From brassy to sassy

What should you do when you are zipping down the fast track? Wear a helmet, of course! Which is probably why Fastrack, once a spin-off from Titan but now arguably the fastest growing youth brand in the Tata Group’s repertoire, is planning to brand crash helmets next.

Despite over one million two-wheelers being sold every month in India, the helmet market is largely driven by unorganised players. Fastrack aims to change that.

“Every year, we evaluate what new categories we can add to Fastrack. In the last seven-eight years, we have added six new categories for youth in the age group of 15-25 years. We want to enter into every category that is largely unorganised,” said Simeran Bhasin, Marketing Head, Fastrack.

Launched as a sub-brand in the low-cost segment by Titan, the Tata Group’s watches and eyewear venture, the popularity of this brand has seen the retailer become more youth-centric over the past few years.

Known for its quirky taglines and bold ads, Fastrack, once a watch and eyewear brand, has moved with the times to become an independent retail brand in its own right. It is no more a brand known for making affordable watches for college-goers but has transformed into a lifestyle company with a product mix that now includes sunglasses, bags, wallets, belts and now helmets!

Fastrack has time and again challenged audiences with its ad campaigns, many of which have raised eyebrows for their bold nature. Its latest series, for instance, has featured young, liberated female protagonists, who are shown clearly taking the lead even in outrightly sexual encounters. So much so that it is now difficult to tell whether Fastrack is a women’s brand or unisex.

“I don’t think that they are only focused on the young woman since their products are from various categories, some male dominated, others focused on women. In fact their product advertisements are extremely focused so much so that a sportswear brand dominated by men does not even have a woman in its commercials,” said N. Chandramouli, CEO, Trust Research Advisory, a marketing research firm.

Subhobroto Chakraborty, Business Head at creative agency Genesis, said the bold ads of a girl running after a night out with a guy just shows that girls today are more independent about how they live their personal lives and their sense of fashion.

Fastrack has always been positioned as a youth brand. It is visible in their earlier campaign based on the theme of ‘Moving On’ after a break-up, and continues to the current day positioning.

According to Chandramouli, “their advertisements infer that they are trying very hard to stay relevant to the youth and, therefore, from just being bold, they are becoming sassy — something that today's youth identifies with.”

“The strategy is simple. The brand personality stands for ‘urban, young, youthful, bold, sexy, move on with life, honest but very western look’. So all its ads across categories reflects that mood and character,” adds Chakroborty.

The company is evaluating entry into the footwear and junk jewellery segments but has put the plans on hold, Bhasin said. That’s probably because Tata is already present in the footwear segment with Tashi, a premium brand owned by Tata Group’s export arm Tata International. However, industry experts do not see it as a competition as Fastrack’s footwear range would be targeted at youth and hence the pricing and designs would be different from that of Tashi.

The company is now planning to design and launch bicycles keeping in mind the wants of today’s youth. If that happens, it might also launch bicycle gear.

“It wants to sit on a positioning that is missing in other brands in India at present. One should not be taken aback if it comes out with fragrance, nail polish, shower gel, or even jeans or garments that can easily carry the brand’s personality and attitude,” said Chakraborty.

The current product mix reflects the brand’s aspirational value and brings out the ‘feel good, look good’ factor, says Bhasin. Fastrack would like to be the ‘accessory brand’ for young male and female consumers.

Pricing and design has also played an important role in making the brand popular. Ranging from Rs 600 to Rs 3,000, the company has launched innovative product lines such as the Tees collection of wrist watches that is inspired by the quotes and designs seen on T-shirts. These watches carry irreverent, tongue-in-cheek messages that reflect the attitude of the wearer.

The company is extending ‘Tees’ into other categories also, said Bhasin. The company has also entered the Rs 35,000-crore bags, wallets and belts categories this year, with summer and monsoon bags. However, for the company, 60 per cent of total revenues still come from the Rs 4,800-crore watch segment.

However, Bhasin said the company’s focus on categories change keeping in mind the growth of a particular category. This is the reasoning behind the entry into the volume-driven bags and belts category.

“Girls have always been obsessed with bags and wallets. These days every girl has at least three bags in her wardrobe. We are looking at 25-30 per cent growth coming from bags this year,” Bhasin added.

The company’s turnover has also grown multi-fold, from a mere Rs 29-crore sub-brand in 2004 to a Rs 615-crore independent brand this fiscal. It is targeting a 50 per cent growth in FY 13 and hopes to cross the Rs 1,000-croremark.

The company is also investing heavily on increasing its physical presence both in terms of retail network and ads. Currently there are 110 brand stores and the company wants to add another 170 stores this year, Bhasin said. She also added that the focus would be on Tier-II and III cities, where Fastrack is growing in double digits

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