Rachit Vats
Advertising

The Fastrack for singles

The youth brand reaches out to single young men and women through its new communication

Young boys and girls are once again in focus in the new Fastrack TV commercial. However, this time, the communication has deviated from the earlier ‘How many you have?’ theme. It also further segregates its core target group of young boys and girls aged 15-25 years, and reaches out to only single boys and girls in that age group.

Simeran Bhasin, marketing manager, Fastrack, says, “All Fastrack communication is targeted at urban youth 15-25 years of age. But this time, we are talking to single guys and girls. The idea germinates from the fact that the youth within this age group keeps their choices open. They like to remain uncommitted.”

Titan Industries’ youth brand, Fastrack, has been a success ever since its relaunch in 2005. It achieved 50 per cent growth in the last fiscal. The expectations are high and the company intends to sustain 40 per cent growth. It has set aside an advertising budget of close to Rs 15 crore for the current year.

The Fastrack for singles
In the current TVC, the deviation from the tongue in cheek colloquial theme, ‘How many you have?’, is evident. Bhasin says the deviation is intentional because Fastrack wants to experiment with multiple presentation methods. The idea is to directly converse with young single guys and girls who are acutely conscious about their external appearance and fashion sense and are constantly seeking fashion accessories as a means of personal expression.

Bhasin adds, “Fastrack is ideally placed to be the perfect fashion accessory for these people because of its young and trendy designs and its affordable pricing. We are aiming to pitch Fastrack as the ultimate youth fashion accessory by appropriating the accessorisation high ground. Accessorisation is about multiplicity, about variety, about constant excitement.”

The TVC shows two young friends who meet up at a place to break up their relationship and move on. The moving on is done in an extremely non-nonchalant manner. They are shown giving back mementoes, including some Fastrack accessories, before they part.

Rajesh Ramaswamy, creative director, Lowe, says, “The challenge was to seamlessly align the accessorisation angle with the lives of the consumers. Today’s youth live in an instant gratification era – it’s all about here and now. It is discovering itself and exploring the world of possibilities. In the process, it begins to create its own identities leading to adulthood, and there is a natural tendency to flirt with adult-like experiences such as relationships with the opposite sex, ragging, alcohol, smoking, etc. This phase of initiation is almost a sort of ‘rites of passage’ into the adult world. Without need to commit and close their options, they seek and enjoy variety. As a brand, Fastrack endorses this variety seeking attitude of the youth.”

The TVC tries to capture the playful irreverence of today’s youth to propagate Fastrack’s brand philosophy. And to do this, it once again captures the brand philosophy in a colloquial phrase, ‘Move On (Man)!’

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