Tata Safari Dicor: the freedom to reclaim lost dreams

The Tata Safari is all about power. While earlier it was the power to create one’s own road, now it moves to the next level with its new brand – the Tata Safari Dicor – stirring consumers to develop the power to reclaim their lives.

Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, creative director, O&M (the agency behind the campaign), says, “The Tata Safari is for the achievers and go-getters in life. But somewhere down the line, they also end up losing out on their hidden dreams in the race to be more successful. The idea behind this commercial is to provoke such consumers.”

He adds, “In today’s fast-paced world, one actually tends to forget one’s hidden desires. People are so caught up in the mad rush that it takes years for them to realise that it has been too long since they actually lived the life of which they dreamt.”

Mahabaleshwarkar continues, “The Tata Safari Dicor stands for the power and the freedom to regain control of one’s life.”

The TVC makes the viewer sit back and think about all the weekends he has worked, the compromises he has made for success, and all the angst that has now become a usual part of urban life.

The commercial has several plots woven into it that have been connected to each other with a powerful background track (composed by Ram Sampat) and crisp shots (directed by Abhinay Deo, ad filmmaker, Ramesh Deo Productions).

The first shot opens on a young man, presumably on his way back from work, standing in the middle of a crowded subway. While others around him seem to be caught up in rushing about, this man seems to have arrived at a standstill. He looks into the camera and says sombrely, “I always wanted to quit on a Monday morning.”

The next shot focuses on another young executive, standing alone in the middle of his studio apartment. The flat is full of things that depict his passion for the sea – a surfboard leaning against the wall and photo frames containing pictures of him surfing the sea with his pals.

He reflects, “I always wanted to swim with the whales.” Next, he is shown standing on a beach with his surfboard, the waves splashing at his feet. Cut to him back in his room, looking down at his feet, as though the waves had really touched him.

The third vignette is that of a pregnant woman sitting at an airport lounge with her husband. There is a quick succession of shots, showing birds flying high in the sky, and a woman’s hand emerging out of a car to catch the feel of the wind against it. Cut to the woman at the airport, who says, “I always wanted to take a one-year trip… around the world.”

Next, there’s a man sitting on a bench chanting, “I always wanted…I always wanted…” (At this point, the screen goes black and the background music fades away for a second, with a super reading, ‘Reclaim Your Life’).

The subsequent series of events takes the viewer completely by surprise, with the next shot focusing on a Tata Safari Dicor emerging out of the air, and landing on a muddy terrain, splattering sand and mud all around. The power of the engine is then depicted, as the car splatters mud in the air several feet above its own height.

Then, without any voiceover, a super appears on the screen: ‘Tata Safari Dicor: Reclaim Your Life’.

The background score enhances the tense atmosphere in the ad. The brief given to music composer Sampat was to highlight the anxiety and tension, followed by the release. The film was shot in an open ground in Bangalore.

The director of the film, Abhinay Deo, says he wanted to jolt the viewers with fast-paced shots. “In fact, for every sequence, we have used a metaphor to subtly emphasise the sense of disturbance in the ad. For instance, look at the fluttering birds. We wanted to portray a grim atmosphere, so even the casting had to be perfect,” he explains.

“It was also a conscious strategy on our part to build the story with fast shots and, after a point, portray the whole car sequence in slow motion. This dramatises the whole ‘freedom’ and ‘escape’ aspect of the commercial,” he concludes.

© 2005 agencyfaqs!