Vivek Nayar discusses the reasons behind opening of the new Mahindra off-road training academy

Mahindra Adventure is an umbrella brand of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd which organizes adventure and motorsports events for its vehicle owners. In its third edition, Mahindra Adventure has inaugurated a 28 acre off-road training academy at Igatpuri near Nashik. Pradeb Biswas finds out more about Mahindra Adventure and its new academy from Vivek Nayer, chief marketing officer, automotive division, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

What was the thought behind kicking off Mahindra Adventure?

We always organize the Mahindra Great Escape event which happens once or twice in a year. We used to invite our customers to bring their vehicles and experience a day of off-road driving. We used to organize everything include the backup vehicles and safety requirements. Two years ago we found out that aspirations and lifestyles in India were changing. An increasing number of people were on the lookout for a new experience which could be as simple as getting out of the city, going out for a family picnic, or go for a long road trip and people were even aspiring to explore far off places like Leh and Ladakh.

So we thought that with our DNA of making tough and rugged vehicles, Mahindra should leverage itself with this changing trend much more and it is an experiential marketing at the end of the day. Once people attend these events, they realize how tough and rugged our vehicles are. They go and back and talk about their experiences with friends and family which results in brand building. Based on this, we setup Mahindra Adventure two years ago which under its umbrella organizes several events. I am pleased to say that our customers and fans are very happy participating in them.

Mahindra Adventure has been organizing numerous events in various regions across the country. What has the customer feedback been? What suggestions have you received from the participants?

We have several different kinds of events across several different locations. Some are short duration events lasting for a day while some last for 12 days. Based on the customer feedback we have kept on expanding and by now we have a wide range of events for our customers to participate in. The feedback has been very positive and people are very happy. We also keep on innovating and every year, when we announce the calendar of events for the new season, there is always something new.

For this year's calendar, we have announced the Off-Road Academy will allow people to learn how to indulge in proper off-roading in a Mahindra four wheel drive vehicle. The Off-Roading Academy has been setup on 28 acres of land in Igatpuri. It has a custom built track where there are different kinds of obstacles for that pose a challenge for the participants. The Mahindra Thar is vehicle which we use for training the participants and already two batches have been through.

Are you witnessing any trend of Mahindra Adventure events being more popular in a particular region?

Everywhere the events have been popular and as a matter of fact in most locations our events are taking place with full capacity. Like for this year's Monastery event, we had barely opened bookings and already it is full. We had to close bookings because keeping safety in mind there is a certain capacity of how many people we can take.

According to you what are the current priorities and challenges for the Mahindra Adventure division?

The priority and challenge is to ensure that we keep on bringing in something new, something innovative as we go along. We are also keen to reach more and more people. We have a huge competitive advantage because across all our Mahindra brands we have about 10 million fans on Facebook. Mahindra Adventure alone has over one million fans. This is our competitive advantage that a few hundred people may participate in one event on the ground, but we are able to take those pictures and videos to millions of people. No other manufacturer has this kind of reach. We have the reach and the ability to reach out to more people.

With respect to the Mahindra brand and also the product Thar, how much help do you think the Mahindra Adventure division and the new academy will give in pushing your brand and product?

If consumer lifestyles and aspirations are changing in this country then Mahindra with ITS DNA of making tough and rugged vehicles is in the best position to leverage this change. It underlines our DNA and it tells other people why Mahindra vehicle are the right vehicles to undertake such events in and you can't do this in a car. You need a tough vehicle to do off-roading or to go long trips where you may have to go off-road. It is working well for the brand and helping in building the brand.

Will the off-roading academy be open for interested people throughout the year?

We will run the various courses based on the demand. But yes the academy will be having training sessions throughout the year. As soon as we have a full batch ready say of around 15 people, the course will start. Bookings have begun online and there are three levels of courses on offer namely basic, intermediate and advanced.

Will the new training academy be limited only to Igatpuri? Any plans of expansion?

It takes a lot of commitment, effort and investment to put something like this together. Let's see how it does and then we will take a call in the future. For now it's going to be only in Igatpuri.