Will Fastrack lead more Indian brands into the social media space?

Posted on December 5, 2007
Filed Under Social Networking / Media, E-Marketing & E-PR |

Fastrack, one of India’s leading youth fashion brand, recently took a conscious decision to embrace social media. Reason? Its keenness to participate in the emergent marketing environment where the consumer is a co-creator, where insights and participation from influencers bring tremendous value and insights for any brand.

This campaign is being managed for them by Delhi based consultancy, Blogworks. To understand the why and how of this campaign, TechGazing chatted up with the Simeran Bhasin, Marketing Manager, Fastrack. Excerpts:

Simeran Bhasin Very briefly, how is the social media campaign structured?
We have structured the programme as an ‘outward looking’ initiative, which at one level gains from insights that the consumers bring to us and on the other it attempts to engage with stakeholders, addressing their specific needs and interests. In the process, we hope to build a sustained two-way association and powerful word-of-mouth. The campaign also generates buzz leveraging social media tools and amplifies our offline initiatives.

How does this campaign complement / replace other media you may have normally used?
Complement, yes; Replace, no. The mediums are totally different. Mass media delivers us reach and call-for-action lead communication. Conversational Marketing on the other hand allows us a touch-and-feel opportunity with our various stakeholders. It is about connecting at a level one-on-one with them. On the other hand we also intend to leverage our existing spends on mainstream media to communicate our social media initiatives.

What prompted you to go for social media? The benefits may seem obvious in theory, but what metrics / intuitions did you follow?
Since our re-launch in mid-2005, we have been tracking Fastrack on the internet and were amazed to see the passion and excitement that sprang up almost instantaneously after any campaign on various blogs and the number of Fastrack Fans creating communities on social networking sites. The numbers were small but the interactions far more intense and passionate!! We have been keen to participate in the emergent marketing environment where the consumers are co-creators, where insights and participation from influencers, close to the pulse of the consumer, bring tremendous value and insights for any brand. The feedback and inputs we get would help us improve our product and customer experience and that’s the clear benefit.

What have the results been like so far? What are your expectations?
We have just taken our first baby steps and very early to talk results but feedback has been warm and very encouraging. An influencer engagement programme – bloggers and bikers (at the moment) that’s based on insights and participation in the brand is underway and we believe it will reap rewards in the long-term.

We have also received great feedback for the Dynamic Media Room we have created for our Blogger and media friends - to share the latest from Fastrack — news, happenings, campaigns and more.

Bikers on the Fastrack community on Facebook is still very new, but people are joining in and its fun to see it evolve. Expectations really are that we are able to create a connect with the youth and get them to co-create products and experiences along with us. That would be great.

How do you see social media playing a role in the future? How strongly will the current campaign influence future decisions?
Marketing from the board room is over, its time to move into real-time world. This isn’t a process of enter-exit. You enter, you participate.

Would you draw parallels to any social media campaigns globally that may or may not have inspired your decision to try this for yourself?
There is a lot happening and there is learning in everything, even in the mistakes that someone else made. To that extent the inspiration is really from everyone and yet we have a desire to do something new.

In your opinion, what kind of products/services are best suited to be promoted on social media in India?
People are using the Internet as a point of reference for all kinds of products, before making their purchase decisions. However, it’s the youth who’ve taken to the medium like fish to water. It comes naturally to them as they have used it from the beginning, so the Internet, and since it is driving the Internet today, social media, are natural fits for anyone reaching out to the youth.