The Hindu Business Line : On a song ...

To some this may seem a bit stereotyped, but Titan believes men predominantly go in for sleek styling and technology functions, while women seek to strike an emotional connect with this little piece of jewellery. Yes, to the woman who loves to accessorise, the watch does come close to being a piece of jewellery, says Harish Bhat, Chief Operating Officer – Watches Division, Titan Industries. “The functional motivation for men and women may be the same – which is to see time - but the emotional motivation is quite different.”

Pointing to the watch he is wearing, Bhat continues. “As a man, I am wearing a Titan Edge - this speaks style and technology to me. But women want the watch to serve as an appropriate fashion accessory ... fairly close to jewellery.”

So if the woman looks for fashion and jewellery in her watch, can mere extensions of the men’s brand suffice? What is required is a watch brand that will exclusively cater to her emotional craving…

Enter Titan Raga, an exclusive women’s watch from the Titan stable.

Women and brands

Says Bhat: “Women’s watches worldwide have been largely extensions of men’s watches. Global brands too don’t have a uniquely woman’s watch brand, most brands are unisex in nature. Titan had the proud privilege and foresight to create India’s first women’s watch – Raga. Everything about Raga – its marketing, product design and styling – is woman-focused.”

A woman-specific brand not only benefits the brand as such but creates a certain desire and aspiration that spurs category growth as well. “Take, for instance, a brand like Jockey – a lingerie brand covering both men and women. But when a brand like Victoria’s Secret, which is a specifically woman’s brand, entered the market, it created a certain space which Jockey could not. Victoria’s Secret is an aspirational brand. But not all Americans buy into it. They may buy from a Wal-Mart. But the category benefits.”

But it is not enough to just create a brand for women. What is important is to get the insight right. Most retail stores and products, unfortunately, are designed by men. In the process, they tend to “forget women’s sensibilities and the need to appeal to women,” says Bhat.

“Brands must pay attention to the key insights which drive women and configure their products to women and appeal emotionally to them. It is important for brands to relate to women at an emotional level and make her feel and look good. Our insight on Raga was ‘very Indian, sensuous and feminine’,” says Bhat. Although the brand has been doing well steadily, it is only of late that it is seeing significant growth, egged on by an overall growth in the women’s watch segment and a rejig that saw Raga strike an emotional connect with its target buyers – urban women in the middle- and upper middle-classes.

What’s Raga’s success tune?

It is not as if Titan got it right with Raga from the word go. It took 15 years for it to get the correct insight. Yes, Titan saw the potential in the women’s watches segment way back in 1992 when Raga was launched. But the brand merely served a functional role. But in June last year the brand was given a real big shake – function made room for emotion. A staid brand became more robust, sensuous and feminine.

Raga roped in actress Rani Mukherjee as its brand ambassador, and suddenly, from being a mere time-keeper, Raga became a woman’s companion. The ‘Ek khoobsoorat rishta’ theme campaign across media celebrated and rei nforced the woman’s emotional relationship with her watch, yet another piece of jewellery adorning her. “Raga is not about power, achievement, career and success. The emotional connect is about her being a woman. Even in the TV commercial featuring Rani, it is about the watch being the woman’s companion while she is waiting for her man. It has nothing to do with the trappings of the modern world.” Feminists may frown at this idea, but it seems to have worked well for Titan!

What followed the relaunch was a series of marketing and product initiatives that added the much needed shimmer to the brand.

Raga is slowly proving to be the star in Titan’s watch portfolio. While Titan’s overall watch portfolio has grown by 20 per cent last year, women’s watches have grown by 40 per cent. Raga alone has grown by about 42 per cent. In 2006-07, while Titan’s overall watches segment saw sales of Rs 784 crore, the turnover from the women’s watches segment was Rs 162 crore, of which Raga contributed Rs 120 crore. (Titan also sells women’s watches under the Titan, Fastrack and Sonata brands.) Out of the nine lakh women’s watches sold, Raga accounted for five lakh.

So, what led Raga to taste such success? Apart from the extravagant media campaign mentioned earlier, Raga was engaged in product innovation and promotions.

Raga reinvented its product lines to suit the changing desires of women. Its offerings suddenly became more sensuous and elegant, firmly rooted in the brand values of ‘femininity, intimacy and beauty’, more akin to jewellery.

The first theme collection, Desire, was launched in September. The collection, inspired by nature, even won the NID design excellence award for best accessory design. “There was interplay between nature and watches. Nature and watches are as far away from each other as possible. But the best innovation happens when two different worlds collide,” says Bhat, with pride. In March this year, the Shimmer collection was launched. This collection “added a layer of glamour” by using stones and gold – much like in studded jewellery. “It was sold off the shelves within a month of launch,” exults Bhat.

At the retail front too – in the World of Titan showrooms - Raga found significant space. The ‘Raga Carnival’ last year saw exciting offers and cross promotions with brands such as Allen Solly and W.

Apart from increased sales, Titan Raga’s top-of-mind recall too rose. Says Bhat: “We did a market study and found that consideration scores for Raga had jumped from 25 to 40 per cent – 40 per cent of women said they would like to buy Raga in the next 12 months. First preferences score jumped from 5 to 20 per cent.”

The brand of choice for men too seems to be Raga. Its clear positioning as an exclusive women’s watch has helped define the choice for men. Now men looking to buy gifts for their wives or girlfriends know the brand they have to pick up is Raga, says Bhat.

“While sales of Raga grew by 42 per cent, as a spin-off effect of this, all ladies’ watches grew by 39 per cent. Those who could not afford to buy Raga bought the lower end watches of Titan,” he adds.

Women: The wave of the future

The general buoyancy in women’s retail is also cheering Titan. About 40 per cent of the watches sold in India are women’s watches. Women form a very large consumer base in the country. They constitute about 50 per cent of the population and influence 50 per cent of the purchase decisions. Obviously, women, apart from youth, are the wave of the future.

Raga addresses the women in the metros, mini-metros and urban areas, in the price category of Rs 2,000-4,000. The size of this segment is around 10 million, out of which eight million are housewives. However, the penetration in the segment is low. Explains Bhat: “Even in metros, among upper middle-class, urban-educated women, only 68 per cent own a watch. And 8 per cent own more than one watch. But slowly, multiple usage is getting to be a norm – as people wear different watches for official purposes and going out in the evening.” Obviously, the market is large and waiting to be exploited!

What’s in store?

Fifteen years after Raga’s launch and a year after its relaunch, the road ahead does appear promising. But Titan has its task cut out. Its agenda is clear – create increased desire among women, increase penetration and encourage multiple usage. “We plan to launch more thematic collections frequently and unleash a marketing campaign with a new-look Rani.

The retail stores will also continue to be decked up with Raga. I see the brand doubling in turnover in two years,” says Bhat confidently. So, can Raga provide the music to soaring sales?

More Stories on : Brands | Insight | Watches & Accessories | Gender

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