One of my fondest childhood
memories was my journey to school and back in my Dad’s Bajaj Chetak.For the Millennials, people born
in the era of the 80’s to 90’s, I need not explain much about the dear family
commuter Chetak. It was a car on two
wheels for the Indian family!!I don’t think that any other brand could claim to
have touched the lives of the Indian Middle class as deeply as Bajaj has. Every
man who has lived in this era will surely have some or other memory associated
with the Bajaj scooter. It was a dream come true, a mark of success to own a
Bajaj!!
Advertisements and marketing has
always played an importantrole to build the brand image and persona, which is
100% true in the case of Bajaj.
During this time - when India was
taking its baby steps towards the path of development, when the Indians had started
aspiring, Bajaj came up with a beautiful ad campaign, which, even now rings a
fond bell or two for the Millennials - Buland
Bharat ki Buland Tasveer…Hamara Bajaj (which means the great symbol
of a great India: Our Bajaj).It was definitely
one of the best ad campaign in Indian advertising history. It portrayed the
image of India perfectly.
At the
time of ideation of this Ad, Rahul Bajaj and
Team Lintas (now Lintas-Lowe & Partners, Creative Agency) needed to make
the Chetak more appealing to the youngsters and wanted to beat the competition
from its Italian competitor Vespa. They needed to showcase that Bajaj Chetakas an integral part of People’s lives.
So they decided to recreate an Ad similar to that of ‘Chevrolet’s Heartbeat
of America' (in late 1980s).It could be seen as Bajaj’s strategy to design a
campaign which plays on emotions than in technology and they succeeded in it.
By around
1991, India had opened its market to global companies which offered a multitude
of products to choose from for the Indian consumer, making them literally the
kings. Automobile giants started selling their products in India in
collaboration with Indian companies. Bajaj, however did not want to join this
league.But by mid-90s to early-2000, sales of Bajaj Scooters started declining.
To counter this, Bajaj launched a couple of bikes in collaboration with
Kawasaki and otherwise. But unfortunately, it didn’tdo much to push the sales upwards.
These launches were backed by a
refurbished version of the popular ad campaign. They
replaced Buland bharat with ‘Naye Bharat ki Buland Tasveer….. Hamara Bajaj’.Instead of focussing on a single product,
Bajaj showcased their entire
portfolio including the newly launched Eliminator & Boxer in this Ad. Bajaj
which was known for its tradition had successfully and brilliantly portrayed
how Tradition and Modernity are seamlessly bridged together in this ad.
When I
was in my teenage, soon after the Y2K fear had gone, a decade after globalization
and liberalization, the time during which IT and other job markets were picking
up in India. The Indian Middle class was slowly rising to upper middle class.
Europe and other developed markets were starting to consider India as a
developing country. While the Indian youth where growing leaps and bounds, it
was the need of the hour for Bajaj to come up with a breakthrough as Bajaj
scooters were trying hard to catch up with its competitor’s motorcycles both
on road as well as in sales.Rajeev Bajaj decided that
it was time to move on. They decided to go solo and decided to launch
their first bike without Kawasaki.It was indeed a risky
step during that time, launching a 150cc bike to a mileage sensitive market.
They wanted to launch a sexy bike. Out came, drum rolls please, The Bajaj Pulsar with the tagline, “Definitely male”.
Bajaj was sure that this need to
be marketed well to be successful. As they embarked
on this new step, they needed a campaign that breathed fresh air to brand
Bajaj. In a complete break away from their subtle, traditionalistic style of
advertising, Rajeev Bajaj, a Marketing genius
in the Indian corporate, decided to take a brave, bold move.Ogilvy and
Mather, came up with “Definitely Male” idea to market this, which was hugely
successful. Bajaj was back on the scene and with a
bang.The Bajaj Pulsar was primarily targeted to people in the age group
of 18-24, but found themselves appealing to a much older audience as well
(21-35) helping Bajaj’s sales and profits skyrocket, after almost a decade.Every
youngster started dreaming of owning a Pulsar.
Once Bajaj had tested the waters
and found the taste of success they were hungry for more. They completely
overhauled everything. Backed up this huge success they were no more afraid of
change. There was a visible change in their communication to target audience.
They started to air commercials with stunts to a generation who dreamt of
superbikes. Their corporate branding also underwent some big changes. Bajaj was
very clear that they needed to announce to the world that they were no more an
old Bajaj. The logo also went on a transformation, the old Bajaj logo got
replaced with a newer stylish looking logo in 2004. This logo re branding
exercise was supported by Elephant designs.
In 2003-04, they re-launched the
Pulsar after making some cosmetic changes and introducing their DTSi
technology.Leo Burnett (Ad Agency of Bajaj),came up with a new tagline Digital biking for Pulsar DTSi.
The results were indeed evident. Bajaj
which had once started off by selling imported two and three wheelers also started
exporting their vehicles overseas.Now Bajaj earns more than one third of its
revenue from its exports.Bajaj acquired 14.5% of stake in KTM Power Sports AG
in 2007 and later increased stake to 47.96% in March 2013.This resulted in
popularising high power naked bike culture in India.
Even when Bajaj was making
immense profit from all these models, they were not ready to stop producing
those models that catered to the mileage sensitive market. So they relaunched
and fine-tuned their 100cc and 125cc models like Platina and CT100. Though a
distinctive leader in the entry level and sport segments, Bajaj lacked the
punch in the middle/executive segment.This segment accounted to half the size
of the total market. So they desperately needed to launch a good product,
making their presence in this segment. Here positioning played an important
role as the market was already replete with a tough competition who offered
multiple models.
It was then that Kevin from Leo
Burnet (Ad agency of Bajaj) came up with a wonderful Idea.The idea was to build
a motorcycle from the scrap of INS Vikrant, the heritage Indian Aircraft
carrier, which had helped India winthe Indo-Pak war. Bajaj took it up with open
arms and V was born. It was bringing a new dimension to the executive segment.
It was the ultimate solution for the positioning conundrum. What more does an
Indian customer need from a brand like Bajaj, than to give them an opportunity
to own a part of the historical INS Vikrant. This idea set ablaze the social
media.
It is rare indeed that a company which
started off by importing two wheelers is now exporting its two wheelers to most
parts of the world. What made it grow – Is it their marketing strategy? Or
Products? Or Technology. I would say it was the harmonious amalgamation of
these that has scripted their success story. It is their uncanny ability to
continually identify the evolving pulse of the customer that has made them one
of the most respected brands in the two wheeler industry, taking them Distinctly aheadfrom the competition.
