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Govindkrishna Seshan Mumbai
Last Updated : Jun 14 2013 | 6:16 PM IST
Yo bikes extends its product portfolio "" and its brand proposition "" to tap a wider audience.
 
For an inaugural campaign, this was unusually terse. Last year, Ahmedabad-based engineering company Electrotherm launched Yo bikes with five different models, but only one 15-second, blink-and-you-miss-it television commercial. A more detailed campaign didn't follow until several months later.
 
Still, the market seems to have liked what it saw: Electrotherm claims to have sold 39,000 electric bikes in the past 18 months. That's not nearly enough. Over the next year, Electrotherm wants its auto division to grow exponentially, selling close to 115,000 bikes by end-2008.
 
Which is why the company has expanded its product portfolio and revisited its marketing and communication strategy in a bid to reach out to a much wider audience. The core message "" "no petrol required" "" remains unchanged, though. "Yo is not a 'low petrol' bike; it is a 'no petrol' bike. This is our USP," says Avinash Bhandari, director, operations, Electrotherm.
 
A couple of weeks ago, Yo kicked off a new, multimedia campaign for a new product: Yo Speed. Three times more powerful bike than existing Yo models (750w compared to 250w), the Speed is aimed at young men.
 
While earlier bikes were single-seaters with top speeds of just 25 kmph, the Speed seats two and can reach 45 kmph. The new Speed ad is the third since Yo's national rollout last year and marks a distinct change in strategy and positioning.
 
The 40-second film features Bollywood villain Gulshan Grover in his popular role as "Bad Man". Bad Man is retiring because there's an even bigger villain around: rising petrol costs. Even as he wonders who will save everyone from this new "bad man", the "hero" (the new bike) makes an entry. The next frame shows a young couple zipping away on the bike with the tagline, "Seats two and runs 500 km in just Rs 50". The ad closes on a reformed Grover urging people to take a "bad man's good advice".
 
Grover seems an unlikely candidate to endorse an electric bike (or, indeed, any bike), but Shekhar Pandey, group account director, Canvas Communications, easily explains the choice.
 
"More than Grover, it was his "Bad Man" image we wanted, to drive home our message against petrol," he says. Besides, Grover is a well-recognised public figure who is more likely to appeal to people in tier II and III towns, which is where Yo bikes will find its core customer group.
 
The "no petrol" message has remained at the heart of all communication since Yo's launch. And the emphasis on saving is probably the key to Yo's increasing popularity.
 
"The company has benefited most by not talking about the 'electric' aspect and instead highlighting the cost benefits," points out Dilip Chenoy, director general, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
 
Yo's first commercial, too, had a simple, one-point brief: Yo bikes do not run on petrol and, therefore, save you recurring fuel expenses. External, pre-launch research across 12 cities "" including the metros and smaller towns "" had revealed that rising fuel prices was one of the biggest concerns among consumers.
 
The no-frills ad simply highlighted the economics of riding a electric bike. "We wanted to emphasise the fact that riding a electric bike helps save money," says Pandey.
 
There was another reason for the almost too-simple campaign. When Yo bikes launched, it had neither a wide-scale distribution network in place, nor a target customer group in mind. But the company was clear it wanted to be known across the country. "From Day One, we wanted to be a branded player," says Bhandari.
 
Its biggest road block, though, was persuading distributors to sign on with Yo. Rather than tie up with other, established two-wheeler manufacturers, Electrotherm concentrated on convincing tractor dealers and three-wheeler distributors to distribute its vehicles.
 
The reasoning: there could be no conflict of interest and this way the company would be able to easily provide sales, spares and service. In the past year, Yo bikes signed on 220 distributors across the country and, says Bhandari, is aiming for 300 by end-2008. Siam's Chenoy thinks the independent distributor strategy was a smart move.
 
"If other players, too, feel the need to establish separate distribution networks, it will delay their entry into this market, giving Yo bikes a longer headstart," he says.
 
By January 2007, when Yo's distribution network was up and running, the company also had fresh research findings. Two of its five models "" Yo Spin and Yo Smart "" were popular with young stay-at-home moms who found these two-wheelers convenient and cost-effective.
 
The second campaign, therefore, focused on this audience. A 30-second film showed a smartly dressed young woman driving her son to the movie theatre. The female voiceover addresses her husband.
 
"You don't need to worry about paying the bills or buying groceries anymore. You don't even need to give me money for autorickshaws or petrol." The tagline at the end: "Ab rasta hai aap ke paas (Now you have a way)". "By the time we sold 12,000 units, we realised women preferred our bikes. This campaign aimed to establish an emotional connect with them," says Bhandari.
 
The new campaign isn't about emotions. Instead, it is about reaching to a wider consumer base by pointing out the features of their new and more powerful vehicle. Since Yo Speed can seat two people and reach a top speed of 45 kmph the company believes it will now have more takers.
 
Meanwhile, competition is heating up: already, other players are readying to enter the electric bikes market, including Hero Cycles (in association with Ultra Motors) and Princy.
 
Besides, the market for motorcycles is moving away from smaller, fuel-efficient models to powerful gas-guzzlers: for the past three years, the 125-250 cc segment has been growing the fastest. A plug-and-play model may not find many takers in the metros. But perhaps smaller towns will be charged up.
 

Plug and play

Electric bikes are eco-friendly, battery-operated vehicles. There is no engine, no clutch and no gearbox. Most bikes need to be charged for seven to eight hours and can then cover 50 to 60 km. The lightweight, usually single-seater bikes can reach maximum speeds of only 25 kmph. The low speeds mean the bikes are not recognised as "motor vehicles" and, therefore, do not require registration or even a riding licence.

 

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First Published: Oct 30 2007 | 12:00 AM IST

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