Tata Motors is a significant player in India’s commercial vehicle sector, offering a diverse portfolio that ranges from heavy-duty trucks used in the mining industry to last-mile delivery vehicles and e-buses supporting sustainable transport.
At the helm of this segment is Shubhranshu Singh, Chief Marketing Officer for Tata Motors’ Commercial Vehicle Business Unit (CVBU). Singh’s approach to marketing goes beyond just facilitating vehicle sales; it’s focused on building relationships, supporting entrepreneurial growth, and preparing businesses for the future. He shared insights into the company’s multifaceted marketing efforts, driven by a mix of awareness, engagement, and emerging technologies.
Threefold marketing strategy
Singh explained that Tata Motors’ marketing efforts for its commercial vehicle division are built around three core pillars: creating awareness, engaging customers, and leveraging emerging technologies. Each component plays a vital role in strengthening the brand’s position and offering robust solutions for its clientele.
Building awareness
The first phase of Tata Motors’ marketing strategy focuses on building awareness and the goal is to familiarise potential customers with the breadth of offerings and the ecosystem that supports them.
“Our endeavour has always been to provide people with commercial vehicles and ecosystem benefits that allow them to become better entrepreneurs, more successful businesses, and enhance their profitability,” Singh said.
From top-of-the-line trucks to small commercial vehicles, Tata Motors’ awareness campaigns aim to reach a wide audience. Whether through influencer partnerships, digital campaigns, or the company’s extensive dealer network, the marketing team ensures easy access to information, offering customers insights into how these vehicles can transform their businesses.
Engagement
Beyond awareness, Singh emphasised the importance of continuous customer engagement. Tata Motors aims to ensure its customers feel supported throughout their ownership journey. This includes offering training, providing spare parts, and providing them inputs on new trends and technologies to help customers stay ahead of the curve.
“Marketing’s role is not only to grow awareness and preference, but also to support our customers on an ongoing basis,” Singh noted. Tata Motors’ vast portfolio caters to many segments of the national economy, from mining trucks to school buses, each with distinct needs.
Emerging technologies
Tata Motors is also focused on emerging technologies like electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells. Beyond product innovations, Singh shared that the company leverages digital platforms to streamline customer inquiries, provide real-time engagement, and deliver tailored content.
Anchoring marketing strategy in storytelling and Tata’s legacy
Storytelling forms a critical pillar of Tata Motors’ communication strategy. Drawing from the brand legacy of the Tata Group, Tata Motors aims to create a marketing narrative that strikes a balance between rational and emotional appeals. Singh emphasised that Tata Motors leverages influencers and consistent advertising campaigns to build brand affinity.
He said, “Our endeavour has been to use influencers and in all our advertising campaigns to build more and more affinity to our product, our brand, and our mother brand.”
Along with promoting its commercial vehicles, the brand seeks to inspire confidence in its customers through messaging.
Singh shared, “We have to address the left brain and the right brain. We tell people about superior performance, fuel efficiency, cost of operations, serviceability, reliability, ruggedness, and innovations. But we also give them the confidence, trust, and reliability that uniquely Tata brings.”
This approach anchors the brand’s communication efforts, ensuring that Tata Motors’ campaigns don’t merely focus on technical superiority but also connect emotionally with customers across generations.
Singh highlighted that the company has made significant progress in building its social media presence while continuing to invest in traditional media. “We have over-the-line promotions, whether it is television, print, or outdoors. We have made very good progress in digital, upgrading our social media presence, influencer content, and collaborating with diverse influencers,” Singh shared.
In less than a year, Tata Motors has amassed over 250,000 YouTube subscribers, earning the platform’s silver button recognition. Singh shared that each platform is leveraged for its unique strengths—Instagram for short-form content through Reels, YouTube for long-form and video content, television for broader mass-market reach, and print for in-depth storytelling.
“When we want to deliver impact, we are thinking out of home as well as digital,” he added. This cross-platform approach allows Tata Motors to deliver content that resonates with its target audience.
Targeting first-time users and young entrepreneurs
Tata Motors’ commercial vehicles cater to a wide spectrum of customers, spanning different sectors of the economy. However, a key demographic remains young men, particularly first-time users who become driver-entrepreneurs. “Our small commercial vehicle, in volume terms, is a very large contributor, and our segment would start with young men as the principal audience,” Singh said.
Beyond these core customers, Tata Motors’ marketing considers various stakeholders such as business owners, drivers, mechanics, financiers, and even end consumers who interact with the brand’s vehicles in daily life. Singh shared a personal anecdote: “My son goes to school by bus, and we travel for vacation in a van. Every segment is important to us.”
Plans for festive…
India’s festive season, stretching from mid-August to mid-November, is a season of reconnecting with loved ones, reaffirming cultural traditions, and, for many, a time for fulfilling long-awaited aspirations like buying that dream vehicle.
In 2023, retail sales of automobiles during the festival season reported the highest ever numbers, up 19 per cent as compared to the same period last financial year. Significant growth was observed in the commercial vehicle segment, with a rise of 8 per cent.
For Tata Motors, the festive season offers a strategic moment to tap into consumer enthusiasm and sentiment, which often peaks during these culturally significant periods. Singh highlighted that the festive period provides an ideal window for many customers to make long-planned purchasing decisions.
“People don’t suddenly make a decision that they’ll get into the logistics business or make mobility choices like that,” he said, explaining that purchasing a commercial vehicle is a rational and carefully considered investment. However, he shared that festive occasions often prompt decisions to take deliveries, whether it’s for Diwali, Dussehra, or regional festivals like Onam, Baisakhi, or Pongal.
He shared that Tata Motors tailors its marketing efforts to these significant cultural moments. The company creates topical content and promotions to ensure visibility during key festivals, which resonate deeply with consumers across various regions of India. “From time to time, depending on the significance of the event or the season, we do topical content and marketing promotion,” Singh explained, showing how Tata Motors aligns its efforts with the national cultural calendar.
Tata Motors’ festive marketing efforts see a rounded mix of traditional and digital platforms to ensure a broad reach.
AI and the future of marketing at Tata Motors
While the festive season sparks immediate action, Tata Motors is thinking long-term. This foresight is evident in the brand’s embrace of AI technologies, ensuring they remain at the forefront of innovation beyond seasonal trends.
Singh foresees a profound transformation driven by AI. He said, “Marketing will be transformed with AI because it gives you a multiplicative effect on the power of social media. It will transform search and cater to many unaddressed audiences.”
He shared that AI’s ability to analyse data, predict customer behaviour, and personalise marketing messages is already helping Tata Motors refine its strategy.
Singh is optimistic about the future potential of AI in the marketing space. Tata Motors has already incorporated AI into its digital leads system and is working to further enhance its online sales platform with AI-driven personalisation features. “We have an online sales platform which is equipped with a configurator. We are going to grow that as well,” he explained.
Additionally, Tata Motors is leveraging AI to improve customer segmentation and targeting, using data analytics to ensure marketing messages reach the right people at the right time.
Summing it up, Singh said, “AI is going to be the new normal, it is here to stay.”
Through a blend of tradition and technology, Tata Motors’ marketing efforts are aimed to meet the demands of a modern, diverse audience. From strategic festive promotions to AI-driven innovations, the brand aims to push the boundaries of commercial vehicle marketing in India.
