Owner & #8217;S Pride

WagonR's latest campaign focuses on the man behind the wheels

Where would you find Doberman Pinschers, an architect and four wheels in one place? Answer: in the latest set of 60-second clips showcasing Maruti Udyog Limited's WagonR.

WagonR's electronic campaign opens with an architect on location with his client, an attractive woman. Both get into his black WagonR but suddenly a Doberman jumps at the window, scaring the woman. Racy music plays in the background and a pack of Dobermans chase the car. The architect remains cool, navigating the vehicle through rough terrain, dogs in sustained pursuit.

At the end of the chase, he steps out and whistles. The Dobermans come running to their master: the dogs are his. The voice-over concludes: "When he's not designing buildings, Ravi relaxes by training his Dobermans. Some of the most interesting people drive the WagonR. What about you?"

As the architect, the woman and the dogs get into the car and race off, the foreground shows the adline: "Inspired Engineering".

This 60-second spot has been airing on a bouquet of channels since late last year and unlike most product- and feature-laden car commercials, it focuses on the car-owners.

What made Maruti go for a people-oriented car campaign? "The target audience our client had in mind was based more on psychographics than the demographic profile," says Mohit Hira, senior vice president, Contract Advertising, the agency which executed the spots for Maruti.

Says Ravi G Bhatia, general manager, marketing, Maruti Udyog Limited, "Rather than projecting our product as a mass option, we've gone a bit contrarian: buying a WagonR is a deliberate, considered choice."

This is not Maruti's first set of electronic campaigns for the WagonR. Launched in December 1999, the first set used the "Car full of ideas", "Challenge boredom" and "Feel at home" adlines and ran mainly in print.

Its second set ran from June 2000 to 2002; these positioned the vehicle as a multi-activity vehicle, and were, according to Bhatia, "brand descriptors".

The "Inspired Engineering" pitch came shortly after the company launched its WagonR Pride limited edition cars in July 2002, which feature roof rails, body graphics, a rear spoiler and new seat fabrics. "We launched these limited editions to test out new features and to create excitement in the market," says Bhatia.

After the launch, Contract Advertising commissioned a survey in August and September 2002 to find out the customer profile of the kind of person who buys a WagonR. Additional inputs streamed in from Maruti's WagonR website, where an interactive section on the site elicited information about 1,000 WagonR owners in November 2002. It was clear that most of those who had bought the car had done so not because of its looks, but after careful research.

Three weeks after the campaign broke, Maruti hired the services of IQ, a market research firm, to elicit feedback. Unlike the standard structured questionnaires, IQ used open-ended projective techniques to elicit free-ranging responses from focus groups in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

One feedback was that the ads definitely rose above the clutter. The effect of the Dobermans in the back of the car, says Bhatia, "was that it conveyed a perception of spaciousness". Two additional insights emerged: the car could accelerate, giving the impression of being high-powered and that "interesting people" drove the car.

But the company was a tad disappointed that the last insight didn't come out on top. So the voiceover was modified, although the script remained the same and the music volume was suppressed somewhat in later editions of the ads.

Says Contract's Hira: "The WagonR kind of person isn't necessarily young, but works 9 to 5 and is someone who is progressive but doesn't want to lose conventionality "" he's someone who wants to do something that's a bit out of the ordinary." Bhatia agrees, "Our hypothesis was that anyone who sees the ad would like to be perceived as being somone who is interesting."

The Strategist called up two WagonR owners to find out why they invested in these Rs 3,20,000-plus vehicles. "It's tall boy design appealed to me since I'm tall. But I think that it won't be able to take turns at high speeds," says Anupam Behura, 26, associate, KPMG.

Arun Pandala, an independent marketing consultant, had a more textured experience before deciding to go for the car. Pandala surveyed the market because he wanted to upgrade from his Maruti 800 and needed something mid-way between that and an Esteem or a Cielo in terms of space. "I had tried out the Fiat Uno and the Maruti Zen but decided to test-drive a WagonR. It was pretty sluggish, which was disappointing, because its interiors were really good." Some time in March 2001, however, the company launched its first Anniversary edition of the WagonR. "It looked like a head-turner, and definitely handled better when I tested it again. I bought it."

So how has the campaign fared so far? Some informal research has been done but no precise details are forthcoming. However, Maruti claims that WagonR sales are growing at 35 per cent. In the first few months after its launch, the company sold 5,900 cars, rising to 19,000 in 2000-01 and 25,000 in 2001-02. The company is confident that this fiscal sales should touch 30,000 "" already, 28,000 WagonRs have been sold.

The car enjoys a 10 to 11 per cent share in the B-segment, which includes cars like Maruti's Zen and Alto, the Hyundai Santro, and the Tata Indica.

Mapping a one-to-one relationship between ads and sales is a hypothetical exercise. These spots may, at best, tickle the viewer's fancy and incite him to saunter to the closest Maruti dealer.

After that, it has to be the engineering, not the architect and his Dobermans, that will do the talking. And the inspiring.