All for girls

Last week, TVS Motor Company launched a new scooterette collection, Scooty Pep+ Babelicious, targeting college-going girls. The launch is supported by a TV campaign which will be aired for three months, till Diwali.

The campaign shows two new Scooty Pep+ vehicles pull up next to the driver’s side of a car. The girl on one Scooty checks out her reflection on the car’s dark window glass. As she moves closer to the window, the man inside the car immediately gives attention. The wife, sitting next to him, is not happy with what’s going on. The girl, unaware of what’s happening inside the car, continues to look at herself on the window pane, and gasps as she realises she’s forgotten her lipstick. She looks and smiles at her friend, who is riding a pink Scooty, and pulls out a lipstick tube, and checks if it’s matching the colour of her Scooty Pep+. As the girl flaunts her lipstick, the man inside the car enjoys the activity. Meanwhile, his wife pulls the window down. And, the girl on the Scooty Pep+ asks the man to pull the window up as she is not done with her make-up. The man rolls the window back, the signal turns green, and the girl rides off. The ad ends with the voice over: “Scooty Pep now in five bright, loud colours, do your own thing girl. Go Babelicious.”

TVS Motor India General Manager (marketing) & Head (scooters) S Srinivas says, “The new campaign explores how girls just love being girls. While all TVS Scooty ads show how guys are around and girls are on top of the world, this one is far more youthful. It’s about how teenage girls want to be the way they are — they want to flaunt feminism. It also carries home the message that guys can’t do what girls can!”

TVS rolled out the Scooty 16 years ago and has ever since followed a feminine brand positioning. Today, the company enjoys a 50 per cent share in the women’s scooter market and 22 per cent share in the overall scooter market.

The 40-second TVC is produced by Reel Company, and is directed by Anil Thomas, executive creative director, McCann Erickson (South). The brief for the campaign to McCann Erickson, says Srinivas, was to announce the launch of the Scooty Pep+ in new bright colours. Vishal Nicholas, strategic planner, McCann Erickson Bangalore, says, “McCann came up with the insight of ‘lovably immature’, which has been expressed as ‘go babelicious’ in the ad. As much as teenage girls want to grow up, there are phases when they want to revel. This is borne out by the popularity of characters such as Hello Kitty and Hannah Montana, bright-coloured bags and nail paints, even among women.”

The new Scooty Pep+ range competes primarily with Honda’s Acitva and Hero Honda’s Pleasure. In April, Hero Honda, which entered the scooterette category four years ago, launched the Pleasure special edition in India to celebrate the Women’s Day. TVS, however, says its buyer is different from that of Hero Honda’s Pleasure: “While the Pleasure is more about the modern woman, the TVS Scooty Pep+range targets college-going girls.”