Mahindra & Mahindra (Mahindra) is now ready to go to town with its sedan, Verito. It has launched an ad campaign for the face-lifted version of the erstwhile Logan. The campaign will try to build new associations around the car to distance it from its predecessor sold by the Renault-Mahindra joint venture. While the first Logan campaign had stressed on the Renault pedigree, the new campaign for the Verito depicts the characteristics of its likely owner.
The Logan, when sold under the JV, saw sales steadily plummet, even though it had an impressive launch. Mahindra took over the car when the JV came to an end a year back and launched a campaign — ‘Logan loves India’ — followed by a spurt in sales (from a measly 300 cars per month to around 700-1,000 cars per month). The campaign had tied the deliverables — Logan’s features of mileage and cabin space — with objective correlatives such as a large family travelling to the airport to see off a member or shop-hopping to buy just one saree. With the Verito, unveiled last month, Mahindra hopes to start on a clean slate. In its first month (May), the car sold around 1,250 units.
The new ad campaign, created by Interface, does not talk about the car’s features. Rather, it attempts to paint the ‘Verito Man’ in bold strokes with an eye on stoking the aspirations of its viewers. However, it is not the lifestyle of the Verito owner that is portrayed; his reaction to road rage is used to convey the DNA of the Verito Man. The ad, featuring Bollywood actor Jimmy Shergill, shows the protagonist shutting up a bunch of rowdy youngsters, impatiently honking away in a car-park exit queue, not by using force but by his chutzpah.
“We wanted to transfer the values of the car to a person to build an emotional connect,” says Mahindra Automotive Division Senior Vice-President (Marketing) Vivek Nayar. “We thought weaving in the state of Indian traffic would provide the ideal foil to him. Buyers of the Verito would not be affected by flashy ads but sensible and honest choices — a car with its promise of mileage, reliability and reasonable pricing.”
Robby Mathew, national creative director of Interface, says, “The car with straighter lines, higher ground clearance than other sedans, has the character of a no-nonsense sedan. That, when humanised, had to be a person who would be evolved enough to not lose his calm but at the same time know how to get his own back. The ad is mostly shot from his wife’s point of view, who is equally sure of herself and composed.”
The punchline, ‘Grow up to Verito’ is expected to trigger aspiration. “It works at two levels. One, it asks viewers to behave sensibly like the Verito Man, at least on the road, and two, it eggs hatchback owners to upgrade to a sedan,” points out Nayar. Verito continues to be an entry-level sedan operating in the most competitive C (or A3) segment of the passenger car market — something Mahindra had pursued with the Logan. The restyled car will also sport roof rails much like Mahindra SUVs.
With the Verito Mahindra has a big task on its hands. Like most value-for-money cars, it faces this big challenge of striking a balance between the fleet-owners and the individual buyer segment. The Logan’s retail sales had suffered from its image of being the fleet-owners’ darling with nearly half its sales being institutional, according to observers. Mahindra will have to work doubly hard to give the bare-bone sedan a serious image boost.
Meanwhile, a smaller version of the Verito is being lined up for launch which will hopefully widen the passenger car footprint of Mahindra as a lower tax burden on a shorter car is expected to rake in more volumes. Going forward, the theme of the Verito campaign may be extended into follow-up ads, with more facets of the Verito Man revealed through the eyes of his family and friends.