The Hindu Business Line : Manza revs up

I am an unabashed auto buff. And I know how much I suffered while growing up in the Seventies in what I call an era of rationing. We had to choose from two-and-a-half cars. I say this deliberately, because all we had was the Ambassador, the Fiat (later in its Padmini avatar) and the Standard Herald, which I referred to as the half. Not that it was a bad car, but the volumes produced and sold hardly made it a worthy competitor for the other two duds that were flogged to a product-starved market for years on end. I remember the excitement behind the launch of the Ambassador Mark 2 “with a smart new grille”. Even that was heralded as a welcome innovation. Then came the little Maruti and the Indian auto scenario was changed forever.

Today, quite frankly, we are almost spoilt for choice (ok, ok, so we don't have the Lexus and the Maserati and the Lancia …) with a pretty good presence of the top manufacturers in nearly all the segments; and then there are the many variants that one can choose from, which finally makes the customer truly king.

Even before the pundits of doom thought long and hard before writing a requiem for the recession in India, the auto market was frantically signalling precisely that. Forget the fact that we are hardly adding miles of roads in urban areas, we are proudly adding hundreds of cars at a pace that has defied all predictions for a long and slow turnaround for most industrial sectors, specially the auto sector.

This year Toyota launched a big beefy SUV with the unlikely name of Fortuner (wonder who thought that one up) and surprised everyone including itself, I am sure, with the fantastic response it evoked. All those who thought that a large heavy vehicle that left expansive carbon footprints in its wide wake would not be welcome, stared in awe as the applications for the Fortuner rattled up an impressive figure that sent Toyota officials scurrying to increase their production capacity. My guess is the bold looks, the Toyota image and the aggressive pricing did the trick.

Signature style

In another segment, Tata Motors launched its Indigo Manza sedan. I am told the Manza doesn't mean anything in particular, and I can well believe that. The teaser campaign showed different parts of the car and exhorted readers to “look forward to a new level of indulgence”. There was no mention of the Tata or Indigo name, but a call to action line pointed at www.indulgeinmanza.com where one could book a test drive, play games and take part in a contest. It seems there were close to a 100,000 unique views, and several thousand test drives were booked before the launch of the car.

The launch itself was in typical Tata Motors/Draft FCB Ulka style. Double-page newspaper advertisements showed off the car with a glint of gold and the Manza was touted as the ultimate in style and luxury, with indulgence being the anchor of the positioning statement. This, of course, followed the ‘Spoil Yourself' and the ‘Business Class Comfort' platforms that sold the earlier versions of the Indigo. I've said this before, but I must repeat that I love the gay abandon with which Draft FCB Ulka uses the hyperbole in all its Tata Motors advertising.

I can never forget the Marina advertising that winningly told me to carry my world with me. Every time I see the little Marina I wonder at how my world had been shrunk by one good advertisement. On a more serious note, the agency has been consistent in its advertising for the brand. The larger than life statements, the large-format advertisements, the predominant use of English, have all worked well, and I would never try to change a winning formula.

Then, of course, the Tata brand and the product itself have weighed in to make the entire exercise a winning combination. I haven't actually seen a Manza on the roads yet, but I like the Vista, and that makes me pretty sure I would like the Manza's looks as well. The first generation Indigo sold about 2.75 lakh cars, so I guess one can look forward to another success story being scripted by the Tata /Draft FCB combine.

Tata Motors have also brought the iconic Land Rover and Jaguar brands into India and I never quite understood why a small PR burst showed Ratan Tata “gifting” a Range Rover to actor Shahid Kapoor and then a concerted push reiterated that Shahid had “bought” the car. Boy, I thought to myself, gift or sale, the normally shy Mr Tata must love the Range Rover project if he turned up himself to hand over the keys to Shahid.

In the midst of all this excitement, the poor Logan is probably one of the solitary party poopers. This “widest” car in its segment began promisingly enough but seemed to have hit a speed breaker in terms of sales figures somewhere along the line. One can only wish Renault better luck in its next battle where it hopes to take on the mighty midget, Nano.

I must say the media “road block” that Volkswagen organised in a leading daily served its purpose admirably. While I am unaware of the cost implications, such media tactics that ensure the entire newspaper has advertisements of one particular brand on that day, obviously grabs eyeballs in a unique manner. As this road block was used across all the editions of this national newspaper for the first time, the chances of one missing it were further reduced. The cost-effectiveness would have no doubt been factored in by the agencies, but the effort which gave the creative agency the opportunity to use long copy was a welcome change. I finally learned what Das Auto meant. For all those who missed this mega-expensive advertising effort, it means “The Car”.

A time to remember

26-11. Today is a day no one in Mumbai is going to forget in a hurry. I have written quite a bit on this subject but I must make a reference to the ‘Idea Talk For India' campaign that had Abhishek Bachchan saying that it was time to talk for India, and therefore all revenues earned by Idea during one particular hour today would be sent as a donation to beef up resources for the police force all over the country.

The sheer irony of the situation amazes me. We live in a country where our politicians do not bat an eyelid while sanctioning hundreds of crores for anything from TV sets to sundry doles, and we need to talk into our mobile phones to collect money to buy equipment for our police force. This is one ‘Idea' that will not change anything. Yet, one must acknowledge Idea for coming up with something novel and sensitive to mark this terrible day.

One was dreading the thought of big flashy events where celebrities and politicians who cowered in fright all through those dreadful three days, would now strut their tired stuff, mouthing platitudes that no one needed.

I believe the Government of Maharashtra would have done yeoman service by simply sounding a siren at a fixed time, and requesting the public to stop doing whatever they are doing to observe a minute's silence to mark the memory of those many nameless, faceless Indians who were sacrificed at the altar of mindless terrorism.

Events like these demand an element of sobriety and should serve as a stern reminder to those whose job it is to ensure our security that we have neither forgotten either those who passed away nor those who failed us.

(Ramesh Narayan is a communication consultant)

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