An eager-looking Indian couple is being interviewed by three German engineers. The camera zooms in on the somber-looking engineers, who question the couple: “Do you have a nice bathroom?” The meticulously-dressed couple, eager to crack the interview, replies: “Very nice”. Pat comes the next question: “Is it tiled?” The husband says that the bathroom is marbled. “…Do you keep flowers?” “Yes. Mondays to Thursdays lilies, Fridays jasmine. Weekends roses,” the wife responds promptly. Finally, the engineers look convinced and hand over their washing machine to the jubilant couple. This is how Bosch home appliance division, part of Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group (BSH) based in Munich, Germany, has scripted its first-ever TVC for Indian market.
A second TVC shows a young boy with his parents, again facing the German engineers. The engineers want to ascertain whether the family is ready to welcome a Bosch washing machine into their lives before handing over the machine. At the end of two TVCs the voiceover says, “We believe our perfect machines deserve the perfect home. We’re Germans, we are mad about our machines.”
Through these two 30-second commercials, created by Ogilvy & Mather, the German electronics and engineering giant want to assert that the machines they create are not run-of-the-mill variety, thanks to the amount of work that goes into them. According to B Ramanathan, senior vice-president, Ogilvy & Mather, the company wanted a launch campaign that would help establish Bosch as a premium appliance brand. The crucial point was to communicate the superiority of German engineering in a market dominated by Korean players.
Dirk Dedekind, head of marketing, BSH Home Appliances, explains, “As an inaugural campaign, these TVCs are an effort to increase awareness among Indian consumers about our brand and the level of perfection we strive to achieve. In Europe, we are using an interesting line in our advertising campaign, which says if we bake 100 muffins and 99 are perfect, we start all over again. We ensure that all feature of our machines actually benefit the customer and is not merely a way to woo them over at the point of sale.”
While it was important to focus on how hard engineers work to create the perfect machine and the special bond they share with their creations, steering clear of the beaten track was necessary to stand out. “We decided to take a different approach to make the point,” adds Kainaz Karmakar and Harshad Rajadhyaksha, group creative directors, Ogilvy & Mather. So the attempt is to show how Bosch engineers look at their machines as their children. “German perfection is a known fact. Thus, the punch line, ‘We’re German. We’re mad about our machines’,” they add.
Bosch, which is already a familiar name in the Indian automotive and engineering segment, is a new player in the home appliance market. But in such a competitive segment, will quality alone get Bosch the desired market share? How important is pricing and after-sales service? Dedekind says the brands ability to offer innovations at a competitive price will help it score above others.
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Currently, the Bosch household appliances available in the Indian market include refrigerators, washing machines, dryers and dish washers, priced between Rs 21,990 and Rs 56,990.
The company defines its target group as people who truly care about the product they buy and who can appreciate the effort go into developing those products. “Given the quality and performance we are offering, our products may be priced above others in the market, but not beyond the reach of any prosperous Indian household,” adds Dedekind.