“Brand Building & Brand Segmentation Strategy of

Titan”

Table of Contents

1
Sr.No Particulars Page No.

1 Introduction 5

2 The Laws of Branding 7

3 Factors That Should Be Considered For 10

Effective Brand Building Equity
4 Effective Brand Segmentation Strategy 13

5 Factors or Conditions That Contribute To 13

Successful Segmentation
6 Sub – Brands of Titan 16

7 Customer Relationship Management at 21

Titan
8 The Road Ahead 22

TITAN INDUSTRIES LIMITED

EFFECTIVE BRAND BUILDING AND SEGMENTATION STRATEGY

2
 Introduction :

In 4 continents, 40 countries and 1500 cities around the world, there is a new
brand to reckon – “ Titan “, the new world watch.
Established in 1987, titan is a part of the $8 billion Tata group, a diversified
business conglomerate with interest in automobiles, steel, information technology,
telecommunications, energy, chemicals, hotels, consumer products and tea.
In a short span of 13 years, Titan has clocked global sales of over 38 million
watches and emerged as a world’s 6th largest manufacturer brand with sales last year
touching 6 million watches. Currently Titan enjoys a nearly 40% share of the domestic
quartz market (more tan three times the size of its nearest competitor) and close to a 50%
share among the nationally recognized brands. Titan represents a unique blend of high-
end Japanese technology, legendary European design and renowned Indian
craftsmanship. It is a product of an extraordinary cooperation between designers,
toolmakers and marketers continents.
The Titan watch plant is a US $70 million state of the art integrated facility, set in
40000 square meters of floor space, and employs over 2500 professionals.
A fierce commitment to excellence coupled with some of the most sophisticated
manufacturing technologies in the world helps Titan deliver world class products in an
incredible variety of designs and styles. Every Titan is powered by robust movement,
tried and tested in the hot and humid conditions of Asia and sold with confidence of a
unique one year guarantee and an unmatched two year guarantee on the watch.
Titans renowned design skills have helped create an exclusive range of jewellery
watches…”TANISHQ”. In India, 35 world-class boutiques exclusively sell Tanishq
brand jewellery made by Titan. Product styling, which is truly contemporary matched by
superior finish and assured caratage, have helped tanishq establish a leadership position.
Offices in London, Dubai and Singapore and a significant distribution and service
base in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Australian drives the company’s
business across four continent and forty countries.

3
 It is watches; however that have been Titan’s mainstay and that are perhaps
singularly responsible for building Titan industries in to a professionally recognized
corporate leader. Titan has been consistently ranked as India’s leading consumer durables
marketing company for the past seven year’s (1993-99) by the countries leading
advertising and marketing publication A&M.
Between the years 1994 and 1998, it was also ranked in Asia’s top 200 companies
and India’s top 10 by “The Far Eastern Economic Review”. Finally, and perhaps most
importantly, the readers of the Economic Times also recently voted Titan India’s most
admired brand.
All of this has of course only been possible through the use of extensive (and
needless to say, effective) brand building techniques. In his book ‘Beyond Branding’,
Joe Marconi defines a brand simply as “ a name”, and brand equity as the value of that
name. He thus defines brand building as “ the process of creating, managing and
marketing brand equity by building brand identification, recognition and loyalty”.
In order to truly gauge the extent to which Titan has built itself into a nationally
recognized brand, we need only refer to marketing guru “Al Ries” definition of the word,
which is “ a brand is a proper noun that can be used in place of a common word”.
By this he means such as Heineken, Rolex and Mercedes, which can be used in place of
words such as beer, watch and car respectively. Can Titan be used in place of the word
“watch”? we think it can ( in the Indian context ). This is what marks the difference
between a mere name of a product, and a brand.

The laws of branding :

4
 Perhaps one of the most highly regarding works on brand building is the now
classic ’22 Immutable laws of Branding’ by the father and daughter team of Al and Laura
Ries. This can be used as reliable base while measuring the efficiency of a company’s
brand building techniques. While a run-down of all 22 ‘laws’ would be rather
impractical, not to mention unnecessary, we have, however identified those laws most
relevant to the case in point.
In order to facilitate proper comprehension, we have chosen to illustrate this point
as follows :

The Law of Contraction : A brand becomes stronger when it’s focus is narrowed. This
does not imply carrying a limited product line, but rather limiting and focusing a brand on
only one type of core product, which in Titan’s case happens to be watches. Titan’s
thought possessed of a wide product and stuck them with the Titan name, which would
have only gone on to cannibalize the value of the core brand. As a result of this, Titan has
developed for itself on image of being “ time keeping experts” in the minds of the
consumers.
The Law of Advertising: Once born, a brand needs to actively advertise in order to stay
healthy and maintain market share. If done right, advertising is more of an investment
than an expense. Titan has implemented this by always maintaining a high degree of
visibility when it comes to it’s advertising. In addition, it possesses one of the most
recognizable ad-jingles in the history of Indian advertising.

The Law of the word : Any brand worth it’s salt should strive to “own” a word or words
in the mind of the consumer. Examples of such brands are Volvo, who owns the word
“safety”, Mercedes, who own the word “prestige” and Coca Cola, who owns the word
“cola”. Titan, at least when viewed in the context of the Indian watch market, seems to
own “quality”. Though unsubstantiated b any formal market research, in an informal
survey that I conducted among a sample of 30 people we know (including friends, family,
neighbors and acquaintances), 19 of them, when asked what one word came to mind
when they heard ‘Titan Watches’ answered “quality”. A further 8 answered “Indian”,

5
another word that would do Titan absolutely no harm to own in the minds of their
prospects.

The Law of Quality : Though quality is essential to the survival and growth of any
brand, the facts remains that brands are not built by quality alone. The perception of the
brand is as, if not more significant than mere quality. It is here Titan “scores”. As
mentioned previously Titan more or less owns the word “quality” in the minds of the
consumers, thereby implying that it is perceived as a quality product combine to work
towards building the strength of Titan brand.

The law of the Name : In the long run, a brand is nothing more than a name. The
difference between products is thus not so much between the products, as it is between
their names, or perceptions of the names. Seeing as how its name is perhaps the most
important element of a brand, we feel that point warrants a slightly more in-depth
discussion.
Let us see to what extent Titan satisfies these conditions. First of all, the name
‘Titan itself comes from Greek mythology, and symbolizes greatness, grandeur and
power. Remember the Titanic? It is easy to pronounce, as well as to remember. One only
has to compare its name to that of its biggest competitor, HMT to see how well though
out the name Titan is. HMT, while being an acronym, expands out to ‘Hindustan
Machine Tools’, a generic name if we ever heard one. Asides from all these differences,
the question of perception arises. A watch is a product, the purchase of which is perhaps
driven more by perception than anything else. What sounds more classy and
sophisticated? Titan or Hindustan Machine Tools?

The Law of the Company : Brands and brands, and companies are companies. There is
a difference. Titan is owned by the Tata Group, who though highly regarded in Indian
Industry are associated more with heavy industries such as steel and truck building, than
with watch making. Chances are that no one would buy a Tata watch (its name involving
the same, if not greater reaction than an HMT). People would, however buy a Titan.

6
The Law of Siblings : there is always a time and a place to launch a second brand, but
when this is done it should be ensured that both brands have separate and distinct
identities. Each brand should be kept unique and special. When Titan decided to diversify
in to the jewellery segment, they did not call their new brand ‘Titan Jewellery’, inspite of
the high standing of the Titan name in the minds of the Indian consumers. To do so
would be to undermine the power of the Titan brand, which is that of being “watch
experts”? Hence, the jewellery was called Tanishq.

The Law of Shape : A brand’s logotype should be well designed in order to fit the eyes.
Visual symbols (again with the possible exceptions of Nike’s “swoosh” or Mercedes’ 3
pointed star) are highly overrated. The meaning lies in the words, not the symbol. The
Titan logo, through well recognizable (please refer to the rare event that you do, in fact
actually NOT recognize it) is always accompanied by the words “Titan” in a clear, crisp
typeface – denoting power (through the use of capital letters) and class at the same time.

The Law of Colour: A brand should use a colour and typeface that is the opposite of it’s
major competitor. For example, while Coca-Cola stands for red and appears in running
handwriting, Pepsi stands for blue and appears in capital, modern looking letters.
Similarly while HMT appears in small silver lettering, titan appears in capital letters, and
is usually in black.

The Law of Borders : finally, a brand should know no borders or boundaries. With a
name that stands for Hindustan Machine Tools, HMT would be hard-pressed to sell a
single watch outside Indian Territory. Such is not the case with the more globally
oriented name, Titan. As mentioned previously, Titan is sold in over 40 countries through
marketing subsidiaries in London ,Singapore and Dubai.

Thus far, we have restricted ourselves to issues exclusively concerned with the role of the
brand in building brand equity. The fact however remains that brand building is an
exercise that requires effort in a number of ways, many of them unrelated to the actual
“brand” as such. These could be related to the product’s image, the company’s image,

7
public perception of the parent company, and efficiency of promotional measures, to
name but a few.

FACTORS THAT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED FOR EFFECTIVE BRAND

BUILDING EQUITY :

Define the core brand’s position and value clearly :

A product should be properly positioned and it’s value (which includes price,
quality and image) should be properly defined as mentioned in the section regarding the
law of the word, the two words most highly identified with Titan are “quality” and
“Indian”. These should thus be emphasized upon. This is exactly what Titan has done,
positioning its watches are high as high Quality, Indian made watches, and emphasizing
upon it’s value for money as well as it’s classic image.

Don’t neglect Public Relations :

Public Relation, or PR, is vital to the success and survival of any brand.
Unfortunately, its value as a brand building tool has more often than not, been
undervalued. Newsletters, event and entertainment sponsorships, and other forms of PR
help to define the personality of a company or brand, positioning it as a good corporate
citizen, and someone nice to do business with. In keeping with India’s obsession with
cricket, Titan has often sponsored cricket tournaments including the now legendary 1997
Titan cup. Titan also sponsors a number to popular television programmes, a prime
example of which is star world’s “the practice”.

Realize that promotions can be tricky :

8
 Promotions ought to be used to create recognition and build a brand loyalty.
Needless and irrelevant contests tend to shift the customer’s attention from the product
being promoted to the price being offered (be it a trip to US or a new car). A better (and
far less expensive) way to promote a brand would be to allow it be used by other
companies in their promotional offers Titan is currently being offered by both outlook
magazines and “Welcome Awards” (the privileged customer programme of the welcome
group chain of hotels) in their various promotional offers. The most sensible and effective
forms of promotional are measures such as establishing a privileged customer club
offering customer points redeemable for discounts and rebates. Titan has their own
privileged customer club, “Titan signet”, which has an impressive membership of 1.6 lacs
members.

Always remember the USP :

A USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is not only what gives the customer a reason
to buy the brand, but also what helps him distinguish the brand from it’s competitors
Titan’s USP is two fold, and can perhaps best be described in six words.
“An Indian company offering international quality”. This works for Titan in two
ways. First of all, it’s emphasis on ‘international quality’ successfully negates it’s major
Indian competitor, HMT, who is still perceived as a company offering solid and reliable,
yet singularly unstylish outdated and staid looking watches. Secondly, with the plethora
of foreign brands in the country today, Titan emphasis on being Indian enables it
effective meet their threat interestingly , while Titan has never actively promoted the fact
that it’s parent company is the Tata Group, at the same time it has never really done much
to hide the fact. Thus by capitalizing on the name “Tata”, it has been it’s own identity as
an Indian brand offering high quality watches at prices significantly below those of
comparable foreign brands.

9
If you can’t be first, be better :

Being the first entrant in any category earns pioneer status for a brand and gives it
the advantage of being probable market leader such was the case with HMT. However
with the emphasis on its USP aggressive advertising, Titan convinced the market that it
produced the better product and thus destroyed HMT’s near monopoly of the Indian
watch market.

Expand sensibly :

Extensions should always b logical and market driven and not mere “product
explosions” .as the market environment changes with the addition of say, greater
competition, or changing customer wants and perceptions, brand extension should be
undertaken. It should not, however be undertaken arbitrarily. When Titan entered the
market in 1987, it’s main competitor was HMT, a company offering reliable and
economically priced watches. Titan thus started out being a company offering a wide
variety of models, most of which were priced economically, with the added USP of being
a most stylish alternative to HMT. As times changed however, so did Titan. With the
growing entry of foreign brands in to the market, Titan continued to introduce sub brand
after sub brand to meet every new challenge. With the entry of “high performance” sports
watch brands in the form of “Tag Hauer”, “Omega” and “Breitling”, Titan introduced
it’s own line of chronographs priced significantly lower then the completion between the
range of Rs 5000 to Rs 6000 which were supposed to be priced reasonably cheap
compared to the international brand similarly, to counter the entry of foreign, youth
oriented “Style” brands such as “Espirit” and “Swatch”, Titan introduced “Fastrack”
Sub brand, again priced extremely competitively. This would now be perfect juncture at
which to introduce the second method through which Titan captured India’s watch
market. This was done through extensive, yet well thought out segmentation, which
involved introducing a wide variety of models, each targeted at a specific segment of the
market, and more importantly, each possessing a unique and identifiable sub brand name.

10
Not only did this enable consumers to effectively differentiate between the various sub
brands but it also enabled each brand to cultivate for itself a specific image and target
itself at a specific type of customer within a specific price range. Titan has tried to
achieve a balance of cross focus and cost focus and differentiation focus. By this we
mean that in the lower end (popular segment) of the market, it seeks to achieve a cost
advantage by exploiting the differences in cost behavior in the mid and higher end
market, it seeks differentiation by providing better designs.

EFFECTIVE BRAND SEGMENTATION STRATEGY :

Before attempting a formal analysis of Titan’s segmentation techniques, the need

firstly arises to devote a little time and effort to the proper understanding of the various
terms and concepts associated with the with the phase “segmentation”. This phrase can be
defined as follows :

“Market segmentation is the process of taking the total heterogeneous market for a
product and dividing it into several sub markets or segments, each of which tends to be
homogenous in all significance”.

FACTORS OR CONDITIONS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO SUCESSFUL

SEGMEMTATION:

• Substantiality:

Refers to the size of segmented markets. Segments large enough to permit viable market
effort directed towards them. In order words demand for one segment must great enough
to make the marketing effort worthwhile. Titan has fully satisfied this condition as its
model i.e. – Psi 2000, regalia, Classique, Fastrack etc are all large & profitable enough to
direct marketing effort towards them.

11
 • Accessibility:

Could be attained through the existing channel of distribution. The segments must permit
the firm to direct successfully different marketing effort towards the segments. The
existing channels of distribution for Titan like exclusive showroom and shop dealers can
support titans various segments.

• Representability:

Segments should be large and profitable enough to be considered as a separate market.

Such segments must be representative in nature and must have individuality of their own.

• Response rates:

The segments must show difference in responses to the marketing variables. If various
segments respond in similar ways to a marketing mix, there is no need to develop a
separate marketing mix.

• Measurable:

The size, purchasing power, and characteristics of the segments can be measured. This
has been clearly satisfied by Titan through its pricing and branding policy. To understand
Titan’s segmentation policy, the4 need arises to first understand the basis for
segmentation relevant to Titan.

• Psychographic segmentation:

12
In psychographic segmentation buyers are divided into different groups on the basis of
lifestyle and personalities. People within the same demographics group can exhibit very
different psychographic profiles. For example, such segmentation can be attempted on
the basis of: Life – straights, swingers, longhairs. Personality – compulsive, gregarious,
authoritarian, ambitious.

• Multi – attribute segmentation ( Geo-clustering) :

Marketing in recent times is crossing several variables in an effort to identify smaller,

better- defined target groups. Geo-clustering yields richer descriptions of consumers
because it reflects the socio economic status & lifestyle of the target customers.
Socioeconomic segmentation: the segmentation here is done on the basis of social class
i.e. working class, middle income group etc. since marketing Is potentially and intimately
connected with the “ability to pay” this segmentation is meaningful in analyzing buying
pattern of a particular class. Socio-economics factor help to locate a market precisely.

• Socio-economic segmentation:

The segmentation here is done on the basis of social class i.e. working class, middle
income group etc. since marketing is potentially and intimately connected with the
“ability to pay” this segmentation is meaningful in analyzing buying patterns of a
particular class. Socio-economic factors help to locate a market precisely.

• Demographic segmentation:

Under this method, the consumers are grouped in to homogenous groups in terms of
demographic similarities such as age, sex and education.

Now, before elaborating upon the ways in which Titan has implemented these
aforementioned basis of segmentation, we shall comprehensively list out the entire range

13
of time keeping instruments available in the market today under the Titan brand name.
we shall also attempt to identify the specific market segment each sub brand is aimed at,
while at the same time identify the genre they fall into, as well as the main brands (be
they Indian or foreign) that they are in competition with. Thus presented henceforth, in no
significant order, we might add, are the various sub brands that collectively make up the
time keeping giant we know as Titan:

SUB- BRANDS OF TITAN

• Sonata:

This is Titan’s most basic range, offered reliable, everyday working watches reasonably
priced between Rs 350 – Rs 900, a case of socio-economic segmentation and this brand is
perhaps HMT’s most direct competitor, offering more or less similar attributes to those
offered by HMT’s watches.

• Edges:
These ultra-slim watches are marketed as being “Truly World Class”. This offering from
Titan is more sophisticated and elegant looking watches for the urban class of people who
are more image and status conscious .Titan has used psychographic segmentation to
identify the market for ‘EDGE’. Ultra-slim watches are a growing trend in the
international watch market today, with quite a few brands such as “Swatch”, “Citizen”
and “Rado” offering their variations of the concept. Titan is no less.

• Nebula :

Originally part of the Tanishq line, Nebula became part of the Titan line when Tanishq
was made exclusively a jewellery line. One of the Titan’s most expensive range of
watches, they are still marketed as solid golden watches under the ad-line, “ The
Jeweler’s Collection”, a case of Geo-clustering technique of segmentation. Priced
between Rs. 6000- Rs 13,500 these watches are rather obviously targeted at upper-most
end of the market, in competition with brand such as “Rolex” and “Cartier”.

14
 • Dash ! :

These are bright, colorful watches aimed at children aged 6-14 years, offering the
advantage of a recognized, high quality brand, economically priced at Rs. 250 onwards.
These watches are marketed under the ad-line “Wow watches from Titan” thereby
making them instantly appealing to their target audience. Dash! Has created an entirely
new market segment in the watch industry and dominated it. Recently however, with the
entry of Swatch, with their child- oriented “Pop-Swatch” watches, Dash! Finally has
some competition. Dash! Is still likely to dominate this segment however, as no other
brand is quite ready to offer such competitive prices.

• Fastrack:

These are Titan’s youth oriented, “Style” watches, priced between Rs. 550-Rs. 1500.
incorporating the all new international frosted look, these watches offer contemporary
styles that are fresh and vibrant, for both men and women ( Geo-clustering
segmentation). The all-steel body comes in variety of frosted finishes-steel, gold ion
plated and black ion plated with PVC, leather and cool metal straps. All watches are
highly water resistant, ranging form 50m to 100m. their ad-line, “Cool Watches from
Titan” speaks volumes about the segment it is targeted at. Fastrack recently launched it’s
digital range as well, and now counts among it’s main competitors “Sitco” and “Casio”
(in digital range) and “Espirit” and Swatch” (in the analog range).

• Classique:

These watches are targeted at the older male segment of the market, and profess timeless
elegance through a combination of fine leather straps, clean classic dials and sleek cases,
thus making it, “A perfect fit for formal wear”. Classique is the embodiment of
everything that is everlasting yet contemporary. These watches tend to be generic in their

15
simplicity, and find no real competitors, save for perhaps HMT. These watches are priced
between Rs. 550 to Rs. 3000.

• Insignia:

This “World Watch” priced between Rs. 4000 – Rs. 7500, is an eloquent fusion of
design, craftsmanship, and precision engineering. An Insignia is 10 times more complex
than a regular Titan watch, incorporating the best of materials, high graded anti-allergic
steel, scratch resistant sapphire crystal and special hard gold plating. Individually
numbered, each Insignia comes with a two-year international guarantee.

• Psi 2000:

A range of contemporary sports watches aimed and marketed as a tough, outdoor,

adventure brand (Psychographics segmentation). Made from non-allergic stainless steel,
these watches have such authentic sports features as luminous dial marking, rotating
timer rings, upto 100m water resistance, and screw in crowns to withstand pressure while
swimming. As is evident from their advertising, Psi 2000 is positioned in direct
competition with similar foreign brands such as the Swatch “Irony”. These watches are
priced between Rs. 800 to Rs. 7500.

• Raga:

These are exclusive watches for women, with design elements that are first of their kind.
An exciting collection that incorporates traditional Indian motifs, with such innovation as
interchangeable straps and a unique three in one watch. Designed exclusively for use with
Indian women’s formal wear such as sarees and salwar kameezes, this range is truly one
of a kind and has no competitors in its segment. These watches are priced between Rs
1400 to Rs 4000.

16
 • Royale:

This stunning collection comprises of alluring gold plated cases matched with exquisite
gold plated straps, and including designs to suit everything from simple to dressy evening
wear. These watches are priced between Rs 960 to Rs 3000.

• Regalia:

Priced at Rs 5000 upwards, and marketed as “Incredibly eye catching … magic in gold”,
these finely crafted watches combine sleek cases and pattered dials with special appliqués
flowing in to intricately designed bracelets. This is Regalia… a special watch for a
special occasion. With a unique combination of all gold and bicolor looks, this range
represents the essence of dress wear ( Geo clustering segmentation ). Competitors include
foreign “ Dress Watch” brands such as “Tissot”, “Piaget” and “Rado”.

• Spectra:

A truly unique collection of watches, which combines the sturdiness of steel with the
richness of gold. International in its styling, this range is for those who look beyond the
ordinary. These watches are priced between Rs 650 to Rs 1900.

Technology:

These watches merge classic elegance with technology mastery. This unusual
combination gives rise to multifunctional chronographs using space age technology and
the timeless essence of the sun in order to produce contemporary solar powered machine
in competition with brands such as “Citizen’s” – Eco Drive. These watches are priced
between Rs 2350 to Rs 8170.

Titan has also slightly diversified beyond it’s core product of wrist watches by entering
the clock market. It has done so in the form of the two following brands;

17
 • Synchrony:

These are analog table clocks, offered in over a 100 different models, and available in
both plastic as well as steel. They are marketed under the ad-line “Center of Attention”
and are priced at Rs 425 upwards. This line finds itself in combination with
predominantly Indian brands such as “Ajanta”, “Jayco” and “Prestige”.

• Cyber:

One of Titan’s newest brands, cyber offers small digital alarm clocks priced between Rs
400 to Rs 600. in keeping with its image, the cyber line of clocks even has it’s own
website: [email protected]

Visit hrmba.blogspot.com for more

18
Customer Relationship Management at Titan:

Having now discussed in depth, both the brand building as well as the
segmentation techniques of Titan, we would like to briefly touch upon the concept of
Customer –Relationship Management (CRM), which has been successfully introduced by
Titan in the Indian market.

CRM is an idea that has began to assume growing significance in today’s corporate
environment, as it is a vital element in customer satisfaction. As product differentiation
decreases (and such is definitely the case in the watch industry) companies will have to
increasingly use CRM as a means of differentiating themselves from the competition. It is
here that Titan has made headway, perhaps more so than any other Indian company.
Apart from the run of the mill customer databases and direct marketing techniques that
most companies employ, Titan has implemented a number of small, yet significant
measures that go a long way in enhancing customer satisfaction. A prime example of this
would be to observe one of Titan’s 55 watch care centers. Here, receptionists make it a
point to speak the local language, and standby watches are provided to serve as
replacements till a customer’s watch is repaired. Additionally, these service centers are as
posh as the showrooms, have 24-hour voice mail facilities, have no lunch hours, are open
till late evenings, and even deliver watches at home, if so required. It is measures such as
these that enhance a company’s image and build brand and consumer loyalty. It is little
wonder then, that Titan is consistently voted India’s # 1 brand.

Visit hrmba.blogspot.com for more

19
The Road Ahead ….
Though being voted India’s #1 company is an honor any company would cherish, we feel
that with the surge of foreign entrants into India’s watch market, Titan cannot afford to
rest on it’s laurels. Titan should prepare for a war ….A MARKETING WAR.
Before elaborating upon the strategies Titan can adopt in the future, it is important to
understand that the best strategy for a market leader is to play defense. However, a
defensive strategy should by no means be confused for a passive one. In their famous
book “Marketing Warfare”, by Al Ries and Jack Trout Identify 2 major principles of
defensive is marketing warfare.
1) “The best defensive strategy is the courage to attack yourself”
The best way to improve your position is by constantly attacking it. In other words, Titan
should strengthen its position by introducing new products that make obsolete its existing
ones. It is better to take business away from yourself than have someone else do it for
you. This puts the competition in a tough spot, as a moving target is harder to hit than a
stationary one. Titan should continuously innovate and introduce new models. The
importance of R&D (Research and Development) has been realized only recently. In
recent times it has been R & D that has provided the edge to both products and brands.
However this strategy can be applied mainly to the lower range or digital range of Titan’s
watches, as the concept of ‘class’ remains constant over a period of time.
Attacking yourself may sacrifice short-term profits, but it has one fundamental benefit. It
protects market share, the ultimately weapon in any marketing battle. Any company that
hesitates to attack itself usually loses market share and ultimately market leadership.

2) “Strong competitive moves should always be blocked”

Most companies have only one chance to win, but leader like Titan have two. If Titan
misses an opportunity to attack itself, it can often recover simply by copying the
competitive move. However, the leader ought to move rapidly before the attacker gets

20
established. There is no room for oversized egos or complacency in marketing. Blocking
works well for a leader as it takes time for an attacker to make an impression in the mind
of the target customer.

For example it Timex comes out with a new technology watch Titan should counter the
move by introducing a similar line of watches. In marketing warfare, psychology is
always on the side of the larger competitor. It is thus always better to cover that to
undercover.

I therefore feel that it is only through the proper implementation of such defensive
techniques that Titan will be able to survive cut-throat competition from numerous
domestic as well as foreign brands in the country today.

In closing, I sincerely hope that I have been successful in my endeavor to not only
discuss the various techniques employed by Titan Industries on their road to being India’s
favorite brand, but to have also shed light on my perspective of marketing in general.

21