A Marketing Analysis of Four Brands of Watches: HMT, Titan, Swatch, TAG Heuer

A Marketing Analysis of Four Brands of Watches
[HMT, Titan, Swatch, TAG Heuer]

Asokendu Samanta (SMSID 104118)
Lalitha Devi (SMSID 103601)
B. Narayanan (SMSID 103566)

Group No 22, PGCBM 15, Powai, Mumbai

23 March 2009

A Marketing Analysis of Four Brands of Watches 1

About The Authors

Asokendu Samanta obtained Doctorate of Philosophy in Engineering
from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. He worked as a
Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Robert Gordon University,
United Kingdom. He is presently the Head of the Department of
Structure in the Research and Development Division of Indian
Register of Shipping, Mumbai. He is also a Visiting Faculty of Ocean
Education and Research Centre, Mumbai and a Reviewer of an
International Journal. He has several publications in various foreign
journals.

[Email: asokendu@hotmail.com]

Lalitha Devi graduated in Engineering from National Institute of
Technology (NIT), Warangal. She is associated with TATA
communications for last three and a half years and presently working
as Network Planner.

[Email: slalitha.devi@gmail.com]

B. Narayanan graduated in Mechanical Engineering. He is presently
associated with ITC Group in Mumbai.

[Email: brnarayanan@rediffmail.com]


Preface

Time is Money. With the advent of new technology, a revolutionary change is occurred in
the watch market of India. Previously only a few brands were ruling the market. However with
the passage of time and with the opening of free trade, there is no dearth of various national and
international brands in the market. A few years ago, people used to buy watch, only to check
time. However, now they buy not only to check time but also for fashion.
In the present report an attempt has been made to analyze the four brands of the watch
namely, HMT and Titan of India and Swatch and Tag Heuer of Switzerland. SWOT analyses of
the each brand are presented in evaluating their prospect in Indian market.
The first chapter deals with HMT, one of the national brands of India. In the second
chapter, various aspects of Titan, the market leader of India are presented. Third and fourth
chapters deal with international brands, Swatch and Tag Heuer respectively. Emphasis is given
particularly to analyze the advertisements of each brand, identifying what marketers are trying to
achieve. At the end, conclusions are drawn in chapter five summarizing various critical aspects.

Key Words

Advertisement, Attribute, Current behavior, HMT, Macro environment, Micro environment,
Positioning, Swatch, SWOT analysis, Tag Heuer, Titan.


Contents
About the Authors 1
Preface 2

Chapter 1 HMT of India 4-9

1.1 History 4
1.2 Current Behavior 4
1.3 Marketing Environment 5
1.4 Advertisement 9
1.5 Positioning 9

Chapter 2 Titan of India 10-16

2.1 History 10
2.4 Advertisement 15
2.5 Positioning 15

Chapter 3 Swatch of Switzerland 17-22

3.1 History 17
3.5 Positioning 22

Chapter 4 Tag Heuer of Switzerland 23-28

4.1 History 23
4.5 Positioning 28

Chapter 5 Conclusions 29


Chapter
ONE

HMT OF INDIA

1.1 HISTORY

E stablished by the Government of India in 1953 as a Machine Tool manufacturing
company. Later it diversified into Watches, Tractors, Printing Machinery, Metal
Forming Presses, Die Casting & Plastic Processing Machinery, CNC Systems and
Bearings. It has collaborations with world-renowned manufacturing company. At
present, HMT comprises six subsidiaries under the ambit of a Holding Company.

1.2 CURRENT BEHAVIOR
It launched with watches like Janata, Sona, Pilot, Tarun, Nutan, Jawhar, Automatic Day and Date,
Priya, Chinar, Nishat, Rakhee, Avinash and Kohinoor. To capture the growing urban market for


fashionable watches, two new brands viz., `Ramani' for gents and `Utsav' for ladies were
launched.

The company has introduced 350 range of Citizen watches in Mumbai - Citizen Watches (India)
Limited, is a joint venture between the Citizen Watch Company, Japan which holds a 51 per
cent stake and Doshi Time Industries holding 49 per cent stake.

In the recent series of quartz watches it has following ranges

 Elegance
 Roman – Only for men
 Utsav – The well dressed watch
 Sangam -Absolutely Modern, Absolutely Indian
 Lalit -Value for Money, For those who value Money
 Pace -For cute faces
 Swarna - Good as Gold
 Shreyas - Sign of Good Times
 Chandan- The fragrance watch
 Braille -A gift of time to the blind
 Rajat - Automatic watch

And also customized watches for Institutions

1.3 MARKETING ENVIRONMENT
The marketing environment of a brand consists both macro and micro environment. Macro
environ are Political, Economic, Socio cultural and Technical. Micro involves Competition,
buying behavior, supplying behavior, communication and internal. Marketing environment of
HMT is given below.

Political: HMT has the government support.

Internal: Once the market leader in mechanical watches, HMT has lost its images mainly due to
bad work culture. Some of the authorized retailers started acting as wholesaler and HMT lost
control over final consumer price.

External: Titan, Swatch, Timex are the very strong competitors. HMT doses not have good after
sales service.

Customer: HMT could not change its product as the preference of the customers which changed
over time.

The SWOT analysis in form of Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat are given below
(also in Table 1.1).


1.3.1 Strength

Mechanical Watches: HMT is the market leader in mechanical watches (Fig 1.1), which serves to
the lower segment of the society.

Brand Image: HMT has a very strong brand image. It has quality of reliability.

Production and Training Facility: It has got a very good training facility (Collaboration with
Citizen Japan for formal training).
Industrial Relation: Company has a very good industrial relation. It has never encountered any
kind of labor problem.

Adequate Asset: It has got vast land, building and machinery.

Government Support: The Company has government support.

High Capacity: In-house capacity to manufacture 60 lakh dials, 26 lakh cases annually (2002-
2003)

Fig 1.1 HMT was the market leader in mechanical watches
[Source: http://picasaweb.google.com/bernard.fruga]

1.3.2 Weakness

R&D Design: No emphasis and attention to aesthetics and design.


Retailer Policy: No control over retailers. Some of the authorized retailers started acting as whole
sellers.

Weak Organizational Culture: Lack of team sprit and awareness. Inadequate motivational
strategies/ reward / punishment.

Trade Audits: No regular trade audits was being carried out by the company to check what was
actually happening in the market.

Advertisement: Inadequate advertisement, promotion, sponsors. It failed to communicate the
uniqueness of HMT quartz design.

Centralized Decision: The decisions on campaigns for specific products were delayed leading to
the time lag and response to market change.

1.3.3 Opportunities

Diversification of Product: Apart from mechanical watches, HMT can focus on anadigi, digiana,
multifunction, digital stopwatch, alarm etc.

Export: Export market can be tapped.

Market Segmentation: It can expand, launching product suitable for different customers profile
and could promote different watches for different moods (eg., formal, casual etc.)

Sales Network: HMT could have collaborated with some of the good retailers of different brands
with big distribution networks to display and sell some newly launched models (jewel watches
etc.)

Innovative Product: Hire good designers to design new models of the watches based on customer
preferences combining technology and aesthetic appeal together to enhance the experience.

Market Survey: It can do proper market survey before launching any product. They may take any
help of specialist in this regard.

Retail Store: Renovate the retail stores to attract the customer in a convincing environment.

1.3.4 Threats

Competitor: Titan, Timex, Citizen Swatch etc are the biggest threats.

Model: Many luxury and varieties of watches are competing in the market nowadays.

Spurious Operators: People who indulge in fraudulent activities, misusing the brand name.

Old Fashion Design: HMT’s product is quite old fashioned when other brands are manufacturing
innovative and attractive products.


Table 1.1 SWOT Analysis of HMT in tabular form

Parameter Variable Threat/ Controllable Implication Strength/
Opportunity / Uncon Weakness

Product Variety Threat UC Competitors have better Weakness
product lines
Technology Opp UC HMT Image in Strength
mechanical watch
Aesthetic Threat UC Focus on quality Strength
Functioning Diversification Opp C Do market survey, Strength
of Product employ skilled labor,
(digital, colors, acquire machine
waterproof, etc.)
Key system Threat C Increase warranty Strength
period, and service
station
Straps wear and Threat C Increase warranty Strength
tear period, and service
station
Battery Threat C Increase service station Strength
and give facility to
replace easily
Utility VAT Threat UC
Competition Threat Titan, Timex are well Weakness
ahead
Demand Recession Threat UC Give attractive offers, Strength
discount, exchange
offer
Advertisement Opp C Strategically position Strength
bill board, slogan
Agreement with Opp C Maintain good Strength
Retailer relationship with
retailer to promote the
product
Replica watch Threat UC Increase awareness Strength
among customers
Acceptance Political support Opp Utilize the support from Strength
(Macro) government
Unions Opp Good relation, give Strength
incentives, rewards,
recognition, proper
working condition
Acceptance Status Threat UC Prepare brand image Strength
(Micro)


1.4 ADVERTISEMENT

Fig 1.2 An advertisement of HMT watch
[Source: http://members.iinet.net.au/~gumby1/something_different/something_different.html]

Observing the advertisement it can be mentioned that HMT is trying to capture middle and lower
segment of the market. ‘Nation’ and ‘Janata’ these two words give this indication.

1.5 POSITIONING OF THE BRAND
Nearly twenty to twenty five years back HMT was a very good brand name in Indian market. It
reached to the position of credence attribute. However, now it has gone back to the convenience
attribute.

Marketing Ability

Low Uncertainty High Uncertainty
Low difference
between brands

Convenience Credence
Attribute Attributes
Marketing Force

(HMT)

PUSH PULL
difference
between brands

Search Experience
Attributes Attributes
High

Fig 1.3 Present position of HMT in the matrix


Chapter
TWO

TITAN OF INDIA

2.1 HISTORY

T itan watch division was started in 1987. It is a joint venture between one of India's
most respected business organizations, the Tata Group, and the Tamil Nadu
Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO). It is the world’s fifth largest and
India’s leading manufacturer of watches. At launch it was the third watch company
in India after HMT and Allwyn. Titan formed a joint venture with Timex, which lasted until
1998, and setup a strong distribution network across India. Titan Industries has claimed to have
manufactured the world's slimmest wrist watch - Titan Edge. Produced indigenously after four
years of research and development, the Titan Edge has a total slimness of just 3.5 mm and a wafer
thin movement of 1.15 mm.

Titan has different ranges of watches from different tastes and styles.


After carrying out an in-depth market study, Titan identified three distinct market segments for its
watches. These segments are determined based on benefit and income level.

High Income Segment: This is for high income/ elite consumers who buy watch as a fashion
accessory not as a mere instrument showing time. They are also willing to buy a watch on
impulse. The price tag does not matter to them. Titan offered Aurum and Royale in the gold /
jewellery watch range. The prices are between Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 1 lakh.

Medium Income Segment: These consumers prefer some fashion in their watches but to them
price does matter. While they have the capacity to pay the price required for a good watch, they
will not purchase a watch without comparing various offers in the market. For this segment, Titan
offered the Exacta range in stainless steel, aimed at withstanding the rigors of daily life. The price
range is Rs. 500-700. Titan also offered the RAGA range for women in this segment.

Low Income Segment: The third segment consists of the lower-income consumers who see a
watch mainly as a time-keeping device and buy mainly on the basis of price. Titan first offered
the TIMEX watches and later, when the arrangement with Timex was terminated, it offered the
SONATA range. The price range was Rs. 350-500.

Titan collections and customer and price based segmentation:

 FAST TRACK: Category aimed at Youth. A collection of watches will contemporary
styles that are young and distinctive. Price: Rs.550-1,430.

 EXACTA: Category aimed at Lower Middle Class (Office Wear). A perfect combination
of dateless styling and design simplicity. Price: Rs.595-1,140

 SPECTRA: Category aimed at: Common Class. A truly unique collection of watches that
combines the sturdiness of steel with the richness of gold. Price: Rs.650-1830

 ROYALE: Category aimed at Upper Middle Class. A stunning collection of alluring
gold-plated cases matched with exquisite gold-plated straps. Price: Rs.960-2,830.

 RAGA: Category aimed at Upper Class. Exclusive watches for women. It is elegant,
delicate and feminine with each piece being truly. Unique. Price: Rs.1,420-4,000.

 BANDHAN: Category aimed at: Couples. Watches for him and her. Price: Rs.1,675-
8,085.

 REGALIA: Category aimed at: Upper Middle Class – Upper Class.
Magic in gold and unique futuristic material. Price: Rs.1725-7770

 EDGE: Category aimed at business class. The Titan EDGE is the Slimmest Watch in the
Universe. Price: Rs. 4,500-5,200

 Nebula: Category aimed at: Upper Class a range of watches crafted from solid gold
embellished with precious stones. Price: 10,000-45,000


Titan has the following marketing environment.

Political: Tata group being is one of the respected groups in India, Titan has the government
support.

Internal: Being owned by Tata group, it has a good ‘Tata’ culture. They take care their
employees.

External: Titan is the market leader in the watch market of India.

Customer: Titan invests a good amount of money for their research and new innovation. As such
they keep on changing their model as per the taste and preference of customers.


2.3.1 Strength

Leading Manufacturer: Titan Industries is the world's fifth largest and India's leading
manufacturer of watches.

Customer Base: The company has manufactured more than a 100 million watches till date; and
has a customer base of over 80 million.

Market Share: The Titan portfolio has over 60% of the domestic market share in the organized
watch market. The company has 247 exclusive showrooms christened World of Titan', making it
amongst the largest chains in its category backed by 700 after-sales-service centers.

World Class Design Studio: The Company has a world-class design studio that constantly invents
new trends in wrist watches.

Wide Choice in Style: Titan decided to inundate consumers with a wide choice in style, functions
and price (Fig 2.1). The initial range was 350 models.

Retailer: Titan brought in the concept of retailing into the watch market, established a network of
fine showrooms, which would later become the world's largest network of exclusive watch stores.

Advertising: Titan saw this as a vital investment. Right from begining Titan invested significantly
in advertising and in that process created a set of memorable and effective properties over the
years.

Brand Ambassadors: Titan engaged major celebrities like Amir Khan (Fig 2.2), Kapil dev as
Brand ambassadors for its Titan range.


Fig 2.1 Variety is the strength of Titan

2.3.2 Weakness

Waterproof: Waterproof watches are not in the portfolio of the Titan.

Raw Material: Non-availability of cheaper raw materials from domestic sources.

Market Segmentation: Titan has not focused in the lower segment of India in rural area which is
contributing about 40% of the share of Indian volume.

2.3.3 Opportunities

Scope in Jewellery Market: Importance of jewellery to Indian consumers.

Extend the Brand: Titan has a scope to capture in feminine accessories.

Exchange Business: Titan may enter into exchange market.


2.3.4 Threats

Competitor: Citizen, Swatch, Rolex, Tag Heuer etc are the biggest threats.

Raw Material: Raw material cost is said to be high because of high import duties.

Fashion Change: Changing trends in fashion

Table 2.1 SWOT analysis of Titan in tabular form


Product Variety Opp C New innovation Strength
Technology Opp Titan image Strength
Aesthetic Opp C Wide variety exist Strength
Functioning Diversification of Opp C Do market survey, Strength
Product (digital, Employ skilled labor,
waterproof etc.) acquire machine
station
replace easily
Utility VAT Threat UC
Competition Threat C Brand image Strength
discount, exchange
offer
Advertisement Opp C Strategically poisoned Strength
your bill board, slogan
product
Spurious watch Threat UC Increase awareness Strength
among customers
Brand Opp C Utilize the brand image Strength
ambassador of famous celebrities
(actors, sport person)
Acceptance Political support Opp Utilize the support from Strength
(Macro) government
Unions Opp Good relation, give Strength
recognition, proper
working condition
Acceptance Status Opp C Brand image Strength
(Micro)


2.4 ADVERTISEMENT

Fig. 2.2 Actor Amir Khan is the brand ambassador of Titan
[Source: official website of Titan, http://www.titanworld.com]

Advertisement gives an indication how the product is positioned. The result of positioning is the
successful creation of a customer focused value proposition, a cogent reason why the target
market should buy the product. Observing the advertisement it can be mentioned that Titan is
trying to capture middle and higher segment of the market using actor Amir Khan as brand
ambassador.


Titan has placed its position as emotional positioning based on role model (see the Fig. 2.2 where
Bollywood actor Amir Khan is shown). On the matrix it will be credence attributes as it has
already created a value proposition in the mind of customer.


Marketing Ability


Low difference
between brands
Marketing Force

(TITAN)

PUSH PULL
difference
between brands

Search Experience
High

Fig 2.3 Present position of Titan in the matrix


Chapter
THREE

SWATCH OF SWITZERLAND

3.1 HISTORY

S watch brand was launched in 1983 and was originally intended to re-capture entry-
level market share lost by Swiss manufacturers during the aggressive growth of
Japanese companies such as Seiko in the 1960s and 1970. Swatch overcame crisis
and led to the survival of the Swiss watch industry re-popularizing analog watches at
a time when digital watches had achieved wide popularity.


Swatch has identified and segmented the market based on customers, different age groups, tastes,
preferences with wide ranges and styles of watches with different prices targeting the teens and
youth with collections like Legendry Eagle, Under Sea Screen. For adults, their collection is
Casse cou for Men and middle aged elders and senior citizens. They positioned their product
suitable for various moods and segments to compete in highly competitive market so that they
will be able to defend against competitive attacks and emerge as the segment leader.

The Swatch latest collections launched as below.

Different models targeting different age segments

 Watches for HIM- Targeting men
 Watches for Her –Targeting women

For Special events

 Mother day collections
 Valentine day
 Christmas specials
 Spring summer collections 2009
 New year 2009
 Bijoux collections

Swatch Strategies: Swatch gives exchange and replace offer by allowing the customer to give
their old watches which he is using for quiet long or which is not working with new swatch
watches. They also started educating the customer between real and replica watches so that they
can differentiate and buy the watches wisely.

Swatch has the following marketing environment.

Political: Being foreign watch maker they did not have access in Indian market until free trade is
announced. Joint venture with some Indian company may be beneficial in marketing in India
maintaining all policies of Indian government.

Internal: Manufacturing cost is high compared to other Asian watch manufacturing company.

External: Swatch being the Swiss watch has a brand name in the market.

Customer: Mainly targeted for youth.



3.3.1 Strength

Bold New Styling: The launch of the new Swatch brand in 1983 was marked by bold new styling,
various fashion and art designs (Fig 3.1).

High Technology: The Swatch watches were high-tech, highly branded and fully accurate.

Varity of Products: Produce three main products: luxury, high value designer Swiss watches and
mid-range watches made out of stainless steel, silver and gold to appeal to affluent customers.

Effective Marketing Strategy: The Company uses effective marketing strategy by satisfying its
target market well.

Repositioning into the Fashion Market: Swatch positioned the product targeting various segments
of market by using different materials, appearances, designs.

Price: A wide range of products with different designs across all price ranges.

Fig. 3.1 Swatch has the variety, style and design mainly targeted to youth
[Source: official website of swatch, http://www.swatch.com/]


3.3.2 Weakness

Weak Employee Productivity: They have a very less number of employees.

3.3.3 Opportunities

Creative and Innovative Brands: Swatch should continue their performance and work and involve
vigorously in R&D about marketing environment adjusting marketing strategy timely, become
creative and innovative brand in global market.

Image: Swatch can establish a strong image in the mind of customer. As people carry watch on
their skin for a long time, it has to fit with their personal style and lifestyle best.

3.3.4 Threats

Managing Manufacturing Cost: It has to compete with cheap labor cost at Asian market when it
has its own constraints of high value cost at Switzerland.

Counterfeit Products: It is a serious threat to swatch.

Competition: Intense competition between different companies (Tag Heur, Citizen, Casio, Titan
etc) within a crowed market.

Table 3.1 SWOT analysis of Swatch in tabular form


Technology Opp Swiss brand image Strength
of Product Employ more skilled
(digital, labor
waterproof etc.)
station
replace easily
Utility VAT, Import Threat UC Weakness
duty
Other brands Threat Brand image Strength
Manufacturing Threat UC Weakness
cost
discount, exchange
offer


bill board, slogan
product
Counterfeit Threat UC Increase awareness Strength
Products among customers
Acceptance Political support Threat Maintain government Strength
(Macro) policy
Unions Threat UC Good relation, give Strength
recognition, proper
working condition
Patriotic feeling Threat UC Indian brand like Titan Weakness
have advantages to
Indian customer
(Micro)

3.4 ADVERTISEMENT

Fig 3.2 Exuberance of youths is displayed in the advertisement of Swatch
[Source: official website of swatch, http://www.swatch.com/]

Swatch’s advertisement is targeted to the youth as it is displayed in Fig. 3.2.


Swatch’s position in the matrix will be experience attributes (Fig. 3.3).

Marketing Ability

Low difference
between brands

Marketing Force


PUSH PULL
High difference
between brands

Search Experience
(SWATCH)

Fig 3.3 Present position of Titan in the matrix


Chapter
FOUR

TAG HEUER OF SWITZERLAND

4.1 HISTORY

F ounded in 1860 by Edouard Heuer, TAG Heuer is known for producing high-end
luxury timepieces. It is world famous for making chronograph which is a timepiece or
watch with both timekeeping and stopwatch functions. Tag Heuer, in keeping with its
image as a luxury brand with an innovative spirit, has long standing links with the
world of sport and Hollywood and has been the official timekeeper of the Olympic Games, the
Skiing World Championships and the Formula 1 World Championship.

Tag Heuer, in a constant quest for innovation, excellence, performance and prestige, continues to
aim ever higher, as reflected in its partnerships with team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes in
Formula 1. By endorsing 2007 F1 Champion Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari, 2008 F1 champion
Lewis Hamilton of McLaren Mercedes, world number 1 golfer Tiger Woods, WTA star tennis


player Maria Sharapova, NASCAR idol Jeff Gordon, Hollywood superstars Brad Pitt and Uma
Thurman and Bollywood icons Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra, TAG Heuer epitomizes
Sport and Glamour.

Tag Heuer Market segmentation

 Targeting sports persons.
 High profile customers.
 High Income group
 Celebrities

Tag Heuer has the following marketing environment.

Political: Tag Heuer is a foreign company. As such it has to follow all the rules and regulation of
Indian government for importing the watches.

Internal: Manufacturing cost is high compared to other Asian watch manufacturing company.

External: Tag Heuer has a very high brand name particularly in sports watch and chronographs.

Customer: Mainly targeted for sports player and glamorous people.

The SWOT analysis of Tag Heuer in form of Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat are
given below (also in Table 4.1).

4.3.1 Strength

Long history and Brand Image: Tag Heur has a long history and very good brand image being
established way back in 1860.

Fig 4.1 Tag Heuer is world famous for making chronographs


Chronographs: It has almost monopoly in chronographs (which is a timepiece or watch with both
timekeeping and stopwatch functions) sector (Fig.1). It innovated worlds first automatic
chronographs in 1969.

Brand Ambassadors: Tag Heuer engaged major celebrities like Tiger Woods (golfer), Leonardo
Dicaprio (Actor), Maria Sharapova (Tenis Player), Lewis Hamilton (Formula One Racer) as
Brand ambassadors for its products.

4.3.2 Weakness

Segment Targets: It targeted mainly on the upper segment of the Market (Hollowood, Bollwood,
renowned sports persons etc.)

4.3.3 Opportunities

Other Segments: It has vast opportunity to capture middle and lower segments of the society.

4.3.4 Threats

Manufacturing Cost: It has to compete with cheap labor cost at Asian market when it has its own
constraints of high value cost at Switzerland.

Counterfeit Products: It is a serious threat to swatch.

Competition: Intense competition between different companies of quartz (Titan etc) and digital
(Citizen, Casio etc) within a crowed market.


Table 4.1 SWAT Analysis of Tag Heuer


Technology Opp Swiss brand image Strength
of Product employ skilled labor,
invent new technology
station
replace easily
Utility VAT, Import Threat UC Weakness
duty
Competition Threat C Brand image Strength
Manufacturing Threat UC Weakness
cost
Demand Price Threat UC Brand image Strength
Recession Threat UC Give attractive offers, Strength
discount, exchange
offer
bill board, slogan,
advertisement in
television
product
Counterfeit Threat UC Increase awareness Strength
Products among customers
Acceptance Political support Threat Maintain government Strength
(Macro) policy
Unions Threat UC Good relation, give Strength
recognition, proper
working condition
Patriotic feeling Threat UC Weakness
(Micro)


4.4 ADVERTISEMENT

Fig 4.2 Renowned actor Leonardo Dicaprio in the advertisement of Tag Heuer
(Source: official web site of Tag Heuer, http://www.tagheuer.com/)

Fig 4.3 International Tennis player Maria Sharapova in the advertisement of Tag Heuer
(Source: official web site of Tag Heuer, http://www.tagheuer.com/)


Tag Heuer has positioned itself as a true luxury sports watch brand. Many of the big names, like
Tiger Woods (golfer), Leonardo Dicaprio (Actor), Maria Sharapova (Tenis Player), Lewis
Hamilton (Formula 1 Racer), Shaharukh Khan (Actor) are the brand ambassador of tag Heuer.

Tag Heuer managed to position itself as emotional attribute with role models like Sharukh Khan,
Priyanka Chopra, Tiger Wood, Maria Sharapova and many more sports personalities. Customer
blindly goes for their products which their favorite and popular models are using.

Tag Heuer’s advertisement is role model based, trying to make an emotional positioning. In the
matrix its position is credence attributes (Fig 4.4).

Marketing Ability

Low difference
between brands

Marketing Force

(TAG HEUER)

PUSH PULL
High difference
between brands

Search Experience

Fig 4.4 Present position of Tag Heuer in the matrix


Chapter
FIVE

CONCLUSIONS

5.1 SUMMARY

A marketing analysis of four brands of watches, namely HMT, Titan, Swatch and
Tag Heuer are presented in the report. Every brand has some strengths and
weakness which has been presented as SWOT analysis form. Marketing
environment of each brand is analyzed. At the end, advertisements of each brand
are presented and their position in the market is determined. Following points can be summarized
from the analysis.

i) Once, HMT was pioneer in mechanical watch in India. However in the passage of time,
HMT has lost its position as they could not produce the product as per the customer’s
changing taste and preferences.
ii) Presently Titan is the market leader in Indian market. They have a very good sales and
service network. With new innovative ideas they always develop new product to satisfy
the customers.
iii) Swatch brand was launched originally intended to re-capture entry-level market share lost
by Swiss manufacturers during the aggressive growth of Japanese companies. It has re-
popularized analog watches at a time when digital watches had achieved wide popularity.
Its product is mainly targeted to youth.
iv) Tag Heuer has a long history, established way back in 1860. It is the pioneer in making
chronograph and sports watch. TAG Heuer epitomizes sport and glamour and its product
is mainly targeted to glamorous people.


References
[1] Swiss Shop Duty Free, A brochure collected from Swiss International Airline by author
Asokendu Samanta during his journey to Zurich, 2007.

[2] Marketing Management, P. Kotler, K. L. Keller, A. Koshy and M. Jha, 13th ed, Prentice
Hall, New Delhi, 2009.

[3] Marketing Management, R. Saxena, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi, 1997.

[4] Class Notes on Principal of Marketing, by Prof. P. Venugopal of XLRI, Jamshedpur, Post
Graduate Certificate in Business Management (PGCBM-15), 2009.

[5] Official website of HMT, http://www.hmtindia.com

[6] Official website of Titan, http://www.titanworld.com

[7] Official website of Swatch, http://www.swatch.com

[8] Official web site of Tag Heuer, http://www.tagheuer.com

A Marketing Analysis of Four Brands of Watches: HMT, Titan, Swatch, TAG Heuer

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