Zindagi ke haseen safar ka saathi... Review on Optra 'For a Special Journey Called Life' commercial

When in Rome dress as the Romans do has always been a golden rule and what better example of it then to take a walk down the alleys of ad world. Exponents of the art of advertising have been smart enough to realize that one has to go local and add a dash of regionalism for the products to sell. In typical terms, a product is nothing but a physical form of a concept that promises to satisfy the costumer’s needs. Going by that axiom, any concept that promises to speak the same language that the consumer’s relate to is bound to score over the rival brand, which fails to show the flexibility it requires to sell in today’s competitive and malleable world.

Chevrolet is one brand that not only realized the importance of go-local but also implemented it to perfection in its ads. Chevrolet’s flagship Optra account is being handled by Enterprise Nexus and Universal McCann is the Media agency. A relatively new entrant in the Indian automobile market, it is already making its presence felt and a major credit for that has to go to the wonderful ads their creative teams have made for them.

The Briefing was clear and simple for the team, we want an ad that projects our luxury image, has sophistication to it and at the same time has a very distinctly Indian flavor to it. The ads for Optra are a continuation to the “I am Chevrolet” ads that came in when Chevy as a brand was being launched in India. Remember the ones with Indian imagery, like the rangoli, the diyas and colorful costumed ladies reciting chants and stuff like that. Those are day-to-day things, which we relate to more, then the techno ads that has been the wont for so many other automotive ads.

Sell it subtle is the mantra behind the ads. Chevy believes that over the years it has done enough to create an image of a company which produces high quality automobiles, that’s the brand’s promise to each of its costumers. What was required was to build on that brand value and create brand recognition using imagery that the consumer likes and relates to. Not always when you sell a product is to required to go gaga about it delineating all the salient features and what have you, believe me most of the times those things are already known to the consumer, and even if they are not known you don’t have to set out something as A is A, you can always talk around the point, say this and that, and then subtly add that’s all because you see after all A is A.

Chevy has always had the Brand Promise of being a luxury carmaker, blended with sophistication and style but at the same time is affordable and a people's brand. The luxury doesn’t come with a costly tag and is very easy to maintain, unlike a prestige offering like a Cadillac, which does boast of its cost line. Chevy’s flagship launch Optra has been tailored to meet the changing tastes, lifestyles and needs of car buyers in India. It delivers outstanding value through its unique combination of modern styling, a spacious interior, user-friendly features and efficient performance. Now these are the things, which Chevy has provided to live up to its brand image, and promise that it makes to its costumers through its media campaigns and other forms of mass advertisement.

Be global sell local is the buzzword which finds a classic exponent in Optra’s adverts. Lets check out the ads first and then do a little dissection of it to see what is it that it tries to present to its prospective buyers. A young seemingly successful entrepreneur/executive comes back home to his doting wife, cajoles and convinces her for a ride, as they reach a beach he opens the roof of the car for her to see the moon through the sieve (chalni) that she is carrying, to which the flattered wife can only mutter a sweet thank you. For the uninitiated the wife was doing karwa chauth for her husband. Now that’s what I call brilliant use of local imagery to sell a product, which is as non-Indian as the Thames River to the pundits of Benaras.

Ethnic and oh so emotionally yours for the taking is the feeling one gets after watching this ad. It has so much warmth and oodles of emotional appeal to it. A puritan could never buy this one for a car ad. I mean haven’t we all been used to seeing car ads with those lean mean machines being vroomed and zoomed all over the park, screeching tires and impeccable break systems and all the latest gizmos being flashed just like that. Remember the Santro xing ads or for that matter the pepped up Getz ads or the petrol khatam nai Honda maruti ads, each selling some aspects or the other, but most of them failed to make an emotional connect with the target audience.

The Optra talks about values, which are so Indian and have such an appeal with the perceptive buyers. Love care, warmth for the person you care for and a very personal thing like the karwa chauth and how beautifully the Optra sneaks into all of this, that is what I call smart positioning and emotional blending. Love speaks a thousand languages and knows none and boy does this ad do that so very elegantly and effectively. The Optra almost seems like a perfect gift that any husband can buy for his charming loving wife, given the numbers of newly married couples in India blessed with the kind of dispensable incomes the new lifestyles is throwing up, even if some section of them were to go buy the Optra, its sales figures would make a Maruti look like a pygmy.

Thanks to my friend Anuj who pointed out the subtle yet supporting role that the background tune plays to add to the appeal of the ad. The backgrounds are so very Indian and has a cozy feeling to it, I have loved the Chevy score ever since the 'I am Chevrolet' days.

Any advertisement that establishes an emotional connect with the prospective buyer is bound to be hailed as a winner and a sure thing to add to the sales of the product it endorses. In the long run more often then not one would remember the Optra ad with warmth more then the it gets you started, Getz ads and the others of their ilk.

It’s a beautiful ad, go watch it, if you haven’t yet, if not for anything then watch it for the model, she sure does look so gorgeous and well what to say o so marriable. I loved the ads for its theme and presentation, do watch it and share your comments on this one. It’s always good to have a discussion then to not have one, it only broadens our horizons.