TI Cycles packs in a punch with the new Roadeo

Chennai-based TI Cycles hopes to stay relevant with an improved version of its special bicycle targeted at children in the 8-14 year segment

The ad is telling. A young boy in the age-group of 12-14 years has won a biking video game. He is ready for more, but there is a catch: Instead of playing a new round of video games, the boy's challenger will instead show off his cycling skills on his new Hercules Roadeo. The winner will be decided based on who executes better stunts: the real-world bicycle rider or the one in the virtual world.

Clearly, our flesh-and-blood hero emerges on top of his game, gaining much-needed approval of his peers. The parting shot shows the original winner and challenger as friends, not foes.

DISSECTING THE ROADEO

• Hercules Roadeo is the leader in the 8-14 age group segment with a 40% share
• First launched in 2010 as a contemporary bike for urban kids
• 2016 has seen a brand refresh as the need to stay relevant grows
• This comes as foreign brands get aggressive
• Roadeo is expensive; available for Rs 8,000-15,000 per unit
• Kids love it, since they can perform superior stunts

Chennai-based Murugappa Group, the promoter of TI Cycles, one of the country's leading bicycle makers, has attempted to hit at the heart of the matter with its new commercial for Roadeo, a sub-brand of its flagship Hercules. The insight is this: that kids, especially school-going boys, love to compete with each other when it comes to displaying their bicycle-riding skills. The adrenaline rush is too much for them to resist.

In this campaign, conceived and executed by Lowe Lintas, which was launched recently on national television, the agency has attempted to fuse two passions of kids: bicycle riding and playing video games. The idea, say company executives, was to give that extra fillip to the brand at a time when rivals are chipping away at its heels.

Roadeo, first launched in 2010, is the leader in the 8-14 year-old target segment. It is estimated to have a share of around 40 per cent in this segment, with nearest competitors being foreign brands such as Firefox.

Experts say that foreign players bring with them a charm of their own especially in the technical department. So the challenge for Indian companies is to demonstrate that they can be even better.

Here is where the new campaign comes in. Rajesh Mani, head of marketing, TI Cycles, says that it was imperative for the company to launch an upgraded version of the Roadeo to stay relevant with its target group. It is also a campaign that comes after a gap of six years.

"When we first launched Roadeo in 2010, the idea was to have a bicycle that was far more contemporary than Hercules. There was a distinct "flaunt value" to Roadeo, which was intentional. But with competition growing in the kids space and foreign brands vying for their attention, we needed to upgrade the product and take this flaunt value to a new level altogether," Mani explains.

So the new Roadeo comes packed with features such as better speed gears, front disc brakes and a lightweight alloy frame that can support better stunts. Mani says it wasn't lost on the marketing team that the Roadeo had gained a reputation of being "macho". It was, as he explains, viewed as a ticket to stardom among the boys.

Mani insists that it is early days yet to ascertain the bike's success, but the initial feedback has been positive. "The consumer is changing and we had to catch him," he says. "We are currently monitoring the response of this initiative before deciding on our next course of action," he adds.

However, experts say that TI Cycles, which also sells the BSA brand, is on the right track. The reason: the high growth rate in the premium end of the bicycle market.

Volume-wise, the bicycle market in India is around 16 million units in size. The standard segment, which is the regular bicycles one sees on the roads, constitutes 45 per cent of the market. The balance 55 per cent is the premium and special segment, which includes adventure bikes, the kids and women's segments.

TI Cycles claims leadership in the overall premium and special segment with a share of around 40 per cent. It mainly has the foreign brands as competition in this market.

The country's other major cycle manufacturer Hero Cycles is the leading player in the standard segment with a share of around 33 per cent. But in this segment, TI Cycles claims that it is only marginally behind Hero with a share of around 31 per cent.

The premium and special bikes segment is estimated to be growing at 50 per cent as the urban youth take a fancy for superior products despite steep price points. The entry-point for a premium cycle, for instance, is around Rs 3,500 per unit. The Roadeo, a special product, is available for anywhere between Rs 8,000 and Rs 15,000 per unit.