…says Karoly Repas, VP - Marketing, Sales and Technical, Total Oil India Pvt Ltd.

 

How did you tap into a segment that has lower-end user involvement?

This was possible due to communication. Marketing is mostly field activation, meeting the resellers, garages, mechanics, and talking to the OEM dealer network in order to introduce the product. Both must go together. None of these two key pillars can work without the other. Of course, we had to make the foundation to learn the market, and discover who can be our potential partner because the country is large. First, we did some kind of field coverage, and then when everything is established the communication part was implemented. In today’s life we are all very busy, so we need to know how we can really approach and how we can market the product to the consumer, or to the target audience. There are many digital platforms where my colleagues are perfectly managing this.

 

Going ahead what is Total’s strategy for when Indian roads are proliferated with EVs, given the rush towards it?

The demand is definitely growing towards electric vehicles in India. There are several initiatives for the adoption of EVs by 2030. But that is really a long time away. Right now we are absolutely focusing and concentrating on today's demands for the Indian market and so now we are responding to that.