First Post ...

....this month

Just noticed that my last post was on June 19th. Incidentally that was the day I took off for my first market visit as Asst Brand Mgr to Punjab. Was fortunate enough to travel across Punjab by road in a AC car. Managed to enjoy the lush green surroundings while escaping the scorching hot climate.

After that, nothing of consequence actually happened. Days just went by. Go to office, spend time till it is time to head back home and then head back home. Oh yeah, one of my brands is gonna be launched this month end. So a little amount of work had to be done there.

Anyway, no more gyan. Coming straight to what I wanted to say today. I was in kitchen when suddenly I heard this pretty familiar tune. "Buland bharat ki buland tasveer" (which I guess means strong picture of a strong India). I loved this particular tune as a kid. It is very catchy, has a lot of energy to it and it just lingers on you. So I come out of the kitchen wondering why Bajaj started advertising their scooters all over again (Weren't they out of market a few years back? Though my guess is that they will make a comeback again just for their fashion, heritage and Italian connection). Anyway, what I see on TV is this really sleek ad for Bajaj Pulsar. I guess it is their new improved model with all that 180cc jazz and stuff. The ad is pretty simple -- black bike, biker in black leather jacket, black helmet, black road, the bright surroundings (though I don't rmr if it is brownish or greenish -- my guess is that it would have been brownish or golden (wheat you see)). You see the bike zooming along the curves and in a very tacky looking (though I kind of liked it) animation, you have new bikes appearing from the initial bike. So initially, you have one bike and one rider, then you have two bikes and two riders and then three and it is as if they are racing along.

That is when the jingle starts "Naye bharat ki Naye Andaaz" --- "Hamara Bajaj"

Trust me, the voice has loads of bass but the killer is the tune and the execution. Definete winner if you ask me.

At the end of it all, all the bikes merge back into one.

Now this ad could have meant a lot. One thing i felt was that Bajaj is a clear leader and thus it has nobody but itself to compete with. This thought taking genesis from bikes appearing out of initial bikes and then racing.

But that apart, what would the Bajaj people given as a brief to the ad agency --

a. The ad has to somehow relate with the Bajaj heritage (using this tune -- I am impressed / biased :P) while at the same time avoid the scooter kind of image and should be relatable to the TG

b. To make the ad relevant to TG (black everywhere)

c. No overt mention of product attributes * you can say that the way bike was showed to zoom along the curves without a hitch is a product story -- but for me it is more the freedom, joy and the feeling of adventure and comfort that I would relate with the visual rather than anti-skid tyres*

d. And yeah, umbrella branding. I don't really remember if the ad was for Pulsar or for Bajaj. Either they are having plans to get into an IPO or they just want to pursue a strategy of Umbrella branding by using pulsar as a image generator for other suff like boxer etc.

So that is the ad that caught my attention in the last few days. Coming to my rating of the vitals,

Story -- No story overtly
Concept -- 3.5 / 5
Execution -- 4.5 / 5
Impact -- 4 / 5

I have a feeling that the Bajaj folks have a winner in this ad. Trust me, it would have a good impact on their salience and recall numbers.