Classical modernity

MARKETING: Titan Raga signs up Rani Mukherji as part of a subtle repositioning exercise, but this is still just the "alaap" phase.

Fourteen years after Titan launched Raga, its exclusive women's sub-brand, it has signed on actor Rani Mukherji as its first brand ambassador.

Harish Bhat, chief operating officer, watches, Titan Industries, says that a lot has changed in the 14 years since the brand was launched "" which is why it has decided to focus on the core brand values of sensual self-expression in a modern context, and redefine it for the evolving Indian woman.

"Raga has always done well for us, and it currently contributes 25 per cent to the Titan brand," says Bhat, "with the redefined brand, we expect to achieve a quantum breakthrough with its contribution likely to go up to 40 per cent this year." A rate the company hopes will prove sustainable over several years.

But what has changed? "The watch is now positioned more as an adornment, and less as a basic accessory," says Suparna Mitra, head, marketing, Titan Industries, adding that the new position will find comfortable space in the mind of its target consumer: the SEC AB woman in the 25-39-years age group.

This is a demographic slice in which the brand scores a 66-per cent brand preference, according to a sample survey.

Gifting, says Bhat, will be one of the brand's focus areas "" as a large number of women receive watches through gifts.

The broader Titan strategy here, by the way, is to turn the "gifting occasion" flexible enough to encompass just about anything that calls for celebration or an upliftment of mood. This goes perfectly well with the multiple watch ownership pattern (the watch wardrobe) the brand has fostered in India.

Yet, as Mitra points out, multiple watch ownership is still pretty low in India. Wearing a watch as fashionwear, as a subtle mode of raas (mood)-expression, or as a coordination device of some sophistication, is still alien to most.

Of India's 12.5 million women watch users (about 9 million, non-working), only a fraction are reckoned to consider watch variation essential to their well-being.

The grip of functionality, in other words, has yet to be replaced by that of Raga-endorsed sensuality in all its splendour.

But then, this is just the exploratory "alaap" phase in a sense, and once the market gets into dialogue with the brand "" it has just launched 50 designs inspired by nature "" the idea may spread out (with help from Mukherji, to appear soon in Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna).

"Even if international brands come in," says Bhat, convinced that the Indian female is like none other, "we have the advantage of a deep understanding of the category and the Indian woman and what she likes."

Just as well, then, that the music is still far from its crescendo. It's a game of slow and subtle enchantment, and there's much complexity to traverse on the way.