Servo uses Bollywood spoofs in its new campaign

Grey Mumbai has conceptualised three new TVCs for IndianOil’s Servo 4T. The three advertisements show spoofs of memorable scenes from three Bollywood films, Amar Akbar Anthony, Dhoom and Don. 

In the ‘Don’ TVC, an Amitabh Bachchan look alike is used. Trying to escape from the cops, he jumps from an old fort onto his motorcycle and tries riding away. But his attempt is unsuccessful because his bike stops and due to ECG (engine clutch gearbox) problems and fails to start again. The voiceover then introduces Servo 4T and the usefulness of the product at such times.

WATCH the TVCs now

In the ‘Dhoom’ TVC, a Hrithik Roshan look alike is shown stealing a sword from a museum. He jumps from the top of the museum aiming to fall on the backseat of a motorcycle driven by his girlfriend. But because of ECG problems the bike stops before it was supposed to and the man ends up falling on the front of the bike instead of the back seat. The voiceover is brought in again introducing the product and talking about it’s benefits. 

The third film for the brand is based on the movie Amar Akbar Anthony. In this film three lookalikes are used for Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor and Vinod Khanna. The trio are shown riding their bikes on a highway with their respective love interests. During the song, Anthony’s (Amitabh Bachchan’s lookalike) bike stalls because of ECG problems. Again, a voiceover comes in and introduces the product before the trio ride off again. 

Commenting on the films Rohit Malkani, executive creative director and head, Grey Mumbai said, “Bollywood will always remain a fertile territory for inspiration. But these films go to great lengths to not just pick the right scenes where a motorbike is at the core of the action, but to then create hilarious spoofs around them. From matching colours to costumes and of course the bikes themselves, the team spent several weeks just ‘getting it right’, the results are there for everyone to see” 

Hari Krishnan, branch head, Grey Mumbai, added, “In this category, the viscosity grade for all the products are same and there is no clear differentiation in the attributes of the product. Engine Oils do not provide additional power. It protects the engine, clutch and gear. This ensures that the engine does not seize or stall. We felt that we should focus on ‘performance’ with an underpinning on ’technology’ and therefore the simple brief was ‘ECG specialist”

Commenting on the campaign, A.N. Jha, general manager (corporate communications and branding), IOCL, said, “This is an important campaign for us. While all brands in the category have tried to appropriate some unique technology or the other, research told us that most of it is lost on the consumer. We were completely convinced that a serious message had to be delivered in an entertaining manner”

Gajraj Rao has directed the film and Code Red Films is the production house.

Credits:

Client: Indian Oil Corporation Limited

Agency: Grey, Mumbai

Creative team

National creative directors: Amit Akali and Malvika Mehra

Executive creative directors: Rohit Malkani & Karan Rawat

Senior creative director: Vijaykumar Subramani

Creative director: Rohit Dubey

Art director: Sebastian Gonsalves

Client servicing

Branch head: Hari Krishnan

AVP and client services director: Vineet Singh

Association account director: Aman Sheikh

Senior account execs.: Ashit Amin 

Films

Films head: Samir Chadha

Films director: Sharad Shinde

Films manager: Manjula Moses

Production

Production house: Code Red

Director: Gajraj Rao