Date:15/10/2004 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/10/15/stories/2004101500710900.htm

Back Brand endorsements — Titan ticks in tune with the times

Vinod Mathew

Mumbai , Oct. 14

WATCH manufacturers, world over, seem to put a lot of faith in movie stars to endorse some of the best known brands in the time keeping business. Thus, under the Swatch umbrella, one has seen Omega Watches going great guns with Mr Pierce `Bond' Brosnan for some time now. At Longines, it is the former Miss World Aishwarya Rai who offers elegance as an attitude at least to those who can afford to check time on wristwatches that cost above Rs 20,000.

Now, it is the turn of Titan Watches to come out with a brand ambassador and it has chosen none other than the redoubtable Amir `Mutiny' Khan. Industry sources confirmed the new association between Titan and Mr Khan. However, Mr Bijou Kurien, Chief Operating Officer, Titan Industries Ltd, refused to be drawn on the identity of the celebrity though he admitted that the company was going in for a brand ambassador.

"When it came to choosing an ambassador to endorse a life style brand such as Titan, it had to be either a movie star or a cricket star as both categories enjoy mass appeal in India. We decided to go with a movie star who could identify with our product, one who had tremendous mass appeal. This is the first time that Titan has gone in for a full-fledged brand ambassador," Mr Kurien said.

The earlier two instances when Titan Watches got associated with personalities came in the form of Formula racing star Narain Karthikeyan's one-time brush with the FasTrack - Are You On It? campaign and a recent one-time brush with former Miss India Gul Panag. Neither were brand ambassadors for Titan, Mr Kurien said.

Meanwhile, the one time partner of Titan, Timex Watches is going in for a repeat association with Brett Lee, the Australian speedster for yet another year. "Brett Lee is sporty, fashionable and young, the same as the product he endorses. The one-year association between Lee and Timex has just got extended by one more year," said Mr Salil Sadanandan, Vice-President, Marketing, Timex.

According to an industry watcher, the key would lie in the manner in which Titan would use Mr Khan in endorsing the brand. "The Coke campaign saw the acting skills of Amir Khan getting utilised to the hilt as against the persona of the actor being used for the brand endorsement. The treatment could be different in this case," he said.

And it was not too many years ago that the erstwhile Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Titan Watches, Mr Xerxes Desai, in an interview said that celebrity endorsement does make sense. "Omega has 15 brand ambassadors but it's a huge expense. We've looked at the possibility but right now, no. We might do it later for a really premium brand." Looks like that time has finally arrived for Titan, which recently launched the Crown collection, its most premium collection of hand-crafted watches till date.