Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTSi advertisement- a paradigm shift:

A new phase of advertisement execution has been pioneered by Bajaj pulsar 220s new ad. This should not take you by surprise though when I tell you the person behind the bike. Rajiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Auto has always been a step ahead of his times. He ventures Bajaj scooters into bikes when he saw the future of two wheelers. Scooters were soon going to be passé and bikes were the new mode of transport for the new and young India. He saw the stiff competition from Hero Honda, Yamaha and TVS although TVS wasn’t into bikes when Bajaj started.

Bajaj initially collaborated with Kawasaki but later launched its own Pulsar brand which was a runaway success. Bajaj has bought its indigenously made twin spark technology engine Pulsar 220 into the market. It is one of the highest CC bike from an Indian manufacturer to be launched in India.

The new ad showcases the bike with an international appeal. The ad seems to have been shot in the cowboy belt of Texas. Another point is that the ad shows the bike for approximately just about 10 seconds in an ad time of a minute. The ad isn’t making an emotional or a practical pitch. These types of ads are prevalent in the western developed world where the audiences have matured to advertisements. It’s a first-of-its-kind in India and that’s the reason I said a paradigm shift.

The ad ends with the words, “the fastest Indian”. For the first time, an Indian bike has boasted of the ‘speed’ feature. This has differentiated the bike from other bikes. This is a new thing too for Indian customers. Till now all bikes talked about mileage, looks, safety, comfort and other features since speed has never been a forte of these bikes due to their small cc engines. A case in point is the latest Hero Honda ad talking about great mileage or the glamour ad talking about ‘style’. The new bike ventures into a very high cc category for Indian bikes where it doesn’t find any competition from Indian bikes atleast. There are other bikes with higher cc, but they are not as commercially viable as this in terms of looks, price and comfort.

The ad would definitely appeal to the urban young that did not have a speed machine to ride. They had seen the high CC Hayabusas and Thunderbirds in films but this is a bike which will give them an almost similar feel. So don’t be surprised the next time you see a bike zooming by on marine drive before you bat an eyelid.