New Delhi : India's first brand-dedicated streaming radio station on Saavn has been set up in collaboration with digital agency Razorfish in partnership with Maruti Suzuki India.

The new station, “Road Tripping,” is available for streaming globally on Saavn’s app and features popular hits from Bollywood and Indie music.

By providing Maruti Suzuki with an authentic connection to active, young, upwardly mobile Indian listeners on the “Road Tripping” station, Saavn has introduced a breakthrough for Indian advertisers. With branded audio ads and banners on the station exclusively from Maruti Suzuki, the fully measurable ad campaign runs 24 hours a day.

Razorfish said drive time being a classic context for music listening, Saavn’s audience is suited to the campaign with 28% of the service’s listeners being young professionals between the ages of 21 and 25 residing in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore. They spend the week listening to music at their desks and the weekends traveling with friends. A further 19% of the service’s listeners are 26 - 30 years old, and spend much of their week commuting.

Launched on 6 November 2015, the campaign provides Maruti Suzuki with access to precise metrics that include ad impressions, number of spots served, and click-through rates. The “Road Tripping” station has already garnered a CTR of 7% percent. To measure the campaign’s impact on brand awareness, Saavn will additionally measure ad recall and purchase intent among users.
Saavn has also created custom audio ads to promote the “Road Tripping” station to Saavn listeners, with a click through to start listening to the on-demand station.

Maruti Suzuki Vice President (Marketing) Sanjeev Handa said “We at Maruti Suzuki have always pioneered many firsts in the auto segment and with our recent new launches we are already the most popular car brand for the Indian youth today. This also means that we need to engage with our customers in the most relevant manner, through the most relevant medium. “Road Tripping” is an exciting platform and we plan to build on it and more such new avenues to reach out to our young and dynamic customers.”

Razorfish India Chief Operating Officer & Head of Business Transformation Gaurav Pathak added, “It is exciting to work with Maruti Suzuki knowing they are truly seeking business transformation and are tuned to innovative ideas, and have the “let’s do the never-tried-before” approach. Such ideas come only with partnerships of all stakeholders who strive to win the idea equally.”

Talking about the key idea behind the campaign, Razorfish Digital Media Director Piyush Aggarwal said, ”According to the latest Global Web Index report, online music is at 8% of the overall consumption in India and 4th in the most consumed digital content category after social, videos, and online news. At Razorfish, we believe music offers an experiential and non-intrusive way for brands like Maruti to connect and engage with their target audience."

“We’re incredibly excited to work with Maruti Suzuki and Razorfish to bring their brand advertising to this groundbreaking new format. Young audiences engage with music in such a powerful way, and drive time is their classic listening paradigm, so we are honored to help Maruti Suzuki capitalize on that connection, on Saavn,” said Saavn Brand Solutions EVP Sandeep Singh.