Hero Honda: 25 year celebration ad

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Agency: Draftfcb + Ulka

Tagline: Dhak Dhak Go, Move with Hero Honda, Desh ki Dhadkan

Ad Message: Reinforce or showcase Hero Honda brand (on its 25 year completion)

Duration:180 seconds for complete ad, 60 seconds version mostly aired

First seen: September ‘08

Target Audience: Youth

Frequency: Very High

Description: The ‘star’ of this ad is Hrithik Roshan who manages to do all of the following in the next 3 minutes:

• Jump off a helicopter riding a bike and land scratch-free on the top of a tall building
• Break into a karaoke gig (Indian Idol style)
• Lead a group of bikers
• Unveil a bike in a dingy garage
• Flex muscles
• Practice kickboxing
• Flex muscles again (not that I am complaining 😉 about this one)

Oh wait..there’s more – rest of the ad is a series of shots of biker groups randomly interjected with –

• Priyanka Chopra
  1. Shaking a leg looking “fresh” out of the sets of Bluffmaster
  2. Delivering a couple of smashes on the tennis court (apparently Sania refused so they had to make-do with Priyanka)
  3. Carrying a pooja-thali dressed in a traditional Indian outfit with Diwali-esqe background
  4. Finally riding the scooty herself (how I miss her Manjeet act now! sigh!)
• Irfan Pathan & Virendar Sehwag
  1. Randomly appearing to ensure cricketers don’t feel left out
• Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
  1. Managing to hit bulls-eye while riding a bike (maybe he should have tried that in this year’s Olympics for better results…OK, I am just being nasty now)
• Shots of small towns, fields, school children etc. etc.

[Caution: Strictly opinionated comments follow…OK, maybe this warning should have appeared l’il earlier :P]

So, there it is. If you haven’t already guessed – yes, this ad is a MESS. It desperately tries to make up for lack of creativity by hiding behind celebrities, sfx, grand locations & glamour but in the end fails sadly. In fact, the entire ad is an overkill – too many stars, too long, hell even too many punchlines (3 of them!). Only if it had a catchy background score to carry off the entire chutzpah, it might just have been worth Hrithik’s (sommer)-salt. What a waste.

Time for some objectivity now, here is a table rating this ad on various parameters:

 

	Weight	Rating	W * R
Idea/Innovation/Creativity	15	2	30
Execution
Storyline/Screenplay	10	2	20
Music/Jingle	10	3	30
Cinematography	5	7	35
Acting	5	5	25
Duration vs Impact	5	3	15
Cost vs Impact	5	3	15
Recall
Brand Recall	10	4	40
Ad Memorability	5	2	10
Tagline	7.5	3	22.5
Product Association	5	5	25
Target Audience Connect	7.5	4	30
Entertainment	5	5	25
Claim	2.5	3	7.5
Emotional Appeal	2.5	1	2.5
Total	100		332.5

Weighted Average: 332.5/100 = 3.325 (on a scale of 10)

What’s your rating for this one –