The younger crowd is going to enjoy it .

How ever the question is whether the brand is taking the Move On concept a bit too far. It is true that such kind of dating and experiments happen and the debate is still there as to whether such a kind of indulgence is to be encouraged or not.

I am not a moral advocate or a Srirama sena member !!! . I personally believe that it is the choice of an individual to live the life he/she wants provided it is within the social framework.

It may be true that the younger generation are non-committal in their relationship. It is also true that there is a trend of irreverence and " take it or leave it " attitude prevalent among the urban youth community.

But the question is whether a brand like Fastrack should align with such a trend ?

Read the perspective of Adman Lakshmipathy Bhatt here .


There is nothing immoral or unethical in the new TVC. But I personally feel that such a trend among the new generation is not something that should be celebrated.

"Gotta get rid of him " and " Who s next " seems too extreme for me ( conservative as Iam). How ever I am sure that the youth will love it .


Related brand

Fastrack

Brand Update : Fastrack

Youth brand Fastrack is expanding itself into retail business by starting exclusive Fastrack showrooms across the country. Together with the retail foray, the brand is also extending itself into accessories like belts,bags,wallets and wristbands.

My first reaction was that " Is this brand crazy ? "

Why should a brand like Fastrack enter into retail business when the entire retail industry is facing a downturn ?

Personally I am a bit scary about the concept of Brand Extension. Fastrack which is predominantly a watch brand has earlier extended to sunglasses. That extension worked well because there was a significant gap existing which was tapped through that extension.

Let us take a look at the two major decisions taken by Fastrack.

The first decision is the extension towards accessories like belts, bags and wristband. The logic behind this extension is that the target market uses these products and all these categories are dominated by unbranded products.

It is true that there are no national brands in these categories except for the bags where there are players like VIP and Samsonite. But there is no brand targeting the youth even in the bag segment. Regarding the belts and wrist band, there are no known players. So the brand managers may have thought that Fastrack can tap these markets by leveraging its brand equity among the youth.

But do Fastrack have the competence and expertise to make and market these products ? Obviously the brand will outsource the production and act as the marketer. But selling bags and belts are different from selling watches. Both are different product categories which need differen expertise. By extending itself into categories which are not even related will defenitely dilute the Fastrack brand.

Another reason for this extensions is to develop Fastrack as an accessory brand rather than restricting itself to watches and sunglasses. Although it sounds good, my concern is whether Fastrack has sufficient equity that support such an extension. I feel that the brand is moving too fast without developing a proper foundation.

No doubt that the brand is popular among the youth but the brand has not reached the pinnacle from where it could confidently extend itself. It has not reached the level of Nike or Reebok from where they could leverage the equity to unrelated categories.

The second decision of the brand is to enter the retailing business. This is the most alarming part of the brand's latest moves. From a product brand to a retailing brand is not a wise decision at all. I was initially wondering why a brand should do a forward integration like entering retailing.

For Fastrack, I think there are two reasons.

The first reason is the brand's decision to diversify into accessories. Fastrack's accessories cannot be sold through opticians and watch showrooms. Hence the decision to retail venture is largely driven by the brand extension rather than marketing sense.

Another minor reason is that exclusive retail stores acts as brand building tools since the brand will be able to showcase all the products and marketing tools at its stores.

But I strongly think that Fastrack will lose its focus through these decisions. Retailing is a different business that requires different skill sets. It is an expensive venture that needs different management skillsets. and lot of financial commitments. Fastrack will have to spent lot of its management time in developing and maintaining these stores which should have been used by it for developing its core business

Fastrack have not learned from the Peter England brand's foray into retailing. Peter England had started a retail venture - Peter England People with the same objectives. Now reports say that the company is rethinking this venture because it has not taken off as expected.

Related Brand
Fastrack

Brand Update : Fastrack

This January, Fastrack has launched a new range of wrist gear and eyegear branded as the Army collection. The new series of rugged looking accessories is inspired by the military equipment and weapons.

The watches and sunglasses have a gun-metal finish and looks rugged and cool.

The launch of Army collection is a smart marketing move. The launch coincides with the recent Mumbai attacks and the Indian Public is filled with admiration towards the valor and commitment displayed by the security forces during these terror attacks. Knowingly or unknowingly, the army collection will greatly benefit from this current positive vibes towards the Indian armed forces.

The Army collection of watches and sunglasses are priced upwards from Rs 1400 to Rs 3500.
As a consumer, I have a doubt whether the brand is pricing itself out.

Fastrack is a brand that is targeting the youngsters. And as we know youngsters are on a limited budget and they look for fashion statements which are affordable. Here I am talking about the large section of middleclass consumers.
Fastrack had been a huge hit among the young consumers owing to their smart pricing and also careful branding.

But I have a feeling that Fastrack is slowly raising its prices and losing its pricing advantage. Look at the latest Army Collection. The prices starts with Rs 1500 which is above the reach of those youngsters who are students and live on their monthly pocket money. We haven't moved into a situation where consumers splurge on watches and own multiple watches.

Hence the new collection with its aggressive pricing will definitely takes the charm out of this brand. The name Army Collection will definitely bring in lot of consumers but in my personal opinion, the price will definitely put off a large number of consumers.

Fastrack also lost an opportunity to make an emotional statement with this range. The brand could have touched the heart of millions by contributing a part of the sales from Army Collection to some welfare fund for Army men. This could have taken this brand to a higher platform and customers would have loved the brand for gesture.

Related Brand

Fastrack

Brand Update : Timex

After around two years of media silence, Timex has launched a new campaign for their latest collection of watches. The collection is branded as Conversation Starters.

Watch the campaign here : Timex

The new campaign is a repositioning exercise for the brand which was earlier positioned as a rugged watch for the outdoors.
The new campaign is trying to make the brand appeal for the hip-hop fashion conscious young generation. The brand is also not using the slogan " What Next " which it used for the last two years.

The brand is aiming the SEC A youth aged between 20 & 25. Earlier ads were targeting more mature guys like the young professionals who loves the outdoors. The new range of watches aims the younger generation who love socializing.
It makes sense for Timex to target these segments because there is no brands aiming this age group. Fastrack is aiming the college segment while Titan is for mature ones. Hence Timex through this collection is aiming to target the highly lucrative youth segment.

Related Brand
Timex

Brand Update : Fastrack

Fastrack is moving on. The latest campaign of Fastrack presents a significant deviation from the earlier positioning. The brand is running a new TVC with the new slogan : Move On

Watch the TVC here : Move On

According to agencyfaqs, the brand is trying on multiple presentation platforms. That means multiple levels of positioning and experimenting with different themes and slogans. While the target segment and the personality of the brand remains the same, the marketer will not stick to a specific message. A classic example of this type of strategy is that of Pepsi. The brand tries to add freshness to the entire brand communication without sticking to a core theme.

So Fastrack is moving away from the earlier theme revolving round multiple ownership which was reflected in the slogan " How Many You Have? "

The new ad is fun to watch but predictable and lacks freshness. This concepts has been used by lot of brands lot of times. While the earlier slogan had a purpose ( to make customers buy more) , the new theme is aimed at building a persona around the brand. The brand chose irreverance and noncommittal enjoyment as the main brand persona.

The brand still remains youthfull targeting the age group 15-25.

The new ad is about two young lovers ending their relationship and moving on ( without any remorse or sadness). In a report in agencyfaqs, the Lowe's creative director Mr RajeshRamaswamy defended the theme by saying that " Today's generation live in instant gratification.Without commitment they seek variety ". The brand is trying to catch that personality.

That is true to certain extent. But my doubt is whether this attitude is universal or homogeneous across the urban youth segment. I have seen this type of non-committal behavior among college graduates but when looking at the percentage, it is hardly 20-25%. They exhibit the same irreverence and non-committal attitude. But the majority are ordinary young guys/gals.

Most of the new brands that targets the youngsters are speaking the same language of irreverence , flirting, non-committal rebel types. The brands like Motoyuva and Virgin Mobile shows almost the same personality profile.
So my doubt is are all Indian youngsters are like these so called DUDES who have lot of girlfriends to chose and goes to late night parties and live a life that these brands portray ?

I guess not .

What do you think ?


Related Brand
Fastrack

image courtesy : agencyfaqs

Fastrack : How many you have ?

Brand : Fastrack
Company : Titan
Agency : Lowe Lintas

Brand Analysis Count : 320

Two years back when I wrote about Titan watches, I had mentioned Fastrack brand as a sub-brand of Titan. Now this sub-brand has grown to become a fully independent brand. Fastrack was launched in 1998. The brand was aimed at the youth segment (15-25). The brand was promoted with the slogan "Cool Watches from Titan "

Essentially Fastrack was a sub-brand endorsed by the Titan Brand. In most of the campaigns , the brand was promoted as Titan Fastrack. The brand was targeting young consumers who was moving towards the competitor Timex. It was during this time that Timex and Titan parted ways.

Fastrack had a good start . during the first year, the brand clocked a turnover of Rs 15 crore. The good run continued till 2001-2002 and the brand was worth Rs 25 crore at that period. But the sales stagnated. Although the brand appealed to the youngsters, price was significant dampener.The brand found that the target group which consisted of college students could not afford this brand. ( source : Business Standard)

During 2003-04, the brand went in for a repositioning exercise targeting executive segment aswellas casual watch segment. It was a suicidal experiment . The brand sales came down to Rs 23 crore. The change in positioning did not fit well with the brand. The consumers were not willing to pay Rs 1200-2700 for a watch that did not have the executive image.

It was in 2004 that Fastrack launched its range of sunglasses. The move was made after a consumer research which shoed that mobiles/deo/sports shoes and sunglasses are popular accessories in the purchase list of youngsters. And Sunglasses fitted perfectly as a brand extension for Fastrack. In my personal view, sunglasses offered a great opportunity for the brand. There was no Indian brand of sunglasses at that time. The brands available was Ray-Ban and other foreign brands which were imported. These brands was damn expensive and often consumers chose local unbranded sunglasses.

In 2005, the brand went for another repositioning exercise with a new logo and new positioning. The brand adopted the famous break-away positioning of Swatch. The brand decided to target the youngsters again but for that the brand had to break the price barrier.
The brand discarded the steely look of the watches and looked at a mix of plastic and steel. It was a perfect cut-copy from the strategy adopted by Swatch . By doing so, the brand was able to reduce the price range to Rs 500.

The brand then took the help of advertising to change the perception of watches as a functional tool to a fashion accessory. The brand launched a campaign with the slogan " How many you have ".

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.
Fastrack have adopted the following core brand values

Fashionable and trendy
Affordable Pricing
Fresh Communication to attract the young consumers. The brand wanted to be the ultimate fashion accessory for the youth.

For the sunglasses, the brand roped in the youth icon John Abraham as the brand ambassador. The celebrity fitted well with the brand. Taking a cue from the fact that most of the TG for Fastrack owned a bike, Fastrack launched a biker's collection which again is a classic example of consumer-centric product innovation.
The latest innovation is the neon - disc range of Fastrack watches that does not have Hands to show the time but have electroluminescent disc that lits up to show the time.

Another advantage for this brand is the freshness that the agency had bought in its communication. Most of the Fastrack ads has been refreshing. The brand had adopted a 360 degree approach in its communication and it is an example of a brand which had used Social media to its advantage.
Watch some of the Fastrack campaigns here : Fastrack

But the brand is facing a grave issue in the market. The issue is not regarding the branding but with the channels. In the case of Swatch, the brand had adopted an innovative approach towards the channels. According to the Harvard Case Study on Swatch, it is mentioned that Swatch launched a Veggie range of watches ( it had shapes of vegetables ) and this range was sold in vegetable shops.
But in the case of Fastrack, the brand had not gained the support of the channel members.The channel does not support both sunglasses and watches. The above observation is from my personal experience. In the case of watches, except for Titan exclusive showrooms, other watch retailers does not stock the full range of Fastrack watches and neither they offer spares like straps. I went to replace the strap of my Fastrack but had to be satisfied with one which was local made and that does not fit with the design. The retailer to whom I went was a premium dealer of watches and he said that the reason for not stocking Fastrack is that the design changes very fast.
For Fastrack sunglasses, the retailers are the usual opticians. I found ( in my city) that either these retailers does not stock the sunglasses or are not interested in selling . The reason they say is that Titan is trying to sell the sunglasses in stores other than opticians. Hence opticians are not interested in selling this brand. The fact is that 90 % of Sunglasses sales happen with Opticians.

Fastrack had tried to explore new channel for its sunglasses range. I have seen a couple of lifestyle stores displaying the range. But when I wanted to buy a specific model, I did not find that in any of the store. I had to go to the online store and buy the glass.
No brand can escape the channel conflict when it tries to explore a new channel . In the case of Fastrack, it is facing resistance from the conventional channel when the brand tried to explore new channel.


It is a nightmare for any brand manager to handle the issues connected with a brand like Fastrack. One one hand, the brand have to keep the consumer interest growing by launching new models and also updating cool communication . One the other hand, the frequent design changes calls for intense dealer support . The low price for the watches often translates to low margin to retailers thus dampening their enthusiasm for promoting this brand. The brand is trying to workaround this issue through its online store but the fact is that online cannot replace the conventional channel atleast in the immediate future.

Despite these issues, the brand has been a hit with young consumers. I noticed this brand in the wrist of most of my students . Once I asked a question to my students whether Fastrack watches are 'cheap ' ?To my surprise, none of the students think that Fastrack is cheap despite its ' cheap ' price. They corrected me that Fastrack is affordable and not cheap. That is a great achievement for a brand which has a price range which starts with Rs 500 but still is not considered cheap. The brand had successfully established itself as a fashion accessory rather than as a watch. My personal experience as a consumer for both watch and sunglasses is positive. The brand has not compromised on quality.

The brand need to sort the distribution strategy to move into the next level. Swatch also faced the issue of retailer resistance initially but the equity generated by the brand eclipsed the resistance. Fastrack also should be able to build the brand into a level where retailers have to stock this brand due to consumer pressure.