Sumita Vaid
Advertising

BS Motoring: For the truly passionate

The print campaign by Alok Nanda & Company Communication for BS Motoring targets motoring enthusiasts

Ever had the opportunity to talk to a true-blue motoring enthusiast? For one, he is supremely passionate about motoring. Nothing's sweeter to his ears than the revving of an well-endowed engine. Two minutes into the conversation, you can't help but wonder whether it's blood or petrol which is running through his veins.

Clearly, to stir the soul of true-blue motoring enthusiasts is one hell of a job. And, Alok Nanda & Company Communication has just discovered it. When BS Motoring, the auto magazine from the Business Standard group, hired the agency to give the periodical a forward thrust, the agency knew it's not going to be one easy assignment. After all, the TG were people for whom motoring was more important than religion.

Crossing their hearts, the creative engines of the agency got to work and the outcome was a four-print ad campaign, enough to spark interest.

A quick look at those ads. The first ad shows a strong sinewy hand with a car (it is actually a Beetle) traversing its veins. The second shows a four-wheel drive vehicle in the veins running across the shoulders. While the third depicts a car (a sedan body, this time) finding its way up the ankle, and fourth is a motorbike (a Harley Davidson) riding about the neck. At the base of all the ads is the image of the magazine. Next to it, is the tag that reads "Is it in your blood?”

These ads are an exact pictorial translation of what a motoring enthusiast feels – "Motoring is in my blood”.

The inspiration for the idea came from the BS Motoring bureau. The team is littered with motoring maniacs, who double up as writers for the magazine. "Each one of the writers at BS Motoring is passionate about motoring. You can see in it in their style of writing, and in the way they talk about motoring. It is evident that these people are very serious, very passionate about motoring. So that gave us the idea of positioning BS Motoring as a serious motoring magazine,” says Prasanna M Sankhé, senior creative director, Alok Nanda & Company Communication.

Several creative routes were explored to express the magazine's stance, but the 'veins' caught the fancy of client. The response to the ad can be gauged by what Hormazd Sorabjee, publisher of rival auto magazine, AutoCar, wote: "One of the best automobile ads I've seen of late is not for a new car or bike but for BS Motoring, a magazine produced by petrolheads for petrolheads...I think...it is worthy of an award.”

Naturally, the creative team is pretty kicked about Sorabjee's review. Sankhé points out to another interesting feature in the ad. "If you would notice, the network of veins look very similar to a roadmap. That was deliberate. Because the idea was to show the vehicles in the veins that represented the roads.”

But finding men with bodies to die for, which initially seemed as easy as walking into any gymnasium and selecting the right candidate, proved to be a Herculean task. "We thought we will spot some good bodies in the gymnasiums, but it was not that simple. We had to actually tread the streets of Mumbai to find the right physique,” says Sankhé.

Once the perfect body, the creative idea, and the brand positioning were in place, Shekhar Phalke put all the elements together and clicked the pictures. The result: a dramatic effect a motoring guy would fall for.

© 2004 agencyfaqs!

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com