 "Tata Motors, Tata Tigor")
Just a few weeks ago, when Tata Motors launched its campaign for the new look Tigor, the compact sedan in its stable, it raised a few laughs and many eyebrows. The reason: the company trolled rivals Ford, Honda and Maruti Suzuki in its teaser campaign for Tigor. While the creative copy aroused interest, the question being asked was why does a decades-old auto brand need to ambush competitors? Tata Motors may well be following global peers who have traditionally taken each other on in public spats to establish territorial supremacy. Or it may simply be drawing inspiration from a growing band of Indian brands baiting each other on social media as they train their sights on millennial consumers. But does this really help Tigor?
“Given the brand value of the Tata Group, such fights will not help. If it is a new brand, they don’t have any heritage, they can look at funny campaigns. It all depends on what you are fighting for,” said K V Sridhar, founder and chief creative officer, Hyper Collective.
The Tigor ad took on Ford's Aspire, the sub-compact sedan of the American auto major. The Instagram ads said, “Dont just Aspire, get inspired” with the font style and colours mimicking Ford’s Aspire. Another ad said, “Renounce the world of Desire, announce your awakening” and one more went “The big move may Amaze, it’s the winning move that matters”. D’zire is a brand from the Maruti Suzuki stable and Amaze is a Honda brand.
Another auto brand that took to the ambush trail earlier this year is Bajaj Auto. It took on rival Royal Enfield, comparing its bikes to elephants with the slogan “Haathi mat Paalo” (Don’t nurutre elephants). Royal Enfield’s loyalists however trolled Bajaj Auto for the comparison and the gimmick helped both brands gain some attention online.
Sandeep Goyal, chairman of marketing and communication agency Mogae Media says that much of this is really one-upmanship. “It doesn’t materially do anything, creates some new noise around a brand and gets it into conversations. Earlier brands used to create news around the brand, now they are creating noise,” he said.
It is important to maintain the tone and character of the brand even when they indulge in ambush marketing of this kind said experts. In case of Tata Motors, many see the present campaign to be at variance with the brand’s traditional values. “When a younger brother is fighting with an elder brother, it is fun to watch. But an older brother thrashing a young brother, is not fun,” said Sridhar.
The Tata group is not the only legacy brand to name and bait its rivals. Recently Godrej group’s furniture retail brand, Godrej Interio, ran a similar campaign against Swedish rival Ikea. In the past global auto majors Audi and BMW have done the same. The maximum number of ambush advertisements in the country used to be in the health drinks category, Complan vs Horlicks vs Boost. The most famous one in recent memory is the 1996 World Cup campaign that Pepsi ran against Coca Cola. ‘Nothing official about it’ was the tagline, with Pepsi managing to draw attention to itself even when it had lost the bid for official sponsorship of the tournament.
Ambushed
Ambush campaigns come in a variety of forms, but at their core they are focused on drawing attention from one brand, usually the lead or official brand sponsor of an event or a popular brand in the news, onto another. This year has seen a spate of such advertising, across sectors
Home Town vs Ikea (Furniture retail)
The day Ikea opened its store in Hyderabad, Home Town had a hoarding right across the road that said, “What’s not ‘there’ is here”. With the word ‘there’ written in Ikea’s signature font and colours, the ads left no doubt about their true intentions
Haier vs Voltas (Air conditioners)
The new Haier ad uses ‘Murthy’ a popular character from the Voltas ads to deliver its message. It uses the same tone and pitch as in the Voltas ad to highlight the superiority of its brand over that of its competitor
Tata Motors vs Ford Aspire vs Maruti Suzuki D’zire vs Honda Amaze (Auto)
In its teaser campaign for the new look Tigor, Tata Motors said “Don't just Aspire…” written in the trademark style and font of Ford Aspire. It also took a dig at Maruti Suzuki and Honda Amaze with lines that said: Renounce the world of Desire, announce your awakening” and “The big move may Amaze, it’s the winning move that matters”
RR Kabel vs Havell’s
(Electrical wires and cables)
RR Kabel used Akshay Kumar to helm its campaign, “Akalmand Bano Sahi Chuno” (Get smart, choose right). The ads took a dig at rival Havell’s ads that claimed its wires don’t catch fire. The RR Kabel ads say that no wire is fire proof, but theirs is fire resistant. When they do go up in flames, they don’t emit suffocating toxic fumes and also make sure that the fire doesn’t spread to uncontrollable levels
ResiQuick vs Fevikwik (Adhesives)
With Varun Dhawan as brand ambassador, Astral took on Fevicol. Its ResiQuick ad repurposed the popular Fevikwik punchline and said “Sirf chipkao nahi jodo” (don’t just stick together, join). Playing with words and referencing the market leader, Astral sought to draw attention to its own brand at its rivals’ expense
