CEAT launches Bike Tyres Campaign

India Infoline News Service / 10:45 , Nov 15, 2010

The brand has added new products in Bike Tyres category and is promoting core benefit of superior grip for this range of tyres which gives better stopping power
for the rider.

CEAT Ltd, India’s leading tyre manufacturer launched a campaign forBike Tyres. The brand has added new products in Bike Tyres category and is promoting
core benefit of superior grip for this range of tyres which gives better stopping power for the rider.

The creative idea behind the advertising campaign is that our roads are filled with Idiots who do not follow road discipline and prove fatal for
everyone else. Since you cannot take these idiots off the road, you need to deal them in your daily routine. Hence, your tyres should have a
superior grip to enable you to stop at will and save yourself from such idiots.

The company has launched a 360O marketing campaign to promote Bike Tyres category. Other than the regular ATL advertising, the company
is exploring some innovative options and for this the company has huge plans. One of the initiatives that the company is undertaking is taking the
ownership of spreading awareness about good road etiquettes. To do this, the company has launched a website called www.beidiotsafe.com.

CEAT launched this website to showcase bad driving, traffic violations and dangerous road habits. This is a social initiative. The objective is to
acquaint the visitor with different types of people or idiots who do not follow the Road Etiquettes, traffic rules and regulations.

On this occasion. Arnab Banerjee, Executive Director Operations, CEAT Limited said, “We want to increase our market share in the two-
wheeler category, and this campaign aims to address that. The campaign is mainly launched to promote the USP of our product and address the
target segment that we have identified. The cornerstone of proposition is that CEAT Bike Tyres are the best tyres to navigate the chaos on the
Indian roads because of the superior grip it offers.”

“Companies are increasingly adopting cause based marketing approach as it helps brand as well as society at large . We felt that there is a need
to address the road discipline issue as India scores the highest globally when it comes to road accident deaths” added  Banerjee.
CEAT launches Bike Tyres Campaign
CEAT Ltd, India's leading tyre manufacturer launched a campaign for Bike Tyres. The brand has added new products in Bike Tyres category and
is promoting core benefit of superior grip for this range of tyres which gives better stopping power for the rider.

Mumbai, Maharashtra, November 19, 2010 /India PRwire/ -- CEAT Ltd, India's leading tyre manufacturer launched a campaign for Bike Tyres. The
brand has added new products in Bike Tyres category and is promoting core benefit of superior grip for this range of tyres which gives better
stopping power for the rider. The creative idea behind the advertising campaign is that our roads are filled with Idiots who do not follow road
discipline and prove fatal for everyone else. Since you cannot take these idiots off the road, you need to deal them in your daily routine. Hence,
your tyres should have a superior grip to enable you to stop at will and save yourself from such idiots.

The company has launched a 360O marketing campaign to promote Bike Tyres category. Other than the regular ATL advertising, the company is
exploring some innovative options and for this the company has huge plans. One of the initiatives that the company is undertaking is taking the
ownership of spreading awareness about good road etiquettes. To do this, the company has launched a website called www.beidiotsafe.com.
CEAT launched this website to showcase bad driving, traffic violations and dangerous road habits. This is a social initiative. The objective is to
acquaint the visitor with different types of people or idiots who do not follow the Road Etiquettes, traffic rules and regulations.

On this occasion Mr. Arnab Banerjee, Executive Director Operations, CEAT Limited said, "We want to increase our market share in the two-
wheeler category, and this campaign aims to address that. The campaign is mainly launched to promote the USP of our product and address the
target segment that we have identified. The cornerstone of proposition is that CEAT Bike Tyres are the best tyres to navigate the chaos on the
Indian roads because of the superior grip it offers."

"Companies are increasingly adopting cause based marketing approach as it helps brand as well as society at large. We felt that there is a need to
address the road discipline issue as India scores the highest globally when it comes to road accident deaths" added Mr. Banerjee.

Notes to Editor

About CEAT

CEAT Tyres, the flagship company of RPG Enterprises, with an annual turnover of more than Rs. 3000 crore, was established in 1958. Today,
CEAT is one of India's leading tyre manufacturers and has a strong presence in both domestic & international markets. The company
manufactures over 10 million tyres every year and enjoys a major market share in the light truck & truck tyre market. CEAT tyres, tubes and flaps
are renowned for their superior quality and durability. CEAT offers the widest range of tyres to all user segments and manufacture world-class
radials for all Indian vehicles including: Heavy-duty Trucks and Buses, Light Commercial Vehicles, Earthmovers, Forklifts, Tractors, Trailers, Cars,
Motorcycles and Scooters.
CEAT: Get a grip
Arunima Mishra / New Delhi Dec 06, 2010, 00:21

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RPG Enterprises has unveiled a new campaign for CEAT tyres. After the rebranding exercise (it changed the CEAT logo in 2008), this is the
second-biggest marketing investment. The positioning, “Be idiot-safe”, builds on the idea of following road discipline, and how good tyres can help
a motorcycle rider avoid accidents.

CEAT Executive Director (operations) Arnab Banerjee says: “The idea behind the campaign is that the roads are full of idiots who do not follow
road discipline. Since these idiots cannot be taken off the road, the tyres of your two-wheeler should have a superior grip to enable you to stop
when necessary and save yourself. The campaign promotes the “better road grip” feature of CEAT tyres.”

The thought behind the three TVCs is to educate users about the chaos on the Indian roads. “Mostly, tyre companies show a mountain or a bumpy
road to explain the features. But we wanted to take a slice of life to align the campaign with our brand strategy. Our target group is youngsters
below 30 years of age: College-goers and first-time job-holders,” says Banerjee.

The first film opens with a man, who is talking on his mobile phone, as he walks on a busy street pushing a pram. With total absence of mind, he
abruptly turns the pram to cross the street, and a biker driving on the road stops in no time before the man. The man looks disgusted, as he yells at
the biker for not being attentive. The voice-over: “The streets are filled with idiots. CEAT tyres come with an advanced grip and angular grip
design.”

The second film shows a couple (the wife is expecting) returning after watching a movie on a bike. As they discuss the plot of the film, a car with
youngsters stops right across their path. The man driving the bike brakes to avert a mishap. The third TVC showcases how four-wheeler drivers
also play havoc by keeping the car in the middle of the road.
While Shyam Madiraju is the director of the films, the production house is Magic Hour Productions. The films were shot in Mumbai over one night
and two days. Ogilvy India Executive Creative Director Anup Chitnis says, “The creative brief was to play around the grip of the bike, as the biker
needs the grip the most. On the Indian roads, people don’t care about the bikers, and they enter the road without any hesitation.”

Besides the three TVCs, the company launched a teaser campaign last month where coffee mugs at Café Coffee Day outlets were branded with
traffic pictures and the brand positioning, ‘Be idiot-safe’. Also, it launched its digital campaign through the website, www.beidiotsafe.com, to
showcase rash driving, traffic violations and dangerous riding habits to support the TV-led campaign. “While in just 20 days, CEAT acquired
10,500 fans on its Facebook page, 250,000 visitors had hit the site in a month’s time,” says Banerjee.

Brand Update : Ceat wants you to be Idiot Safe

Ceat went in for a major rebranding exercise in 2008 when it changed its logo, the mascot and the famous tagline " Born Tough". I
was very critical about the whole rebranding exercise especially the decision to discard the Rhino (mascot) and the tagline. The logic
for the rebranding was to make the brand contemporary and relevant to the new generation consumers.
Although the company spent some money on rebranding campaign in 2008, it again went in on a silent mode for almost two years .
There was virtually no campaign for Ceat in this period. Recently the brand has started making some noise in the media with a series
of brand campaigns.

The current campaign for Ceat is for its bike tyres. The campaign is dubbed " Be Idiot Safe ". The campaign runs on the theme that '
Roads are full of idiots and be idiot-safe with Ceat Tyres".

Watch the ad here : Be Idiot Safe

The ads are currently focusing on the " better road grip " feature of Ceat bike tyres. Road grip is an important ,relevant feature as far
as tyres are concerned and Ceat has tried to own up that feature.
Along with the 'Be Idiot Safe " television campaign, the brand has tried to take up this idea into the internet by launching the brand
site " beidiotsafe.com". The brand tried to engage users by inviting interesting videos about those idiots on the road. Users can upload
the videos about rash driving and careless road habits onto the sites. The brand expects that these funny videos will be viral and
increase the brand's visibility on the web. I am not sure whether the site had managed to sustain interest among the netizens.

Another interesting aspect of Ceat's brand strategy is that it chose to have different theme for its different product-lines. While " Be
idiot-safe " theme is for bike tyres, the brand have a different theme for its SUV product range. For the SUV range, the brand has
adopted the tagline " Takes the wild out of wilderness ".

That means Ceat will have separate positioning for its various products. In branding perspective, that is not a good strategy. The
multiple positioning can dilute the core brand's positioning unless there is a common thread passing through the various positioning
campaigns. MRF uses multiple positioning campaigns for its various products but these product lines have sub-brands. In the case of
Ceat, there is no sub-brands but only product descriptors .

It would work well if Ceat can think of a core brand positioning for the brand - CEAT. This core brand positioning will be reflect what
the brand CEAT stands for. Then use sub-brands for its product-lines like SUV, bike tyres, car tyres etc .The brand can then use
different positioning campaigns for the sub-brands. The sub-brand's positioning should be in line with the core brand's positioning
but the sub-brands will have freedom to chose its own relevant themes.
Looks like a cool campaign. "Be Idiot safe" has a ring of real life attached to it with the insight that all people
(owning a 2 wheeler) meet some idiot or the other every time they go out for a drive. 

However, I do agree with what you say about CEAT not having a central, core value attached to it today. So while
this advert and campaign might be successful (using a classical fear/scare tactic) in terms of advert awareness, the
brand CEAT does not really benefit too much from it.

2:14 PM
 Neeraj Gupta said...
I agree with your view that this can lead to dilution of the brand as if all the communication messages are not
communicating the same thing then sometimes these messages get confusing for the consumers and ultimately the
brand looses its identity that what it actually stands for.
If they want to pursue this strategy then they can go for creating separate individual brands for the different
categories

11:08 PM

 Akul Nair said...
Is it just me or do we see a resemblance to the Bridgestone tyres ad below