Tata Indica experiments online with the Xeta Shootout contest

The Xeta Shootout online contest invites people to submit their own versions of the ‘You Gotta Be Dumb’ TVC

Tata Motors has launched an online contest for its latest car model, the Indica V2 Xeta. The contest, the Xeta Shootout, is running on a website (www.thexetashootout.com) where customers can submit their own versions of an Indica Xeta ad with the theme, ‘You Gotta Be Dumb if You Miss the Xeta’. Participants can either shoot a video of the ad or present a storyboard with pictures clicked by them.

The contest is an extension of the long-running ‘You Gotta Be Dumb’ TV commercial created by FCB-Ulka. The humorous commercial showed four girls trying to flirt with a handsome young man, who just cannot ‘get it’. First aired in March 2006, Tata Indica has been using various versions of this commercial for other variants of the car. "While the (internet) medium offers a variety of lead generation and brand building possibilities, we believe that the biggest potential of the medium is in the area of "social media" applications -- user generated content, virals, contests and word of mouth, for instance. The Xeta Shootout Contest is an attempt to leverage this social media aspect of the web," says a Tata Motors spokesperson.

Tata Indica experiments online with the Xeta Shootout contest

The commercial can also be viewed on the contest website developed by FCB-Ulka. On registering, people can submit their entry and view and rate the already submitted videos and storyboards. “We found that the Indica commercial was rocking with youngsters, so we decided to develop a platform where they can create their own expression,” says Bhushan Pandit, creative director, FCB-Ulka.

Since the car is targeted at young buyers, the campaign is completely online. In a day and age where thousands of videos are uploaded on YouTube every hour, Tata Indica decided to use the medium to let its customers do some creative thinking. The ideas submitted by customers could become a part of the brand’s campaign, says Pandit. “If the idea is outstanding, it could get used in the campaign. The idea is to experiment with the message.” The winner of the contest will win an Indica V2 Xeta.

Consumer generated advertising is not very common in India, more so on the Internet. This is Tata Indica’s first such campaign. "Here, we are essentially encouraging our audience to engage with the brand in an intimate manner by leveraging the power of social media. We think it has worked very well and you'll see similar social media innovations from us in the future. The second level is that we actually use these ads for in a TV campaign," adds the spokesperson.

According to the spokesperson, 1,839 people have registered on the website and it has received 70 entries and 476 messages.

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