Effies 2007: Hero Honda Pleasure has all the fun

FCB-Ulka presented its case study on Hero Honda Pleasure at the Effies 2007 case study presentation round. The study was short-listed in the Consumer Durables category.

Hero Honda launched its 100cc scooter, Pleasure, in early 2006. There was good opportunity for company as the 75-125cc scooter category had witnessed 5 per cent growth in the previous year and there was also increase in multiple ownership of vehicles in Indian families. However, there were still challenges that had to be faced.

Pleasure was a late entrant in the market and, despite the growth opportunity, the category was found to be cluttered with competitors such as Kinetic, Honda, Bajaj and TVS. Also, Pleasure was a simple scooter and had a single 100cc offering as compared to the competitors, who were also providing other benefits. Thirdly, Pleasure offered hardly any product differentiation, which made it difficult to position it in the market initially.

Along with positioning the product properly, FCB-Ulka’s objective was to drive sales to the 90,000 mark and help capture market share of close to 9 per cent. The agency found that Pleasure fell into the category of lighter plastic bodied scooters, which were mostly perceived to be driven by women. Pleasure’s contemporaries included Kinetic Zing, Bajaj Spirit and TVS Scooty Pep.

FCB-Ulka hit upon the insight that acquiring a pair of wheels meant freedom and liberation for a woman. It implied that she was no longer dependent on her family to go out. She could catch up with her friends and hang out independently as she wanted.

The creative strategy used the insight and communicated to girls that they no longer needed to be hemmed in by their gender. They could be self-sufficient and enjoy their lives. FCB-Ulka positioned Pleasure under ‘Why should boys have all the fun?’

The TV commercial shows a newly wed couple coming out of a church. The husband gifts the wife a Hero Honda Pleasure and she drives off with him on the pillion. In the next scene, a mother is riding Pleasure with her son on the pillion. As the son grabs a balloon from a group of clowns, she makes a u-turn to come back and pay for the balloon. Another scene features a man offering a woman a lift in his car. Just then her friend arrives on her Pleasure and asks the man, ‘Why should boys have all the fun?’

The jingle plays throughout the commercial: ‘Watch us now, here we come, daring, dreaming on the run. We have the wheels and start us on, let us show you how it’s done. Why should boys have all the fun? Why should boys have all the fun?’

Hero Honda also launched 21 exclusive ‘For Her’ showrooms in the country. These showrooms were operated and managed by women employees and further promoted the idea of freedom for the product. Within a year of its launch, Pleasure touched the sales figure of 92,000 and captured a market share of 7.5 per cent. It was also termed the fastest growing scooter in the 75-125cc category by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) India.