Sumita Vaid
Advertising

Now, Amitabh Bachchan says 'Give Me Red'

Eveready India, which recently signed on actor Amitabh Bachchan as its brand ambassador, is set to unveil three new commercials featuring the superstar

Another brand has just fallen for the Amitabh charm. This Saturday, viewers of the boob tube will see the megastar extol the virtues of Eveready, the country's highest-selling battery brand.

A total of three commercials have been shot; two featuring Eveready's flashlights and the rural ‘safed' or White Eveready battery, while the third brings back the distinctly urban ‘Give Me Red' campaign with pencil batteries.

Company officials are betting that sales of batteries would be ‘powered' by the Amitabh Bachchan factor and would register a minimum 10-15 per cent growth over the current 1 billion-units mark. "Currently we have 46 per cent of the total battery market. We would like to improve this to 50 per cent," said Jayashree Mohanka, group general manager, Eveready India.

According to Eveready officials, Nippo Batteries holds the second position, with a market share of 29 per cent; the rest of the players having marginal impact.

The battery industry currently sees annual sales of over two billion units, with a turnover of Rs 1,500 crore. Therefore, having a minimum annual sales growth of 10-15 per cent or eventually having a 50 per cent hold over this growing sector is not a mean feat.

But why have the ageing superstar as a brand ambassador yet again? Isn't he already overexposed by his association and endorsing of so many brands?

Mohanka defends the company's decision by saying, "In Amitabh Bachchan, we have an icon with instant and enduring appeal across the nation as well as to all sections of society. Just as Bachchan has consistently reinvented himself through his career, Eveready as a brand is constantly looking for new ways to appeal to the new consumers. Also, the way the commercials have been shot by Rediffusion | DYR, Amitabh has been presented in a very distinct fashion - different from his other endorsements."

Selling more flashlights is another objective for the company. "We would like to see more people buying our flashlights. We felt that this sector has somewhat stagnated. This is why two of the new advertisements address this issue and feature the safed battery as well as the flashlight," she added.

The torch-cum-battery campaigns are targeting rural north India on the threshold of the rainy season. The basic pitch of the advertisements is simple; concentrating on the superior power and the timelessness of these batteries.

In the case of the Jeevan Sathi brass torch, the commercial portrays the timelessness of the torch, with Bachchan as himself, commenting on how everything around him has changed, though his "true companion" - the Eveready torch - is still going strong.

Even in the White Eveready commercial, where the target group is the rural consumer, Bachchan plays himself, endorsing the brand by demonstrating the powerful light-giving benefit that has made the brand India's number one.

The new ‘Give Me Red' campaign, on the other hand, borrows heavily from the company's commercials of yesteryears. It shows how a decidedly dull and black-and-white pub predictably goes red and rocking as soon as Bachchan, playing a mythical hero of the Hollywood Westerns, says - yes! you guessed it right - "Give Me Red". © 2004 agencyfaqs!

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