MRF BULLOCK CART TYRES

History of MRF
• K. M. Mammen Mappillai was born on November 28, 1922, to
K.C. Mammen, as the youngest in a family of eight children. His
father wanted him to become a commercial artist, but Mammen
Mappillai had other ideas. He started off in 1946 making balloons
from his home in T. Nagar (Chennai), quickly expanded business
and six years later was manufacturing retreading compounds.

• The first tyres he made were for bullock carts. In 1961, he tied up
with Mansfield Tyre and Rubber Co of the US and barely three
years later was exporting. Around the same time, the MRF
Muscleman logo was introduced. Through the 70s and 80s,
Mammen Mappillai built MRF into a premier tyre company,
fighting his rivals on quality and not price. In 1979, MRF crossed
the Rs 100-crore turnover mark.
 PRODUCT

Bullock Cart Tyres

- In a market full of rayon tyres, MRF introduced
Nylon tyres for bullock carts.

- MRF, while marketing bullock cart tyres found

glaring differences between western UP and
eastern UP with regard to requirement of cart
types. While bullock carts in werstern UP were
smaller with a single buffalo in eastern UP and there
were bigger vehicles pulled by two bullocks.
 MRF ADV RANGE OF TYRES
S SIZE
N
1 5.00-19 PAHALWAN N 6

2 6.00-19 PAHALWAN N 8

3 7.00-19 PAHALWAN N 10

4 8.00-19 PAHALWAN N 10
 Promotion
• Educating farmers about the advantages of
using Nylon tyres for bullock carts and building
an image for the MRF brand.

• MRF achieved this through a unique nylon

cord-breaking contest with real life pahalwans,
thus effectively demonstrating the strength of
MRF Bullock Cart Tyres.
• Capitalising on the MRF Strength with the
muscleman symbol as well as their leadership
in truck tyres, the communication revolved
around the brand name and its meaning viz.,
Pahalwan – Muscleman.

• MRF used the tag line “Pahelwan Chap Buggy

Gadi Tyres”, as a part of the communication
package.

• Slide-and-tape presentation at the weekly

haats.
• In western UP the villagers spoke Hindustani whereas in
eastern UP there spoke Bhojpuri. To develop the
communication packages these facts were kept into
consideration.

Results
• MRF Bullock Cart Tyre became the Brand leader in the
segment within 3 years of the launch of the new
campaign during which brand share rose from 6% to
30% .
• With the launch of MRF Pahalwan (Bullock Cart Tyre
with Nylon strength) in 1994, the brand continues to
lead the category with 35% share of the market.
 Place
• Available in New Delhi only at Mayapuri MRF.
• In rural areas tyres available at specific MRF
dealers only.
• Can be found only in agricultural or farming
tool markets.