Market

Steel is the mirror that reflects a country's economic health; the higher the consumption, the stronger the economy. In the past, India has been a poor consumer of this metal. Its per capita usage has languished at the bottom half of the world's nations. But since liberalisation in the 1990s and the lifting of governmental controls, the industry has shown robust growth. Today, India is the sixth largest producer of steel after China, Japan, the US, Russia and South Korea with finished production of approximately 48 million tonnes or some 4% of the total world output. Of these, rebars the twisted, hair-pin shaped lengths of metal which give structures their strength and resilience account for some 14 million tonnes, valued at Rs. 50,000 crore (US$ 10.40 billion). The residential segment, called Individual Home

where scores of lesser priced brands jostle for the buyer's attention. The brand sells through an established network of 31 distributors and 1700 dealers across India. Almost a third of its sales emanate from exclusive counters.

Achievements
It is not called the industry benchmark for nothing. Tata Tiscon has been a pathfinder. Its formidable series of 'firsts' remain unchallengeable: product embossing to demonstrate the genuineness of the brand; selling by standard 12-metre pieces instead of by dubious weighing methods; price transparency; establishing direct interaction with individual home builders in 250 cities; a nationwide retail identity programme that unifies every Tata Tiscon outlet; a masons club so that end-consumers can benefit from skilled and trained professionals. In addition, the company periodically organises unique meets between architects and structural engineers so that knowledge and experiences can be shared. The company also offers technical guidance to home builders through its team of engineers and ensures a steel production schedule that guarantees 100% stock availability at all times.

History
Builders (IHB), in professional parlance and commercial housing account for about 45%, while the rest is consumed in large industrial and infrastructural projects. Two categories of steel manufacturers serve the Indian market: integrated steel producers (ISPs) and secondary producers. ISPs make finished steel from virgin raw materials and comprise 30% of the industry. The rest, comprising the balance 70%, is served by manufacturers who source semi-finished or intermediate steel and perform the finishing operation. These secondary producers numbering between 300 and 400 mostly sell locally, under various brand names. Tata Tiscon, the rebar brand from Tata Steel, a prominent ISP, controls about 14% of the market, commanding a price premium of some 20%. This is a commendable achievement; more notable in view of the fact that the construction industry is a highly price-sensitive business The history of Tata Tiscon, in many ways, is a narration of rising consumer awareness. For years, the role of steel in construction lay buried under concrete and ignorance. While the home builder pondered over which brand of cement to buy, rebars continued to occupy a place furthest away in his mind. For him it was cement that held the house and his dream together. The facts were vastly different; surprisingly no manufacturer felt it necessary to educate the consumer, till Tata Steel took it upon itself. For the first time, advertising stressing the importance of rebars and their role in holding up a house appeared in ads, hoardings and films. This effort brought the rebar upfront. Despite the fact that it wore no badge it was soon vying for almost the same attention that was being devoted to paints, tiles, plumbing fixtures and sanitary fittings. Before rebars made an appearance, structures were supported by immense quantities of steel

beams. While this certainly made buildings strong and durable they also drilled a huge hole in the builders' pocket. The advent of mild steel plain round bars in the 1960s changed all that. Concrete buildings, constructed with these plain round bars could now take the same load even as they used less steel. The 1970s saw the launch of India's first national rebar brand, Tiscon. This was a newgeneration, high-strength cold twisted deformed (CTD) rebar with a yield strength of 415 MPa as against 250 MPa for the plain mild steel rounds. This resulted in cutting consumption of steel by another 30%. By the 1990s new technologies had been developed. Tata Steel once again took the lead in the category and introduced high-strength thermo mechanically treated (TMT) rebars using a technology engineered by Tempcore of Belgium. The resulting product had better physical properties compared to the CTD rebars and offered superior strength.

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Over the years, the Tatas de-commoditised the category and in the true spirit of a pioneer, opened up a market that has since spawned a slew of regional brands.

With the addition of these key products Tata Steel has been able to bridge important need gaps in India's housing and infrastructural development efforts.

their support using a series of initiatives and trade promotions. To begin with, it developed a segmentation programme which helped it identify the most important players and then build benefits and incentives to reinforce long-term brand loyalty. This had an immediate cascading effect. It not only drove channel motivation to new levels, it also ensured a concomitant creation of consumer pull. In a path-breaking scheme to earn loyalty from its dealer network, Tata Tiscon mooted the concept of channel financing. This initiative involved banks to provide financial assistance to distributors to grow their business. The immediate and short-term goals of the brand are met by running various trade promotion schemes like sales target linked incentives and cash discounts, beyond the normal distributor margins.

Brand Values
Tata Tiscon operates in a market segment in which people pour in their life's earnings and value its result above everything else. That one act fills Tata Tiscon with a sense of huge and abiding responsibility. It, therefore, works obsessively to ensure that the trust reposed in it always pays off. Every consumer of Tata Tiscon can see this in the product he

Product
Buildings are constructed in a number of environments and face separate tests. To ensure their stability over a long period of time, different techniques are employed and often different materials used in their construction. To meet these varying needs, Tata Tiscon offers a wide range of rebars. Its super ductile rebars, for instance, are specially designed for construction in seismic prone zones. Tata Tiscon 500 has been developed for heavyduty structures; these bars provide superior strength even as they reduce the quantum of steel required. Tata Tiscon cold rolled steel (CRS) is made to a unique chemistry which helps resist corrosion and is particularly useful in coastal areas, or where ground water is brackish or toxic gas emissions seriously impact the environment. To appreciate the role of a rebar it is essential to understand that cement and concrete alone cannot impart strength to a building. These materials have excellent compressive properties but lack tensile strength, essential to allow a structure to be flexible. Reinforced with Tata Tiscon, a concrete structure can 'bend' and 'move' giving it the ability to stand the fury of nature and win. There are several reasons why the brand towers over competitors. In the forefront is the fact that Tata Tiscon is manufactured in a plant recognised by World Steel Dynamics to be the world's best. The rebars are rolled from virgin steel and made with raw material sourced from Tata Steels own mines. Finally, the high levels of quality control ensure that every rib is equidistant and has the same depth. This simply means that each rebar will bond perfectly with concrete and provide greater strength and resilience to the structure.

Promotion
It is often said that products which bear the Tata name start with an unfair advantage of being deeply trusted. While this may be true, it is also undeniable that the legacy imposes upon the brand the burden of living up to the tacit

promise the name evokes. Tata Tiscon takes nothing for granted. It works as hard at developing products and nurturing its brand as it does in winning the support of the trade and the loyalty of its customers. Years ago when it decided to brand the rebar, it came upon its first challenge: like the nail, the rebar was not even in the consideration set of most people. It won this battle by simply telling consumers that while cement and concrete were great for buildings it was their union with the rebar that kept them standing. Its advertising strategy, encapsulated in the payoff line Atoot Jod (unshakeable bond), showing the visual of a robust cement hand gripping the bar, won it the Gold for the Most Effective Communication in the consumer durables category at the Calcutta Advertising Consumer Connect Awards in 2004/05. At the same time this recognition was being translated into sales in the market place. Even better was the truth that the brand was commanding a price premium over its competitors. While this was a source of great satisfaction, Tata Tiscon realised that the key to sustaining the market lay with channel partners. It won

buys, in the price he pays and in the service he receives. To test itself, the brand carries out periodic and independent surveys. In the results that have so far come in, Tata Tiscon has never failed to occupy the pride of place in the minds and hearts of its consumers. In that sense, it's a dual responsibility the brand is shouldering: to ensure it never lets down its consumer and to confirm that it lives up to the motto of the parent company leadership with trust.

www.tatatiscon.co.in

Things you didnt know about

Tata Tiscon
Tata Tiscon was the first steel brand in India to set up an organised distribution network The Bahai Temple in New Delhi, the Bandra Worli Sea Link in Mumbai and the nuclear reactors in Trombay and Kalapakkam were all built using Tata Tiscon Tata Tiscon is made from virgin iron ore which is mined from captive mines and processed in collieries of Tata Steel Tata Tiscon rebars are manufactured in the only steel plant in India to be awarded the Deming Award the highest certification of quality given in the world

Recent Developments
At Tata Steel, market research and product development go handin-hand. It is this union that has helped create products such as Tata Tiscon Super Ductile rebars and Tata Tiscon 500.

SUPERBRANDS

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