Maruti Suzuki: Fresh take

Maruti Suzuki India has launched its latest campaign, Come Alive, to create a buzz in the A2 segment for its tall-boy hatchback, the Zen Estilo. This is the third campaign since the car was launched in 2006. It is aimed at enhancing the brand positioning, ‘Take a fresh view of life’. For the record, the Zen Estilo is the fastest-growing model in Maruti Suzuki’s portfolio.

The latest campaign aims to get volume share from competition (the Hyundai i10 and, Santro, Chevrolet Beat and Maruti Suzuki WagonR). It will also differentiate the Zen Estilo to prevent canibalisation inside the Maruti Suzuki portfolio. The advertising spend for the Zen Estilo is estimated at Rs 6 crore.

“While the first television commercial of the campaign has already been aired, there are two more television commercials in the pipeline,” says Maruti Suzuki India Chief General Manager (marketing) Shashank Srivastava.

For the first time, crash-test dummies have been used in an Indian automobile campaign. The brief to Dentsu Creative Impact, says Srivastava, was to establish the concept that the Zen Estilo is for style with substance, and it’s the car for the young man and woman who are yet-to-be married (its target customers).

The first TVC opens with a Maruti Suzuki research and development centre where engineers are pulling the shutters down after a day’s work. Crash-test dummies, paints, and the Zen Estilo are seen in the background. A male crash-test dummy comes alive, switches on the light, and immediately walks out of the cage. He strokes the Zen Estilo as he admires its looks, takes the driver’s seat, and swerves it through the centre. In the background, plays the song: Roop tera mastana. He brakes when he sees a female dummy standing in front of the car. He winks at her as he offers her to go for a drive. She nods, gets into the car, and as she appreciates the interior, the male looks proud. The voice-over: Come alive.

While the first TVC focuses on the looks and the shape of the Zen Estilo, and that it’s the car for the young couple, the subsequent TVCs will talk about its shape, the K-series engine, beige interiors, performance and other features. The TVCs are directed by Marlon Rodriguez and Full Moon Productions is the production house. It was shot over three days at Magarpatta in Pune and Cherish Studios in Mumbai.

Dentsu Executive Creative Director Satya P Ranjan says: “The film was shot with reference actors and during post-production, which took more than two months, they were replaced with animated characters. To execute this idea, a team of 25 internationally-acclaimed computer graphics professionals were hired.”

Also on the cards are below-the-line activities by this year-end and on-ground activation in the beginning of January 2011.

Zen Estilo Brand Manager Rajesh Nagarajan says: “The micro-site for the car has also been revamped with this campaign, and a come-alive experience contest, like naming the crash-test dummies, has started too. Its Facebook page got 9,000 members in the first three days. An automatic feed will get uploaded on a user’s Facebook account, showing his/her scores in various contests.”