The other day, I was watching a commercial for Hero Honda which had a guy riding all the way to his girl friend’s (well, supposedly)house just to reply to a message sent by her. And the tagline read something like “the cost of petrol shouldn’t be a barrier in your relationships.” (The intended meaning is the same, though I might have messed up with the words). I immediately had this feeling “seen it before”- the costs coming into relationships - no cost cutting in relationships and the like. Now who would forget the perfect couple (Madhavan, Vidya Balan) casting done by Airtel for its ads. The same concept had been used for Airtel previously (Watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu4_lA6Krnw, well couldn’t find a language that I understood) and now again being used by Hero Honda for one of its bikes which it tried to position in the mileage segment.
Well, I do not know if the ad is still being played on TV. I remember watching it only a couple of times. I tried it on you tube too but no trace. Perhaps they have dropped it for plagiarism. Why did Hero Honda go with such a tried and tested concept which was the central point of a whole campaign for Airtel? And with such commanding market share that Hero Honda has in the market, one does not understand the motive behind it going for such copy, paste ads. Such acts by any organization would only lead to some kind negative image formation about the company. When you are big, only responsible things are expected from you. That is the reason, there exists a difference in the way people perceive the same thing done by a celebrity and a common man. As you grow in stature, so grows your responsibility. That is why it is said, “With great POWER comes great RESPONSIBILITY.” Things, which are looked down upon, or which are too silly, are simply not expected from companies as massive as Hero Honda. It might just start as a bitter pill down the throat but it might have long term repercussions for the company in terms of its image in the market.
P.S: Hope this post does not act as a catalyst for the image downgrading process for Hero Honda. But what is to happen, happens. I am reminded of the butterfly effect here. May be I am just a part of the numerous series of events that leads to something massive which started from Hero Honda with an ad and may again end up at the same place where it started.
hi san,
ReplyDeletefirst of all, i appreciate you for such a nice thought
i am very much agreed with your opinion,but we are in 21st century and in a turbulent environment. in this era i thing the business has been shifted from monopoly to oligopoly and oligopoly to perfect competition, in a particular sense if we see corporate is a "bucket of crab".everyone wants to be noticed and it is found by KPMG survey that 82% of the viewers are unmindful while watching an ad in tv unless and until it has some spacial spice in it,so the day might have come when the negative marketing is being given higher priority than ethical marketing.