With the Indian Superbowl (Read: IPL) on, many brands have seized this TV watching extravaganza as an opportunity to revamp their image or come up with new campaigns to keep themselves fresh in the mind of their audience. One such brand is the Mahindra Group.
Mahindra Auto has come with with an image revamping campaign – Live young, Live free. Many would have caught their new campaign TVC on the idiot box. Here is the full video :
Now since the time I have seen the 30 sec ad (and later the full version), I have not been able to stop humming it. True to its theme of young blood and freedom, Interface communications( the creative agency) has delivered a catchy young tune in sync with their potential audience. The young SUV loving blood who loves measuring the road, no matter how bumpy.
However, each time I heard the tune, it, somehow, kept sounding more and more familiar. And then it struck me.
The baseline was exactly the same as Zombie!
My ears might fail me, but check this one out:
No wonder the tune refuses to leave my head.
Intentional, or unintentional, the TVC has done its work. Broke the clutter. Incidentally, this is also one only TVCs of Mahindra featuring all the Mahindra SUVs.
Come to think of it, the creatives might actually have done something pretty smart here, leaving an audio meme in their TVCs. You can just catch a hint of that song you know, in those jingles. Makes you listen to it more and more.
The best use of audio memes has been done by Bajaj when it launched its Bajaj Pulsar 220cc with its completely revamped ‘Hamara Bajaj’ theme.
This ad, however, has not picked the song or their lyrics. they have just taken the spine, and laid their own skeleton on top of it.
Zombie, too, is about freedom and has the young rebellious appeal to it. It fits exactly with the kinds of music one would find playing in the SUVs.
For creative agencies, it would be a good idea to know the taste of what their target audience listens and watches to understand what kind of visual cues or TVCs they should be creating. It would be easier to create audio memes like these. reminds me of the hidden satanic messages of the Stairway to Heaven records. 🙂
Atleast creatively, the campaign hits the nail on its head. Does this image make over translate to sales remains to be seen. A lot would depend on the kind of trade promotions and BTL campaigns that Mahindra would do as a part of this campaign.
Till then, Hum along!
Indian Marketing Campaigns 