Celebs jam Hero Honda ad

ADVARTISING: The two-wheeler major launches a music video on its 25th anniversary with film stars, cricketers and an Olympian.

It is the grandfather of all celebrity endorsements. Hero Honda last week launched a new campaign after teasers that ran for a few days.

The three-minute music video has it all — icons from the Mumbai film industry, heroes from the world of cricket and an Olympic medal winner. Seldom before has such a galaxy of stars been seen in one single advertisement.

The faces in the advertisement are the best in the business: Bollywood glamour idols Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra, sensational cricketers Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir and Ishant Sharma as well as ace shooter and 2004 Athens Olympics silver medallist Rajyavardhan Rathore.

From the days of its “Fill It, Shut It, Forget It” campaign for its bestseller motorcycle, CD100, the two-wheeler major’s campaigns have mostly revolved around a particular brand. In the last few years, as competition caught up on fuel efficiency, the company roped in brand ambassadors.

To celebrate its 25th year, Hero Honda has brought all of them together in one advertisement.

According to Hero Honda Senior vice-president (sales and marketing) Anil Dua: “The idea is to celebrate this milestone in our journey retaining the brand’s core values but present these in a youthful manner.”

Titled “Hero Honda Dhak Dhak Go”, the three-minute long video has been conceptualised by FCB Ulka. The brief to the agency was to create a connection with the youth, the main customers of Hero Honda. “What we wanted with the video was to show the mindset of today’s youth,” says Dua.

The music track has been composed by Ranjit Barrot and is complemented by the voices of Shankar Mahadevan, Sukhwinder Singh and Shreya Ghoshal, “It is a perfect blend of sufi and rock, the flavour of music that the youth identify with today,” Dua adds.

The music video was shot over two months and at various locations such as Mumbai, Jaipur and Kuala Lumpur.

Elaborating on the concept of the video, Dua says that the brand wanted to celebrate its success as well as that of the country. “This India story is best reflected in the success of our young achievers from the field of cricket and entertainment,” he adds.

Hero Honda was the first to launch fuel-efficient bikes with Japanese technology in the early 1980s. It is still the market leader, though it faces stiff competition from Bajaj Auto.

Industry experts for some time now have been saying that motorcycle makers need to think out of the box to break out of the current spell of sluggish sales and take on the challenge thrown by Tata Motors’ ultra-cheap Nano.

On his part, Dua says that even after 25 years, the brand feels extremely young and energetic. “We wanted to celebrate the young and emerging India — an India which is confident of taking on the world.”

Apart from the music video, the company is also planning a slew of other branding initiatives to celebrate its silver jubilee. The mediums used would be print, outdoor as well a few on the ground activities.

As a brand, Hero Honda has always had celebrity endorsers. Be it Roshan or Sourav Ganguly, it even had actor Pankaj Kapoor in a few of its commercials. “We have always had ambassadors who represent the young generation,” says Dua.