Iconic Ads: Tata Safari – Reclaim Your Life

In the early 2000s, Tata Safari sales had hit a trough. They were to launch a new variant Dicor.

The brief went to Ogilvy – Dicor was power (people felt that Safari was underpowered till then).

Ogilvy came up with something but Rajiv Dube, head of passenger cars, Tata Motors, recommended that they experience Dicor.

The Ogilvy team drove it and realised there was a huge difference in power. And they needed to do something bigger!

Power is seen by customers as pick up or speed. And in Dicor, it felt that power was being transferred from the vehicle to the driver.

For vehicles like these, imagery is very important. Customers visit showrooms because of the imagery associated with the cars.

Ogilvy spoke to potential customers between 30 -35 years who are achievers, to gain imagery/philosophy around the car. They were asked if they were happy professionally and personally. Many replied if given the chance they would go back to their passion/ dreams! In this world, people make compromises and forget one’s hidden dreams.

The line — Reclaim your life — was by Louella Rebello. At 2 AM, while sitting in a conference room at the office, it struck her. The line came out of a lot of personal angst accrued over the years as she spent more time working…than living. For the campaign, she was guided by Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar. Rakesh Pandit collaborated in the art direction.

Ram Sampath worked on a track from the movie Requiem for a Dream. The film was shot by Abhinay Deo, who created the famous jump-shot of the Safari!

Both the advertising and the SUV were a hit and sales increased.

It shook people out of their comfort zones.