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As part of a re-positioning exercise, Bajaj Discover took eight couples on a 3000 km ride across six Indian cities. The result was a GPS heart on the map of India and stories of rekindled romance.
They say travel brings hearts closer. Riding on this very insight of rekindling romance through travel, two-wheeler brand Bajaj set out to promote Bajaj Discover's Zing Zong campaign.
Thus, the brand came up with a series of three TVCs in March this year under the 'Life ko banaye Zing Zong' campaign. The campaigns were based on observations which showed how couples lose their intimate touch a few years after marriage. And, thus, the Zing Zong rides - atop a Bajaj Discover, tried to bring back that lost romance for married couples.
The excitement, or zing, gave birth to the 'Zing Zong' rides branded content in April. According to an IMRB-Relationship survey which Bajaj commissioned, 94 per cent people in India feel they have lost the spark/romance after marriage once the honeymoon period is over. This is primarily the case as financial responsibility and household matters takes center stage in the lives of married couples in India.
Bajaj decided to host a mini-reality series which saw 8,000 couples responding to the call for entries. Out of these eight couples were shortlisted based on the stories they wanted to share and how they wanted to surprise their respective spouses. These couples went on a 3,000 kms long ride across six cities to literally make a heart, albeit one on GPS, on the face of India. Each episode of the mini-series focusses on one couple and ends with a surprise gesture from the man to his wife. Thus, from just providing a ride, Bajaj Discover tries to make itself a part of their emotional journey as well.
Bajaj Discover, first launched in 2004, is now available in a couple of variants - Discover 100 DTS-Si, Discover 125 DTS-i, Discover 125ST and Discover 150 DTS-i. It enjoys 15 per cent market share within the commuter segment in the two-wheeler category. The two-wheeler industry is dominated by the commuter segment, which enjoys a 80 per cent market share, and the rest is enjoyed by the sports segment. Bajaj sold a whopping half a million Discovers in the last year. However, the company did report a drop in motorcycle sales for the month of April 2015, as compared to April 2014.
According to Narang, the marketing spends on Discover has been increased to push the re-positioning exercise. The priority markets for the brand includes states like Andhra Pradesh, while neighbouring Karnataka and Eastern markets like West Bengal and Orissa continue to do well.
Riding on clichés?
According to Vandana Katoch, founder, Clayground (a Delhi-based creative agency), the insight is very strong and conveys the special experiences of couples on bikes.
While the need to reinvent lost love and rekindle the passion in a couple's relationship is a noble idea, the way it is done here looks forced and artificial to Nilanjan Dasgupta, ECD, Rediffusion Y&R.
"The stories are a set of clichés and there's nothing refreshing about them. The bigger question is what really inspires them to take part in these 'zing zong' rides? The creation of an imaginary heart on India's map? Honestly, today's couples are far more evolved and difficult to please than this proposition. The activation idea fails to impress just like the 'zing zong' TVC," Dasgupta says.