BURNING RUBBER

Two-wheeler tyre market leader CEAT is betting on electrification and premiumisation as it targets a top line of ₹17,000 crore in three years. But competition is intensifying and it must strive hard to consolidate its lead

- PRERNA LIDHOO

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, a wave of change swept through the corridors of CEAT’s artsy head office in Mumbai’s Worli, transforming the brand’s identity. The iconic rhino mascot—a faithful companion for nearly 50 years—and the company’s tagline “Born Tough” were retired. In came a simplistic logo and a new tagline, “Making Mobility Safer And Smarter Everyday”.

This marked a poignant departure from tradition, as CEAT—under the stewardship of RPG Enterprises Chairman Harsh Goenka—rolled into a new era. For the company’s new MD and CEO Arnab Banerjee, a veteran of more than two decades, the new identity underscores the company’s ability to keep its ears to the street. “During one of our focus group discussions, it came up that rhinos are going to be extinct soon. It was important to listen to what our customers were saying and how we wanted to relook at ourselves in order to stay relevant,” he says.

What separates it from the competition, Banerjee says, is that CEAT has always seen itself as a business-to-consumer (B2C) company, even though a major chunk of its business is business-to-business (B2B), catering primarily to two- and four-wheeler original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and truck and bus fleet firms. So it has placed a premium on brand connection. Take CEAT’s association with cricket, for example. It’s a source of nostalgia for fans from the ’90s, who fondly remember the CEAT Cricket Ratings. And RPG Enterprises’ flagship company has seamlessly woven itself into the lives of fans of a more recent vintage as the sponsor of the Indian Premier League’s ‘Strategic Timeout’.