"At Saregama, anthropology trumps technology": Vikram Mehra on Carvaan's journey from Classics to Kids to Karaoke

The MD of Saregama dives deep into his Carvaan's expansion and how it is based on consumer behaviour.

A transistor radio-like device has been bought more than two million times in India. For a country that lacks in hardware innovations, Saregama's Carvaan is an island of excellence in the ocean of mediocrity.

Vikram Mehra, MD, Saregama, which is largely a music label, has earlier worked with direct-to-home distribution service Tata Sky and as a broadcaster with Star India. Mehra had commissioned a consumer research in 2015. Along with advertising agency The Womb, Saregama conceptualised Carvaan based on insights. 

The 40-plus age group found mobile applications scary. They feared technology and were uncomfortable listening to music with headphones. "Where are the older transistor device and cassette player days where we could lean back and listen to the music being played randomly," the group screamed it loud enough for Mehra to hear from his Mumbai office. 

"Carvaan is about anthropology and not technology," he said. It has become a brand now, with many variants in its portfolio. It recently launched Carvaan Mini Kids for the eight-year-olds. Next week, Saregama will make Carvaan Karaoke available for the customers.

No matter how much music the 30-plus age group listens to, when it comes to playing 'Antakshari', they go back to 'Mere sapnon ki rani kab ayegi tu' or 'Lag ja gale'. This is what Mehra and his team found out in a recent research. That is the genesis of Carvaan Karaoke. With this latest launch, Carvaan will move from being just a gift item to something people would like to own for themselves.

During an interview with afaqs! in 2018, Mehra shared that the market for a portable player like Carvaan is around 25 million Indian homes (in value terms, that works out to Rs 15,000 crore, if each household bought a Carvaan).

Is the company now eyeing a larger base? What about recovery from the COVID slump? Are Carvaan owners likely to upgrade? How have customers reacted to the Carvaan Kids launch and the expansion so far? 

Mehra dives deep into his company's expansion and how it is based on consumer behaviour.

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