Campaign: Yun Hee Nahin Chalaate
Brand: Hayate
Company : Suzuki Motorcycle India
Agency: RK Swamy BBDO
The Campaign
The film opens outside a police station where a constable comes running out shouting that a prisoner called Billa has escaped. Salman Khan, imitating his character Chulbul Pandey in his hit movie Dabangg, enters the scene and says that he will take his new Hayate motorcycle to catch the prisoner. Accompanied by the constable, Khan gives chase. While Billa jumps up and down all over the town, almost like a gymnast, our cool cop keeps a hawk-eye on his movements, coolly enjoying the ride on his new Suzuki Hayate. Finally as the prisoner runs up a ladder, Khan drives his motorcycle onto the ladder, and tips him over a wall. And that wall is that of the police station, and the prisoner finds himself again within the four walls of the police station. The ad ends with the constable offering sweets to Khan after he too purchases a Hayate. The final shot shows Khan grimacing as he realises that the constable is copying his style.
Our Take
The 100-110 cc motorcycle segment is a promising market with tremendous growth potential. Hayate, a mass segment motorcycle, priced Rs39,900 onwards with its 4-stroke, 112 cc engine, is targeted at emerging markets in small town clusters as well as semi-urban and rural peripheries. This is also the segment which swears by Khan?s macho image and identifies with his Chulbul Pandey character and his smart moves. The entire campaign has been thus conceptualised keeping in mind the target audience which resides in rural and semi-urban peripheries and adores Khan?s Dabangg avatar. Therefore, the idea of copying Khan?s Dabangg image is certainly appropriate. The campaign utilises Khan?s well-embedded imagery to build an instant connect with the audience. The catchy dialogues he mouths in the ad add to the imagery. The jingle is entertaining and goes well with the commercial. The campaign revolves around the tagline, ?Suzuki Hayate, yun hi nahi chalate!? (Suzuki Hayate ? there?s always a reason to ride it), which subtly brings out the various reasons to own this bike.
However, the commercial focuses more on Khan and fails to highlight the features of the bike. At the same time, we should not forget that while Khan endorses a lot of brands none of the commercials have attempted to playwith Khan?s Dabangg style, which is embedded in the minds of his fans.
