Ravi Pisharody, Executive Director – Commercial Vehicles, Tata MotorsTata, known for its heart touching TVC’s had launched an ad campaign, ‘Ek Kadam Aagey’. Ravi Pisharody, Executive Director , Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors, talks to ICR about the ad campaign, consumer insight and their marketing strategy.Could you give us details of Tata Motors CV most recent ad campaign, and what was it designed to achieve?For over six decades, Tata Motors has been at the forefront of driving the commercial vehicle revolution in India. A product and category innovator, Tata Motors CVBU has many product successes to its credit, including the immensely popular Tata Ace that introduced the mini-truck to India for the first time in 2005. Vehicles such as the Tata Prima, the Tata Xenon and the Tata Magic Iris have also fulfilled crucial need gaps in the Indian transportation and logistics scenario by bringing much needed technologies to the country. Tata Motors recently launched new TVC’s with the message, ‘Ek Kadam Aagey’, the sign-off of our first-ever all-CVBU corporate campaign. The campaign is a reflection of the company’s philosophy of staying ahead of the curve, and a step ahead of customer expectations. The campaign has showcased Tata Motors’ range of existing and ready-to-be-launched commercial vehicles. Also, our after-sales service offerings, which have had a huge role to play in Tata Motors’ success story receives special attention in this communication. Each film has talked about how Tata Motors has helped bridge distances, not just in supply chain and across geographies, but also between people, and between our present reality and future possibilities. ‘Ek Kadam Aagey’, since it is an all-CVBU brand campaign designed to drive awareness of our position as market leader and innovator.What is the consumer insight that drives your campaigns?‘Ek Kadam Aagey’, is a corporate message campaign – yes, consumer testing was done to ensure we were not being received negatively, but the messaging is ours.Do you give more importance to advertising campaigns or PR campaigns? Why?Both advertising and PR are crucial for a responsible marketer of our size and standing.What is the thought process behind the preparation of your media plan? What marketing tools do you think serve your business the best – online, print, television, hoardings?
While we do have an online presence for all of our products, and are taking steps to develop our presence on social sites, Tata Motors commercial vehicle business still relies on more traditional medium like print and TV.Does your marketing strategy also involve direct selling or interaction with customers? If yes, please give us the details.Definitely, we rely extensively on customer contact programs and road shows in the roll-out or revamp phases of our products. Trade shows too are crucial to showcase industry-specific products like tippers, municipality applications, ambulances etc. And finally, direct marketing initiatives play an important role in the case of season-driven products, like school buses and vans.As a marketing professional responsible for developing communication for a mass audience, what kind of responsibility and obligation do you think you have towards the consumer, society at large and towards yourself?
Our practice is that communication must honestly reflect the benefits of our products and services, without exaggeration.