Mktg - Titan saves the species in new OOH

Rohit Nautiyal

Recently, Titan and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) India announced a tieup to celebrate World Environment Day and launched an exclusively designed range of watches inspired by six endangered species – the tiger, the Indian rhino, the Ganges River dolphin, the red panda, the whale shark and the Olive Ridley turtle.

To promote the initiative, an interesting outdoor campaign was launched on September 13 and ran for four weeks across different stations of the Delhi Metro Rail Corp. (DMRC).

A virtual forest was created at the Delhi University metro station to convey the message of wildlife conservation. This consisted of an 8 feet by 8 feet green patch representing a mini wildlife sanctuary. Plaster of Paris and imported faux fur were used to make dummies of the six endangered species. Two standees in the backdrop told the stories of two of the endangered species, the tiger and the rhinoceros. The copy on the standees explained how both animals had been over-poached to satisfy human greed.


The animals have certain unique attributes, which have been reflected in the Titan watches. For instance, the standee about the tiger revealed how the watch is inspired by its pug marks and unique black and yellow stripes.

Branding on both walls of the passage leading to the Delhi University metro exit was done using digitally printed, self-adhesive vinyl and comprised the profiles of the other endangered species. The staircase branding had a Titan logo at the top of the staircase and a picture of the red panda, another endangered animal, spread across the staircase. Here, Big Street used bubble free vinyl to ensure there were no bubbles on the surface. This was executed on four staircases at the Rajiv Chowk Dome area. WWF provided the details mentioned on the creatives.

Hindi Film actor Aamir Khan, the brand ambassador for Titan, could be seen on the pillar branding at the Rajiv Chowk metro station.

The creatives for the outdoor campaign have been done jointly by O&M, Titan's advertising agency, and Titan's in-house design studio. Titan's media agency, Maxus, worked with Big Street, which came up with the creatives of the virtual forest and the overall execution of the outdoor campaign.

When the target audience consists of youngsters, OOH becomes the obvious medium of choice for brands. Arun Pinto, regional business head, West and South, Big Street, says, “Titan wanted to explore means to engage the target audience (youngsters) in an appealing and interactive manner. This campaign is meant to convey the message of wildlife conservation.”

This is the first time that a lifestyle product has taken 80 per cent of the inventory on two DMRC stations. Titan has dedicated 15 per cent of its total advertising spend to outdoor for this campaign.

But why pick the DMRC for branding on such an extensive scale? Somprabh Singh, manager, marketing, Titan, says, “The Rajiv Chowk station is a strategic point for wider brand visibility. This is because it's a point of intersection of two different metro lines and the place receives a crowd of three lakh commuters each day.”

The outdoor campaign has been supported by television, print and radio. The radio campaign was carried out by Big 92.7 FM. Listeners were asked to visit the Delhi University metro station and see the virtual forest. Later, listeners called up the station to talk about their favourite animal from the display.

Singh adds, “Titan is targeting people who are sensitive towards the environment and animals.” Free watches were then distributed to the callers as a reward.

On the television front, Titan tied up with channels such as National Geographic and CNN IBN. This involved panel discussions on how corporate houses can contribute to the cause of environment and wildlife conservation.