For the past many weeks, I have been watching this Royal Enfield Ad in Mumbai theaters:
Just a few seconds later, the following Bajaj Pulsar Ad plays:
As a consumer:
– The Enfield Ad makes me feel like there is a Funeral in Chennai.
– The Bajaj Ad makes me feels like jumping out of the movie hall and just DOING SOMETHING
It amazes me how advertising and its approach can differ so dramatically within the same category.
Now note that I am not exactly a MORON – I do realize that the Enfield Ad is Corporate, Brand Centric and Over Arching – The Bajaj Ad is a sports bike targeted at a specific audience etc etc
BUT
– Why should the Enfield Ad make me FEEL SO SO SAD AND FEEL LIKE CRYING???
– Why should the Ad make Chennai look so so poor and backward
I will be posting similar such posts highlighting where advertising IMHO is going completely AWRY!
In this case its a classic case of EMOTION AND HERITAGE conflicting with CATEGORY AND ASPIRATION!
India is a young, dynamic, vibrant country – its youngsters want to RIDE THEIR LIFE – not go to a funeral….
If you are a Bike Company and have young people as your TG – shouldn’t you be talking to them in an ASPIRATIONAL tone?
Lesson – In cases like these, the AD AGENCY should NOT JUST NOD and just make what they were suposed to (the brief from the client to the agency)
Excerpts from https://www.royalenfieldindia.co.cc/2011/04/royal-enfield-releases-new-ad-film.html
(Client speak) – Shaji Koshy, Head Sales & Marketing, Royal Enfield, said, “Over the years, Royal Enfield’s communication has managed to keep the world coming back for more. We hope this latest advertisement from Royal Enfield will strike a chord with Royal Enfield consumers and create strong emotional engagements with them. We will be using traditional media like television, cinema and print but digital will form a key part of the communication as well.”
Agency speak – V Sunil, Executive Creative Director, Wieden+Kennedy, Delhi, said, “For us, Royal Enfield always stood for ‘Keeping it Real’, and that spirit extends to everything that Enfield does, including advertising. So we avoided the usual clichés i.e. slapstick humour, kitsch, melodrama or ‘aspirational’ gloss. It’s important for an iconic brand such as ours to stay true to character, and to be proud of what it represents and where it comes from.”
Sorry Shaji – I am an aspiring consumer and this just TURNED ME OFF. I think your agency should have REALLY been more TRUE to their instinct and hence towards your brand!
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Balachandran Rajaraman
I completely disagree to your analysis of the Royal Enfield Bullet Ad. I recently watched this in an advertising blog and liked it instantly. It was real. The effort taken to keep it real did strike a chord. I didn’t think of funerals or poverty or backwardness when watching it.
The Bajaj commercial is lame, cliched, exaggerated. In a theatre or on TV it would be invisible to me.
May be they are targeting to different segments. If I am in a group of people Enfied is trying to target, it is working. ‘Young People of India’ IMO is not a single homogeneous group who share the same values and spend on the same things
Roshan
I think tis enfield ad was made with the developed markets esp England in mind. Remember ROYAL ENFIELD has a british heritage and i hear even now there is a considerable fan following, admiration and nostalgia associated with the brand.
so why show a funeral? i guess the brand manager lost his way while trying to stress on the fact that it is HANDCRAFTED (which carries a huge premium abroad ) and also sell it as made in (poor and hungry) india. This ad has a very art movie type of feel but should have never aired in india.
Gurpreet Singh Tikku
Agree Completely. the Ad was rather depressing and the worst part was that it lasted for full 2.25 Mins.
Bajaj, has been very aggressive in its Marketing and now anticipating the HONDA entry, it is already brainwashing our mind with the latest Pulsar Ad. “Pulsar sells five times more than any other Japanese bike” says it all about the company’s strategy. The company is focused to nail down Honda and other Japanese manufacturers. And in those 35 secs, it peps up your mood and gives an adrenalin rush.
We want the days back when “Everyone makes way for the Bullet” https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=cm1Kp_mVSV4
Or if you wanna have a smile, then watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMJPm9iK7aI&feature=related
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
BAIL GAADI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
why didnt these MORONS not just use that bullet sound….why this dirge???!!!
Ashwin C Parulkar
Both ads are HORRIBLE piece of creativity,
Enfield is so Mushy and Bajaj is so Tacky in terms of Special effects execution.
why those MOTIFS OF south indian life, Rajanikant poster, old granie and so on and on top of it
the FUNERAL TUNE FOR ENFIELD….it just sucks the brand manager and the creatives both