• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Our Bureau

Mumbai , Oct. 2

THE two-wheeler category has been among the biggest advertisers in print in the last few years, and continues to be one so far this year, accounting for 6 per cent of all print advertising.

But scooters, once considered the quintessential Indian two-wheeler, only make up 0.5 per cent of two-wheeler advertising today, while motorcycles account for more than 80 per cent of the advertising, according to a recent analysis by TAM Media Research.

Scooterettes - a new segment which has become popular with the youth and with women - make up 12 per cent, while mopeds, scooters and others make up the rest.

The top advertisers in print include TVS Victor, Kawasaki Bajaj Caliber 115, LML Freedom, Hero Honda Motorcycles and TVS Victor Gl. While newer segments - like scooterettes - and features like improved design and better mileage have resulted in the increased use of motorcycles, the number of new launches has also grown rapidly since 1995, according to TAM.

Last year, 33 new motorcycle brands were launched, and so far this year, 15 brands have already been launched - compared to about 10 in 1995-96. And this has necessitated a whole new form of advertising.

``Typically, print ads for two-wheelers had a visual and the dealer name and number. But today, you need to do more,'' said Mr Atul Phadnis, Director, S-Group, TAM Media Research.

``In the face of so many new launches in the market, you need to do much more brand building. And the advertising has also become more emotional, and less feature-driven or dealer-focused.''

Almost 40 per cent of two-wheeler advertising in newspapers has a sales promotion offer, but in magazines, ads are almost entirely focused on the brand.

``This may be attributed to the different types of readers that magazines have from newspapers,'' Mr Phadnis said. ``For an advertisement in a magazine, it is more important that the brand itself should appeal to the reader rather than the cost.''

The two-wheeler category is also driven by the dealer network: close to 8 per cent of advertising is retail in nature i.e., ads released by dealers themselves.

Two-wheelers also tend to use sports, sports personalities and sports events extensively in their advertising and marketing efforts, and this is reflected in their choice of positions for ad placements: the back page - which, in most newspapers, has sports news - and the sports page together account for about 50 per cent of two-wheeler ads, according to TAM.

But while print still makes up a big chunk of two-wheeler advertising, their spends on TV have grown faster: compared to 59 per cent of their total ad spend in 2001, TV ads account for 63 per cent of their spends today, according to TAM.

The top advertisers on TV include LML Freedom, Hero Honda Ambition, Kawasaki Bajaj Caliber 115, TVS Victor and Yamaha Libero. TV spends have grown from about Rs 138 crore in 2001 to Rs 203 crore so far this year, while press ad spends have risen from about Rs 117 crore to Rs 142 crore.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Van Heusen to target fresh entrants to corporates

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line