'Once a month' tagline for TVS Centra

Powered by a 7.5-bhp engine, the Centra costs approximately US$754 and TVS is banking on firming up its success with Victor and flanking its leading brand. "While Victor looks at talking to consumers on the platform of 'superior ride experience'‚ Centra looks at offering them fuel-economy," said K Harish, vice-president, marketing, TVS Motors. By doing so, the company has widened its base by speaking to consumers to whom the running cost of a bike is an important criteria. "Hence, with Centra, we address fuel-economy with the proposition of fill-it-once-a-month," said Harish. The company is looking at patenting this technology. And to support this, the company is running exhaustive on-ground contests to establish the bike's mileage proposition. "We are in all the towns and cities, inviting consumers for test rides, organising camps where they can test the mileage of the bike. These are being supported by a multi-channel media approach with a lot of outdoor advertising. We are eventually looking at 10 to15 per cent market share in the executive segment, which consists of sales of 200,000 bikes a month," said Harish. In this segment, Hero Honda leads the race, followed by TVS with its Victor bike. While the company has eschewed the currently popular approach of using celebrities to endorse bikes, it will be featuring cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar as the 'face' of Centra. Its existing agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, is handling creative duties. The total advertising and promotion budget for Centra is estimated to be around US$4.4 million. sm