Refreshingly Naughty!

Refreshingly Naughty!

Campaign: Go Babelicious Collection

Brand: Scooty Pep +

Company: TVS Motors

Agency: McCann Erickson

The Campaign

Two Scooty Pep+s zip past other vehicles on a city road and halt at a red light. The very next moment, one of the young divas turns her face towards an SUV parked right next to her Scooty and takes off her helmet. Quite noticeably, her dress, accessories, the colour of the Scooty and even the helmet indicate that she is a trendy, bright, bold, fun-loving, modern city girl who lives life on her terms. What follows next justifies the aforesaid conclusion. She takes a good look at her reflection on the window pane on the driver’s side and gets on with touching up her make-up. The young driver is visibly mesmerized to see the young girl pouting at him (actually the window pane) without any inhibitions. To spice it up, in the background plays a remix version of a hit song from the old Hindi movie Shri 420, “mudh mudh ke na dekxxh”. The song gels very well with the man intermittently looking at the young girl while his wife, sitting next to him, is busy talking on the phone. The young girl then takes out three lipsticks from her bag and compares them with the colour of the flowers on her Scooty. After her friend approves of the right shade, she turns again towards the mirror, aka the window pane, and to the utter delight of the young man starts applying it on her lips. The guy is pleasantly shocked. Seeing his mouth wide open, his wife pulls the window pane down to put an end to this show and slaps him on the back of his head. Both the driver and his co-passenger are visibly upset, well, for their own reasons.

The red light turns green and the two girls on their Scootys happily zip off again! What follows next are visuals of five brightly coloured Scooty Pep +. In the end, our diva comes again on her Scooty Pep+, with “Go Babelicious” written next to her.

There is another ad in this series, which sees a girl on a Scooty Pep + pass through a barricade while others wait for the VIP movement to clear. Using the power of expression, she manages to charm the policeman on duty who ultimately gives in to her demand and lets her go. Seeing this work, a guy on a bike attempts to do the same. But alas, our policeman doesn't swing that way! This ad too has a nice remix soundtrack of hit Hindi song, “Jaane do na”!

Our Take

It has been quite sometime that TVS came up with an ad for its Scooty. Targeted at young girls, the ad definitely strikes the right chord. It’s trendy, funny, aspirational, bold and leaves a smile on the viewer’s face. What's more, the background score of the two popular old Hindi songs are a perfect fit and add to the naughtiness of the whole situation. Even if one is from a conservative milieu, there are shades of adventure and fun-loving behaviour which co-exist with the storyline. The ad therefore succeeds in planting the new brand, Scooty Pep +, in the viewers mind. On the flip side though, there are two points.

There is no information about the features of this model of Scooty. It could be deliberate as this is a part of the launch campaign and to position it as a fashion bike for girls.

The other risk this ad runs into are the parents! Yes, some grown-ups might find it a bit too bold. May be the old songs help in bringing them into the fold, but it does not completely tone down the shock element.