Sonata unveils new brand identity for larger youth appeal

In a bid to appeal further to the young population of the country, Sonata, the watch brand from Titan Industries, has revamped its brand identity with a more youthful look. Continuing with the brand promise of value and high quality, the brand has also come up with a new campaign to announce the change.

The 13 year old brand has chosen the rebranding route for the first time. The change in the brand identity includes a new logo in yellow and blue with a more contemporary feel, and the tagline, 'Wait Mat Kar'.

Talking about the idea behind the new brand philosophy, R Balakrishnan (Balki), chairperson and chief creative officer, Lowe Lintas says that it stems from the fact that the youth today are an impatient lot, who want to make the most of the present rather than wait for opportunities to arrive.

The idea is captured in the tagline, which reflects the urgency, impatience and the go-getter attitude of the youth.

Speaking at the occasion, Harish Bhat, chief operating officer, Titan Watches, says, "Sonata started its journey in 1997 with a promise of delivering quality timepieces at a competitive price. While our market share has continued to increase over the past years, we felt that there was a need to renew the brand identity, and further strengthen the link between Sonata and the younger consumers of India."

"For me, the essence of rebranding is to maintain the best of what the brand already stands for and blend it with what's new and current. We believe that it's compelling that a watch brand tells you not just the time, but also highlights the need to make the most of it," says Balki in a press statement.

When asked if, with the new look and positioning, Sonata will run the risk of being on the same platform as Fastrack, another watch and apparel brand from Titan, C Srinivasan tells afaqs! that the change was more to build on the youth appeal, particularly in the semi-urban, Tier II and Tier III cities, with the more trendy looking products.

Sonata primarily operates in the sub-Rs 1500 watch market. It offers a wide range of more than 550 models across a variety of looks and designs for both men and women - gold, leather straps, steel as well as plastic and bi-metal watches.

The 41 new variants of Sonata Super Fibre line of watches target the youth segment in urban, semi-urban and rural India. It offers an array of different designs in a mix of analogue, digital and ana-digi watches priced in the range of Rs 275-595.

The new television commercial by Lowe Lintas features brand ambassador and cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni, with whom Bhat says the brand has a lot in common.

The film shows two youngsters practising for a national bike rally with a rundown bike, while everyone raises doubts on their chances. So much so that Dhoni, too, does the same as he flags off the rally. The youngsters haughtily reply that getting a new bike would take too much time, which they do not have.

The creative team behind the commercial at Lowe Lintas include Balki, Arun Iyer, Rajesh Ramaswamy, Rimona Ganapathy and Adarsh Atal. Rexena Devraj, Nataraj Janardhan and Richa Singh are the art directors.

The film has been directed by Shyam Madiraju and Gobsmack! India is the production house.

The TVC will run for about six weeks and will be supported by outdoor promotions, digital, in-store and other BTL (below-the-line) activities. The company is learnt to be spending about Rs 4 crore on the campaign.

Maxus handles the media duties for the brand.