It's as if no one told them about the slump in the economy. Two wheeler manufacturers have, for the past year, been riding high on the back of healthy sales growth. What's more, the money earned seems to be going into advertising on television, which seems to be the preferred choice of the two-wheeler industry. Lets have a detailed look.

The sales growth for Q1 2002 (Jan - Mar) over Q1 2001 of various two-wheeler manufacturers varied from 40% for Hero Honda to - 40% for LML. TVS, which launched a slew of new products this season, saw its sales going up by 30%. The money earned through higher sales seems to be going into advertising.

In the same period, there was a growth of 12% in the total GRPs accumulated by two wheeler companies across all channels as can be seen from the chart below.

The top advertisers in the two-wheeler category have also seen a shift in TV advertising spends from 2001 to 2002. Last years heavy spenders, Hero Honda, Kinetic and Yamaha have actually cut down on their spends, while the others like Bajaj, LML and TVS in particular, have gone ahead to increase their ad spends. TVS seems to be following a well-calibrated strategy this year and also signed up Sachin Tendulkar as its brand ambassador. If initial signs are an indicator, then their ad activity is well set to go up in the coming months as well.

TVS saw a growth of more than 300% in its GRPs. Hero Honda on the other hand has slowed down with GRP accumulation coming down by almost 1000 points for Q1 2002, as compared with Q1 2002.

Now a look at the preferred media vehicles of the two-wheeler category- Aaj Tak, HBO, ESPN, Zee TV and Star Sports saw an increase in the ad spends by the category. One aspect to be noticed is that, whereas there was very little use of niche channels but the ad spends on these channels saw an increase when compared with 2001. DD Sports, a favorite channel for the category, saw a decline in the ad spends (assuming the cost per rating point has remained the same for the two period.) Quite similar was the case with mass channels like Star Plus and Sony. Zee however, saw a good growth in the category's ad spends.

A comparison of the first quarters of both 2001 and 2002 above, gives some interesting insights about the two-wheeler category. TVS is an interesting case. In 2001, TVS spent heavily on Star Plus and not as much on Sony. 2002 however saw a shift in its strategy. TVS used a combination of mass channels like Star Plus, Sony, Zee and Aaj Tak and niche channels like HBO. Bajaj on the other hand, has stuck to mass channels. However, in the case of Bajaj, there was a shift from Sony to Star Plus.

Cricket, with its unique ability to reach male audiences, has been a favorite with the category. Hero Honda has been the biggest rider on cricket in 2002. What's interesting to note is that Hero Honda had actually pushed the trend of utilizing cricket for two-wheeler companies. LML, which did not spend on cricket at all in 2001, spent heavily on it in 2002. But TVS unlike the others continues to remain cricket shy.

Unlike the other categories which seem to be going through a difficult period, it seems to be a different story altogether for the two-wheeler industry. An increase in sales, a subsequent increase in advertising spends and not to forget a shift in advertising strategies; the two-wheeler category has seen it all. And the same seems to be on the cards in the future as well with the category experiencing a growth on the back of new models and better technology.