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Tata Motors, which continues its association with IPL this year with its Harrier SUV as the offering, is looking at increasing awareness about the product, penetrating deep into the country and building the brand on a long-term basis from its association with the league.
As the official partner, Tata Motors will showcase Harrier in the stadium, across all matches. Harrier was launched by Tata Motors on January 23.
“India is a very big country and reaching deep into the country is always a challenge. IPL is a platform which allows us to really go deep into the country. The way the IPL is organised on Star — which as a broadcaster goes very, very regional in terms of languages — is a big advantage for us. So, we would be able to reach into each of these States in an extremely efficient manner thanks to the way IPL is packaged by the broadcaster,” Vivek Srivatsa, Head – Marketing, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit (PVBU), Tata Motors, told BusinessLine .
Unlike any advertising or public relations campaign, which has certain limitations in terms of reaching deep into the country, he said that with cricket and IPL, the biggest benefit that Tata Motors aims to get is to enhance its reach substantially, both in terms of numbers and qualitative reach into each specific State. He added that with people even in the smallest of towns being familiar with cricket and following IPL with passion, Tata Motors’ objective with Harrier is to continue the current momentum that it has been witnessing, in terms of enquiries, bookings and building the brand for the long term. He pointed out that this has happened with Nexon, the company’s offering for the last IPL.
Bets on IPL
Calling Harrier a “unique proposition”, Srivatsa said the company wants to make it one of the pillars of the company. January and February have been extremely good months for Harrier, he said. Usually, after the third or fourth month post the launch, the amount of enquiries taper down. “But, probably with the association with IPL, we expect the other way – that our enquiries and bookings will in fact go up...A couple of months after the launch, the buzz goes down, but we want to do it the other way, that the buzz even goes higher,” he said.
Harrier is Tata Motor’s premium flagship product, unlike Nexon. On whether this can pose any challenge, he said: “The size of the market slightly shrinks as you go up, but the Indian economy is booming, and the sweet spot of car buying population keeps increasing. Today, the sweet spot is around ₹10 lakh. Harrier sits slightly above that; it is also a very aspirational product. So, we don’t find it a limitation. In fact, we find the brand fits with the IPL extremely strongly. It’s our flagship product. IPL is BCCI’S flagship product. So, I think that’s a very good fit.”
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