Accelerate to XCD

Bike maker Bajaj Auto's new campaign hopes to lure 100 cc bikers to the bridge segment of 135 cc bikes.

A young man is walking on the beach and steps on a magic lamp. No sooner, a genie dressed in white appears before him. The genie asks the man what he wants, to which he says he wants a house. He gets a big mansion which the man turns down and asks for an ordinary house instead.

The genie then presents a woman in a mini skirt, but the man wants something simpler. So the genie produces the same woman in a sari. Finally, the man asks the genie if he can get something to take her around in. A Bajaj XCD 135 comes before the man and the genie, unsure of his preference, asks him if he wants this. To his surprise, the man takes the bike. “In 300 years of my genie career, I have never seen such a babloo,” says the genie to a young woman standing nearby. Then, the genie introduces himself to the lady, “Myself genie.”

The ad ends with a voiceover that intones, “Special hai, aur aap?” (It’s special, are you?). That’s a long description for a 60-second advertisement. For Baja Auto, it’s the start of an even longer strategic journey.

Soft dissonance
At present, Bajaj Auto has about 49 per cent market share in 125 cc and 150 cc bikes, as compared to a smaller share of just 9 per cent in the 100 cc space. It so happens, 100 cc and 110 cc bikes make up almost two-thirds of the Indian motorcycle market which is second in size only to China. “The idea behind this advertisement is essentially to tell people to upgrade out of 100 cc and we will provide a far better bike at a comparable price,” says Bajaj Auto General Manager (marketing) Milind Bade. Indeed, the Bajaj XCD 135 is priced at Rs 45,000, while rival Hero Honda’s 100 cc bikes, the Passion Plus and Splendor, are a few thousands shy at Rs 42,000 and Rs 39,000, respectively. What’s more, the XCD 135 is far less expensive than any 150 cc bike which costs anywhere between Rs 60,000 and Rs 70,000. “In this new bike, we’re providing some of the top-end features of a 150 cc bike,” adds Bade.

Thus, the brief given to the company’s creative agency of eight years, O&M, was to show that the XCD 135 is a special bike and to create a dissonance in the mind of 100 cc customers and bring it to their notice, albeit in a light-hearted manner. “At the time of launch five months ago, our first ad focused on imagery. This time we wanted to use a more rational approach,” says O&M Senior Creative Director Abhijeet Awasthi.

But for a company that usually launches just one advertisement for a bike a year, this is its third TVC for the bike in a matter of just five months. The first ad featured two leather-clad sisters fighting with Matrix-like moves to ride pillion on the Bajaj XCD 135. One of them wins and locks the other in the bathroom. The winner then leaves the place with her helmet as a guy waits with his Bajaj XCD 135 bike. As they are shown riding the bike with screeching sounds and enthralling visuals, a voiceover goes: “New Bajaj XCD 135, five-speed gear box, DTS-SI, firm disk brakes, but one pillion seat”. A month later, the company came out with another ad where customers had the chance to own this bike for free if they decide to buy any other motorcycle either from Bajaj’s stable or from competing brands after taking a test ride on the XCD 135. “We needed to maintain the salience of the brand,” says Awasthi.

The middle path
Bade though is milking the bike as he feels the segment holds much promise. Typically, the bridge segment in any industry is huge; however, this is not the case for motorcycles where it accounts for just 20 per cent. “We want to grow this segment as we foresee that it can be much larger than it currently is. We just need to get the 100 cc guys to see that,” says he. And he’s pinning his hopes on a recovering economy and people becoming more experimental.

What he doesn’t say is that this is Bajaj Auto’s way of rejuvenating its mid segment. It is a leader in the premium segment with bikes like Pulsar and it is also on top in the entry level segment. But the mid segment, which makes up about 55 per cent of the industry’s volumes, has eluded the bike maker. Not surprisingly, Bajaj is going all out to make the XCD 135 a success. At present, the range is selling 20,000 units per month, but the new one is expected to give the XCD brand the much-needed boost.

The advertisement shot by Corcoise Films will run for about six to eight weeks across all channels.