Honda Honda Motorcycle

Mumbai

In its second corporate campaign post the split with Hero, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India highlights its logo - the wing - and its focus on rural India.

There are brand logos. And there are grand logos. The latter kind is conjured up mid-air by professional skydivers and shot using aerial cameras.

under the Sach Kar Denge Sapne umbrella thought. Atishi Pradhan chief strategy officer, Cheil Worldwide SW Asia, says, "HMSI made an ad in 2004-05 which showed a turbaned man putting mehndi on a young girl. He made the wing mark design within the henna pattern, and he then looked up... and we saw that he is the Japanese MD of HMSI.

Now, nearly 10 years later, Honda is still making an ad showing the wing mark, and setting it amongst stereotypical touristy images of India? Really?"

While she thinks it's a well shot ad with good music, Pradhan goes on to critique, "Honda UK made perhaps the world's first 'real time' ad in 2008, where skydivers formed the Honda logo. It was a huge success story. In India, so many years later, we get this vanilla version. Really? Akshay Kumar? Really?"

High, but not deep...

The film's core message is not lost on Pradyumna Chauhan, national creative director, McCann Worldgroup. "Honda is known for its technological superiority. It has huge lineage. So saying 'Honda is Honda', as a point to be put across to Indians after the split with Hero, is a very effective thing to do, " he appreciates, adding, "Being a Japanese company, Honda is trying to bridge that gap with Indians."

According to Chauhan, this kind of symbolism serves the purpose of creating a clear identity for Honda, independent of the baggage of its past relationship, and certainly helps "take the brand to the people."

"Throw in a mood song, shoot it well... and yes, the ad does its job of reminding people that it's all about flight and dreams, " he offers.

However, he adds, "But there's nothing in the ad that does this job with depth. How deeply does it connect? That's a big question mark. It's a likeable, feel-good film that will appeal to people who are slightly more 'visually literate' than the rest. But it stops at being a likeable film."

"How does the brand go deep into truly championing the dreams of Indians? That question goes unanswered. When you say Sach Kardenge Sapne, even if I were a half-literate, half-interested member of the audience, I would want to be rewarded with a deeper, clearer meaning, " Chauhan states.