TDC -A brand Dilemma!!

By:-

§ Balachand Ramakrishna § Pradeep Behera

§ Rajamohan Ramasami § Shivendu Bahuguna

§ Vinay Chandra Kumar

 Introduction
Tiktauli De Corporation (TDC) was incorporated in 2012 as a Casual Wear Apparel
brand. The company had started its business with three product categories:-
 TDC-Electronics Dance Music (EDM) Fashion Apparel & Accessories
 Fieldgear-Sports Apparel & Equipments
 Koolho- Affordable Premium Quantity Apparel.
Under the leadership of Mr. Sanjay Singh (CEO), TDC started operating with the
house of brand strategy and after six years of operation, one of its most recently
launched brand, Fieldgear started generating profits, however the other brands have
failed to get the expected recognition in the market.
As company harnessed great success in B2B fulfilment verticals thanks to their plan
of developing 360-degree retail, the CEO has strategized to expand the business to the
international markets and make this vertical more profitable with a special emphasis
on own brand products.
As a Start-Up, TDC started visualizing a great success ahead with the digitization of
the Indian market at a large scale. With a philosophy of “forge your own path”, the
company is committed to position its products & brands in the market with very unique
way.

Problem Statement
TDC was planning to enter to the international market, but due to unavailability of
required funds, which was evident from inadequate brand equity of the company’s in-
house brands and the impact of macro- environmental parameters on company’s
growth plan; company was forced to choose the best branding strategy for the future.
The brand dilemma started when the company started brain storming to adopt the best
brand strategy which can align with the company core business strategy and provide
sustainable business model for the long run operation in the global market. By
analysing the various pros & cons of the international and domestic market the
questions still remained unanswered whether to adopt house of brand strategy or a
branded house plan(?). To ensure success of the future marketing and branding
strategy, it is imperative to understand the TDC’s business model, Products branding
and offerings in a deeper sense.
 Business Summary
TDC’s business consists of B2B fulfilment and company’s owned brand. B2B supplies
have realized some success and had been the main line business for the company for
first four years. The major revenue generator for B2B fulfilment segment for TDC is
the collaboration with big e-commerce players like Amazon.com, Flipkart, Myntra,
Jabong .TDC has seen and anticipated the opportunities in Indian market and created
a road map for next five to six years to streamline its core business with the market
needs. In 2018, the philosophy and strong belief of the CEO lead to TDC’s strategy to
position their brands differently in the market. Thus, a three years road map planned
to expand their business into the international market starting from USA, UK, BRICS
countries etc. They developed a culture to offer products that aimed to build stylish
confidence in its target audience and at the same time developing a strong and ethical
stake holder relationship especially with the suppliers. As a Brand positioning prospect
TDC always followed own path with Swag in Mind and maintaining strong
relationship with all Stakeholders specially suppliers. TDC Spend heavily approx. Rs.
60 million in establishing global supply chain network for sourcing and manufacturing
product from across the world. Various companies owned brands of TDC were all well
aligned with company’s 360-degree retail.

Brand Equity

➔ Best hiring policy-Hiring best talent from Fashion Schools and retain the best
talent for long period of time.
➔ Developing a strong stake holding management policy with the suppliers and
other stakeholders involved in the value chain of company operational process.

Marketing Strategy
TDC’s has set their marketing strategy with an objective to be a global player by
positioning their brands internationally .They adopted their Business model, with a
focus on three activities:-
ᴥ Operating a successful online apparel business & Foreign Market Penetration
through popular fashion e-retailing portals and capitalizing on their reach to
create the brand. (Place)
ᴥ Utilizing the two major revenue sources (Milking the Cash-Cow)
ᴥ Identifying three target customer bases (e-Commerce Giants, youth community
& fitness-inclined lower middle-income group) – Market Segmentation

Target Markets & Brand Positioning

 TDC EDM Clothing & Acessories Brand:- With a philosphy to instill the brand
statement “my way” in minds of the Customer & desiging the products having
“Swag”; TDC targeted the youth audience who is rebeliious, wants to look
different from peers & crave for a unique identity and linking all the parameters
with the EDM Culture which is popular among the audience aged between 12 to
21.
 Fieldgear Brand: - Branded as a “Fair Price Techical Sports Performance Wear”
and positioning itself as a sports brand through sponsoring various sports league
in India like Hockey India, Pro Kabaddi League and Premier Futsal League, the
company taregeted youths aged between 25-45 years who are fitness conscious,
having a sportsman metntality and want to get best out of their money.
 Koolho brand: - With a team of world-class designers at their perusal, the brand
was a targeted as a “Brand-Killer” as the quality of the product is at par with the
best brands available in the market, yet around 75-80% cheaper than the branded
products. This strategy helped them into tapping the lower-income group
customers who always craved for the best quality products, which are light for
their pockets too (cost conscious & quality aware Customers).

Thus, TDC incorporated the marketing strategy to include youths, Sportsmen & a
Segment of Customers who crave for more for the value of money they spent on a
product. These clusters are substantial & measurable (People aged between 14-45 who
have sizable disposable income), accessible (through e-Commerce Platforms, Social
Media & through SEO), differentiable (Swaggers, Fitness Oriented & Value
Conscious Customers) and actionable (by servicing them with diferrent products
according to their respective lifestyles).
TDC was well aware of the power of Digital Marketing & hence made its presence in
social media Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. It helped the company
to stay in contant touch with their customers & help redressal of their queries/concers
at much time-effective manner. Further, with a vsion to cater to global audience (who
would later on become their customers, TDC planned to launch Tiktauli Air which
would serve as the centerpoint of their marketing, with the help of which enrolled DJs
would endorse company’s product to a large audience & plans were also in place to
sell EDM concert tickets through the same platform.

Conclusion
As a Start-Up, the company has achieved remarkable success within six years by
adopting the house of brand concept. This has been achieved with a great degree of
commitment by positioning its products and brands in focused market segments.
However, it a very difficult decision for the company to chose the Branding strategy
as the company is planning to go into expansion mode and scale up the business.
The decision will be dependent on various factors which are enumerated as under:-
? Brand Visibility:- As TDC has entered into the market with their own product
offering very recently, people are not fully aware of their entire range of
Products.
? Socio-Economic Environment:- Post-pandemic, TDC must reposition itself
once again as the Company who provide quality products at affordable prices.
Further, as the Lockdowns are still in place in many global locations, the people
are forced to stay inside their house & hence the procurement of the products
offered by TDC will be less in demand in the foreseeable future.
? Target Customers:- As the products offered by TDC are targeted to different
strata of Customers having different requirements according to their lifestyles &
disposable income, the success of each target market will be ensured if the
company’s focus is on developing each Product offering individually.
Considering all the facts & circumstances stated above, it is better to stick to the
house of brand strategy. Further, as the company is catering to different target
audience & being a Start-Up company, it is too early to switch over to branded
house plan and take the risk for mother brand TDC. For the time being, mainly post
Covid-19 scenario, wait & watch policy for another five to six years is the best bet
before switching to branded house concept.