Interview Tire Asia

Early this year , I was a speaker at an international conference session in Germany. I was introduced to a editor of an upcoming magazine. He was quite intrested in my work after my presentation. So he also wanted to take avery small interview which is yet to be published( it went off unpublished). So, I thought that it should on my blog with no exceptions.

Read the Interview.

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1.Your statement about tyre and emotion – the emotional relationship that a vehicle owner develops with the tyre – is quite an eye-opener. Are there any scientific studies to back up your argument?

RA: There have been numerous studies going on regarding the connect between products and the emotions it can generate in humans, which is commonly referred to as emotional design. A few tools have been developed recently in certain disciplines of design which can measure the depth of emotions, although such tools are still undergoing refinement. Since emotions arise out of individual perception, it is highly a subjective matter which differs from person to person. Emotional deign as a specific tool has not yet been applied in tire and its aesthetics and Apollo is the first Tyre manufacturer to take up this as one of the important tools in design.

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2. A large number of people don’t even care to look at tyres, but when there is a flat they pour out their anger and frustration by kicking the black and round stuff that actually takes them to places safely. As that is the case generally, where does the emotional element of attachment come?

RA: Tyres has always been an uncelebrated product and they are generally viewed as purely functional products with no emotional appeal. Even though it’s the only interface between the vehicle and the road, the same is seen as more of a commodity product where the consumers are not much attached with it. Our attempt is to change this perception on the consumers’ mind. Our research is about adding value to the product in such a way that the consumers feel the tires as integral extensions to the vehicle and evoke emotions together.

I think if we can succeed in our efforts, the customer would rather feel sorry for than kick the tires when they go flat.

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3. One of your company officials said to me that when they removed a “thrishul” symbol from farm tyre, which some sections of Indians consider as a religious symbol, the users wanted it back. Does that reflect your argument that there is an emotional bonding between the vehicle user and the tyre?

RA: The symbol on tyre was unintended for the connotations it had in the minds if the customer as it was probably perceived as a symbol of religious belief. This is particularly true when the product is successful and meets the performance expectation and then the user could often attribute this to the logo that evokes an emotion of being lucky mascot. This might sound superstitious to many, but in my opinion its more of an emotion.

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4. How important are such symbols, like dolphin on your tyres, in the branding exercise? Do you think that this could be used as an effective marketing tool when tyres are designed for a particular market where cultural/religious/social symbols are incorporated while targeting niche segments?

RA: Since ages humans have been using symbols as powerful communication tools. The dolphin tyre is a concept product based on emotional design. It carries out to the reflective level of human emotion since it appeals to the WOW factor and also at times overrides the other levels of emotions to experience the feeling of pride. And its also strong in functional aspect of tyre engineering as it designed to hydrodynamic shape of dolphins to avoid hydroplaning on wet roads.
Usually concept tyres are just teasers or show tyres which never make to production. But we at Apollo tyres think beyond and would like our customers enjoy their ride with pride and joy (EMOTION).

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5. Apollo has taken a path-breaking decision to bring this “emotional element” to tires, and you made an excellent presentation before a receptive audience at the TireTech show in Cologne. Do you think this idea will catch up among others, particularly the Chinese, who are good at selling products specifically tailored to markets taking advantage of various social factors that are locally relevant?

RA: The idea of emotion to product design not very new. There is a possibility that this aspect in tire design was unattended, to add value to the products. The Chinese are growing very rapidly in the all markets all over the world, they will take an advantage to touch the customers feeling, however, creating a design is very easy but giving life to the product through design and adding value is completely different. Its more like, any artist can replicate the famous painting da Vinci’s, “ MonaLisa”, but does it fetch the same value of the original?

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6. Now that Apollo is going with “emotional” attributes as a unique selling point. What are the other emotional tools that you have in the works that would be put into the market as you expand globally in an unprecedented way?

RA: Addressing emotion of the individual adds value to the products. Its helps the consumer to understand our product better. And during this process the consumer have a good feeling and stays loyal to the brand. Presently, the design is still in progress to make it to the market and certainly we would enhance the products to all the levels of emotion to have a very wide communication between the user and product.
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7. Your argument reminds me about enculturisation wherein local sensibilities are considered vital for marketing or branding a product or service. In an increasingly globalised world corporates will have to “think global but act local.” Don’t you think that your concept of “tyre and human emotion” fits nicely with this current management mantra?

RA: The world today is a global village. A lot of cross-pollination, cultures exist. And still the true races, cultural backgrounds are very important for designing most of the products. To make your products sustainable in the competitive markets you need to practice “ THINK GLOBAL, DESIGN LOCAL”. The entire argument of supply- demand, sell-buy, falls into this particular design management mantra, so is my research.
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