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Murali Gopalan & Sibabrata Das
Mumbai, Sept 18: Telco utility vehicle and passenger car accounts have veered away from SSC&B Lintas. The company's Sierra, Sumo and Safari will now be handled by Ogilvy & Mather while Tata Estate will be under Ulka. It may be recalled that Ulka recently bagged the prestigious small car (Mint) account from Telco.
To O&M, this would translate as a Rs 12 crore account while in the case of Ulka, Mint alone is believed to be "a high figure" as this would be the prize offering from Telco. The car is scheduled to hit the roads towards the end of this year and the ad campaign is expected to kick off shortly.
While the reasons for the shift from SSC&B Lintas are not known, industry sources said Telco was keen on giving a greater push to these products. The company is, reportedly, considering a relaunch of Estate while variants of Sumo are also being planned. Safari was introduced recently and has been positioned as the Indian alternative to Mitsubishi Pajero.
"The two agencies will have a lot to do inrepositioning the products. Both Sumo and Safari have enormous potential while expectations for the Mint are very high," sources said. The "repositioned" Estate could well create a niche in the passenger car segment if it is competitively priced. Telco's plans for Sierra are not known but analysts say the car could be in for a facelift.
Both Estate and Sierra did not do particularly well when they hit the market and began losing out with a host of entrants in the mid-size car segment. The fact that two ad agencies have been roped in to handle these accounts is a clear indication that Telco is serious about a long-term innings for these products.
Sumo has been a smash hit and has a market share of nearly 40 per cent in the multi-utility vehicle segment. The only problem now, as analysts see it, is that there is a crying need for more variants. The rural market needs to be penetrated aggressively and players like Hindustan Motors have already made their intentions clear here through the rural transportvehicle (RTV).
"A rural variant needs to be less expensive than the present Sumo, which is close to Rs 5 lakh. It's here that some frills can be removed so that the company can have an ideal alternative," sources said. Safari still needs to create a niche in the market but initial reports on sales have been quite encouraging.
Mint will be the vehicle to watch out for and Ulka is reportedly preparing itself for an intensive ad campaigny. The car will compete with Maruti Zen, Hyundai Santro and Daewoo Matiz. It will come in both petrol and diesel versions.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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