Over 500 influencers & 11 languages: Creators drive Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles

From the milk that is delivered to our homes, to the construction material that is used to make houses, to helping children reach schools, Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles touches our lives in many ways. Said to be India’s largest manufacturer of trucks and buses, it caters to varied segments, including heavy, medium, light, and intermediate commercial vehicles. Its product range includes tractor trailers, trucks, tipper trucks, vans, buses, and electric buses. Additionally, it has a substantial business in spares, motor oils, and aggregates.

As diverse as its product portfolio is, as diverse is its target audience. It includes small fleet owners, multi-billion-dollar businesses, and young individuals starting their ventures with loans. Its consumers range from owners to drivers, builders, mechanics, dealers, and more. How does the company communicate to this diverse audience?

Speaking on the sidelines of Goafest 2024, Shubhranshu Singh, global chief marketing officer, Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles, says it maintains a traditional mix while also expanding its digital presence as 15-20% of its final sales come from digital channels. This includes a heavy dependence on the creator economy and the use of technology at dealerships.

In a career spanning 25 years, Singh has marketed varied categories from deodorants and skincare products to tractors trailers and trucks in companies like Unilever, Diageo, Visa, Star TV Network and Royal Enfield. Singh deep-dives into how he is handling the largest business of his career.

Edited Excerpts:

How does Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles reach such a diverse audience?

To cater to every segment, we maintain a traditional mix, including TV campaigns, while also expanding our digital traction across all business lines. Currently, 15-20% of our final sales come from digital channels. Over the past two years, we have partnered with more than 500 influencers, achieving nearly 20 crore views and 1 crore engagements.

Our influencer collaborations span large and micro-influencers, creating content in 11 languages to build a credible and natural narrative. No matter how genuine, advertising is still perceived as advertising. Thus, we heavily rely on the creator economy. Given our business's presence on the roads, we have invested in programmatic OOH (out-of-home) advertising, leveraging both new media and traditional media like print and radio to continuously communicate our brand and its benefits.

What percentage of your budget is spent on influencers?

The beauty of investing in the creator economy is its incredible economy and flexibility, coupled with superior continuous viewership. Unlike TVCs, which experience spikes and fades, creator content maintains steady engagement.

Although the overall spend on media and content is still small, our investment in the creator economy has grown steadily, reflecting our commitment.

Are women a growing part of your TG?

There are instances where the drivers are men, but the businesses are owned by women, such as in catering and fashion. With increasing vehicle sophistication, easier manoeuvrability, and the rise of electric vehicles, more women are becoming involved. While still a niche, this growing demographic is gaining visibility and recognition. We aim to support and strengthen this trend.

How is the TG distributed between rural and urban?

Commercial vehicle activity involves hub-to-hub transport and inner-city last-mile deliveries, naturally linked to economic growth, especially in tier 1 cities.

However, rural demand has surged due to rising farming incomes and improved last-mile deliveries. The mobile phone revolution has minimised media dark areas, driving this growth. The key difference between rural and urban markets is not willingness to buy, but accessibility. We are implementing initiatives to ensure the availability of spare parts, excellent service, and vehicle access in rural areas. While people may travel 100 kilometres to buy a vehicle, they need local access to spares and services. Therefore, we are working to penetrate deeper into rural markets to provide this ecosystem.

Do you also have dealerships in the rural market?

We have the largest network of dealerships on the ground and have extended it with our One S Outlets. These smaller outlets offer a range of vehicles and provide valuable person-to-person connections. Dealerships bring credibility, local presence, and serviceability, all of which are crucial to our business. We are committed to investing in and growing this network.

How is Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles making use of technology in its dealerships?

We have made significant progress in adapting to the digital age. Consumer lifestyles are now digital. Consumers today are more informed, conducting due diligence and seeking financing options online before visiting dealerships. Our digital presence has grown rapidly, with 150,000 YouTube followers in less than a year and earning a YouTube Silver Button. This digital engagement has quadrupled interest and penetration.

We provide an auxiliary environment online before consumers visit our dealerships and at the dealerships, we've invested in more screens to enhance the customer experience. Our business depends on experiencing the real vehicle, considering factors like turning radius and load-carrying capability, which vary by application. So we can’t rely much on AR and VR.

We have developed a configurator for vehicle customisation, an online sales platform for end-to-end transactions, and 12 new websites. Our social media identities are also strong. The movement is clearly towards a digital-first approach.

How is marketing commercial vehicles in India different from marketing in the rest of the world? In India the communication tends to have an emotional appeal. Is that the same globally?

When something becomes integral to your life and livelihood, an emotional bond forms. Different cultures express this in various ways; for example, in India and South Asia, people adorn their vehicles with beautiful drawings and stickers. Elsewhere, this may not be as common. However, the Tata brand is universally recognised as a pioneer, industry leader, and trustworthy entity that does the right things for nations and communities, a truth that holds across all markets.

Our largest international markets are in South Asia—Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. We also have a significant presence in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Arab states. Each market has its own nuances, and different parts of our portfolio perform uniquely in each. Consequently, we've invested in diverse creative content. For instance, we have a strong presence in buses in the Emirates, supported by celebrated Ramadan campaigns. In South Asia, we produce content for small commercial vehicles and engage influencers in Nepal and Bangladesh.

In Southeast Asia, we face intense competition from Japanese and Chinese brands. We recognise the need to grow not only our individual models and variants but also the Tata and Tata Motors brands. We feel privileged to be part of this fantastic institution, and our brands must both borrow from and give back to it.

In the past, Akshay Kumar was a brand ambassador. Has your strategy with regard to endorsements changed since then?

We've shifted to a storytelling format, though we still see value in brand ambassadors. Instead of traditional brand ambassadors, we use protagonists from popular OTT content series, who play roles in our storytelling campaigns. For example, our Desh Ke Trucks campaign features conversations between a driver and his assistant. We've also enlisted powerful actors like Zakir to communicate our brand's values and virtues.

In some cases, our focus is on services rather than products, such as with Fleet Edge. We understand the importance of a recognisable face to cut through the clutter, but our current focus is on investing in storytelling.

Last year a campaign stressed on comfort. How important is comfort in this category?

Our portfolio includes offerings with air conditioning, but it's crucial to recognise that drivers are front-line warriors. India couldn't have survived COVID-19 without logistics, truck drivers, and fleets carrying our everyday needs. Fleet owners understand that the right driving behaviour, safe driving practices, and rested drivers lead to higher productivity and profitability.

Comfort and safety-oriented technologies have become essential to our services. Comfort in all forms will be a key differentiator moving forward. Telematics allow us to monitor driver behaviour and routes, and we offer driver alert systems and collision mitigation systems. These technologies set new benchmarks, and as adoption increases, people see the benefits in terms of the number of trips, cargo capacity, and safe, timely deliveries—all contributing to business growth and profitability. 

(With additional inputs from Nisha Qureshi)