Fastrack moves in on helmets, looks to carve a niche

Watches and jewellery major Titan Company has made a foray into the helmet category under its youth brand Fastrack. Helmets priced between Rs. 1495 and Rs. 3495 are available at exclusive Fastrack stores. Lowe Lintas and Partners is the creative agency and media duties are handled by Maxus.

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Campaign India caught up with Simeran Bhasin, head - marketing and retail, Fastrack and new brands, Titan Industries, for more on the foray, and the category.

Why helmets? Has it been in the works for a while?

We have been working on it from the last year and half. We saw an opportunity in the helmet category, which is currently largely a functional category. Not only to bring in function and quality that market doesn’t offer, more importantly to launch a helmet as an exciting personal accessory. And therefore, you will see that the kind of helmet we brought in is very vibrant, colorful; very different looking from what you see in the market, which is primarily black.

What is the size of the helmet market in India?

Rs 500 crore.

Priced upwards of Rs. 1,495, who is the TG for the Fastrack helmet range? Is this a premium offering? This seems higher than the Fastrack entry points in other categories like watches and bags...

The TG remains the Fastrack TG, which is the 15 to 25 year-old consumers. It may look like a premium offering relative to what’s available in the market right now but no - this is not premium offering. I think for the first time we have a quality offering in the market and that quality comes at a price. Most of the helmets that are available, you will find them on the street and on lot of these don’t even have an ISI mark. We will be launching out premium offering in the next year or so. This is our basic offering at the moment.

Who is the competition for Fastrack helmets?

There are some helmet brands like Vega and Studds. Right now there are no youth brands in this category yet.

Do you see women’s helmets as an opportunity area?

Yeah, absolutely. We are the first brand in women's helmets category. If you see, a large part of the riders are women.

What is the marketing budget for helmets?

At the moment it is an undisclosed amount. But the helmet category will gain from the overall spending that Fastrack does across all categories. There will be a small amount that will be put directly on the helmet category, which will go up as we expand our distribution.

We have seen outdoor campaign. Will there be a television commercial for the same? What is the media spread? And how long will it run?

Yes, possibly in the near future. We are already on digital right now and it will be a 360-degree campaign. And it will run from four to six weeks.

What are the distribution channels? Will they be available at helmet trade outlets? And at all Fastrack stores? (How many stores are there now?)

At the moment, it’s only in exclusive Fastrack stores but we plan to expand our distribution to e-commerce and large format departmental stores as well as the multi-brand outlets.

Being a high-touch category that requires trial, do you see online sales of helmets as a possibility?

Yes.