MAM
Fastrack to up communication spends by 50% next fiscal
BANGALORE: Titan Industries Limited youth fashion accessories brand Fastrack is targeting a CAGR of 50 per cent on its way to Rs 30 billion over the next five years from its current fiscal expected closure of Rs 6 billion. The brand spends around 5-6 per cent of its revenues towards communications and mass media spends, and its next fiscal spends on this head will be proportionate with the revenue growth. This was revealed by Fastrack and New Brands VP and business head Ronnie Talati.
Talati attributes Fastrack’s communications to the brand’s success and its growth. He claims that it is the largest player in all the categories that it sells – this includes watches – around 3 million pieces an annum, sunglasses – around 1 million pieces a year and even other youth fashion accessories. Its brand communications have been crazy and funky and it has become a trendsetter for its TG – the youth of today. “We set the trends, we don’t follow international trends,” averred Talati.
Fastrack has a strong presence in the digital space. It has following of 3 million plus fans on Facebook and wants to increase the number of fans to 10 million by the end of the year. It has launched its own instore Internet radio channel where it plays international music and customised content across all its outlets. It has plans to employ Radio Jockeys for the station.
Lowe Lintas generally handles the creative duties for Fastrack, and Maxus the media buying.
Talati was speaking with www.indiantelevision.com during the launch of the 100th Fastrack outlet in the country in Banaglore, and the 60th store launched this year. It has planned a digital and instore campaign – ‘Like bunnies we multiply’ for the 100th store launch. Creative work for this campaign is being done by Black Swan.
At present Fastrack stores are present in 44 towns and cities in the country. The brand is targeting 280 stores in 108 cities and towns in the country during the next fiscal. Fastrack has plans to open around 500 outlets over the next 2-3 years. “We want to increase the consumer touch points and will follow a hub and spoke model – A major Fastrack store in a locality, city or town that will retail all our products and supply to smaller Fastrack stores in the vicinity that will specialize in a particular category,” said Talati.
Talati plans to add more categories like helmets and bicycles to Fastrack sales inventory. He is also looking at opening Fastrack stores in emerging markets like China, Brazil, Vietnam and growing the brand there.
Talati revealed that Fastrack standalone stores currently contribute 15 per cent to revenues and this figure would go up to 25 per cent by the next year. He said that watches contribute 50 per cent to the revenue, with other categories pitching in the rest. With growth in numbers and increase in categories, Talati expects watches share to revenue to go down to 40 per cent next year and further down to 25 per cent over the next five years or so.
MAM
Three senior OpenAI infrastructure executives join Meta
Key members of Stargate project move to rival amid aggressive AI spending race.
MUMBAI: Three key architects of OpenAI’s ambitious data centre plans have switched sides and joined Meta Platforms, according to people familiar with the matter. Peter Hoeschele, who played a central role in OpenAI’s high-profile Stargate initiative, is among the new hires. He is joined by Shamez Hemani, who focused on computing strategy and business development, and Anuj Saharan, another leader in the computing organisation. The Information first reported their departure from OpenAI on Thursday.
The moves come as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to spend aggressively on AI infrastructure. The company is projecting capital expenditure of up to $135 billion this year alone, with hundreds of billions more expected before the end of the decade to support its Meta Superintelligence Labs and new models such as Muse Spark.
OpenAI, which is pushing ahead with massive data centre expansion, had described its early lead in securing computing power as a competitive advantage. Stargate, originally announced last year as a $500 billion venture involving OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, has since become an umbrella term for the company’s broader data centre ambitions. However, the project has seen recent adjustments, including a pause on its UK plans and the decision not to expand the Abilene, Texas site.
A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment, while Hoeschele, Hemani, and Saharan also declined to comment. OpenAI said it was grateful for the contributions of the three employees and remains focused on hiring talent for its infrastructure plans. The company recently brought in former Intel executive Sachin Katti to lead its industrial compute efforts.
In the high-stakes race to build the future of artificial intelligence, talent is proving to be as valuable as computing power itself. Meta’s latest hires suggest the competition for top infrastructure minds is intensifying, even as OpenAI continues to scale its own ambitious projects. The move highlights how quickly the AI talent war is heating up across Silicon Valley.
