Ceat drives home ‘trust tyres, not superstition’ message

Ceat has rolled out a campaign promoting its ‘Superior Grip’ SUV tyres. A film created by Ogilvy and Mather features Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan and went on air on 24 March. The TV campaign will be supported by digital, outdoor, print, radio and POS legs.

The film opens with Khan, playing a soldier, driving an SUV with his co-worker beside him, on a hilly terrain. His junior-ranked comrade is about to tie a ‘Nimbu Mirchi’ (lemon and chillies) thread to the car’s rear view mirror, when Khan asks him what it is. He responds that it’s for safety. Asking him if he has tried tying it on a gun or a tank, Khan questions him on how it would save him on the drive. As the comrade responds that it’s a ritual, Khan is forced to apply the brake suddenly to avoid hitting a truck that has broken down. Khan clarifies to his stunned colleague that it is not he who saved him, but Ceat Tyres. The film ends urging viewers to drive on with faith in Ceat Tyres, not superstition.

Nitish Bajaj, VP, marketing, Ceat Tyres, said, “SUV is our vision category where we want to have leadership share. After establishing success in the bike segment, Ceat is very keen on repeating the success in the SUV segment as well. The new UVR campaign has been developed after months of research and is founded on relevant consumer insight.”

Prabhakar Tiwari, general manager, marketing, Ceat Tyres, added, “We conceived this campaign based on a strong consumer insight around blind belief on journey-related superstitions. We have a credible face in Irrfan to give this simple message about tyre being the real saviour in any journey. The approach will be 360-degrees in nature keeping TV and digital as lead mediums.”

Anup Chitnis, executive creative director - South Asia, Ogilvy & Mather, said, “Every time we hit the drawing board for Ceat, we make an effort to stay out of the blind spots that the tyre category suffers from, viz, a hollow proposition and overt styling masquerading as an ad. Hence, each of our attempts at showcasing Ceat’s superior grip and better control comes from a powerful insight. This time around, the insight of superstitions while driving, was glaring at us in the face and it was way too juicy to pass. The best part was, even our partners at Ceat were all in, for this gutsy move, to question driving beliefs."

Credits:
Client: Ceat Tyres
Creative agency: Ogilvy & Mather
Executive creative director: Anup Chitnis
Senior creative director: Mangesh Someshwar
Creative director: Rohit Dubey
Creative controller: Suman Adhikary
Account management: Ajay Menon, Saurabh Achrekar, Disha Dhami
Production house: Soda Films
Director (film): Rajesh Krishnan
Producer: Ameya