Indica Vista Changes Everything With the Andy and Leela Graphic Novel
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Kapil Ohri from Agencyfaqs has written quite a complimentary story on the Andy and Leela Graphic Novel we created for India Vista.
It was my last campaign before I took a sabbatical from my role as the Brand Head of Indica and Draft FCB and Phonethics have done a great job with it. Some of the social features we were supposed to add on the website are still in the pipeline and I’m not sure if anyone is driving it from Tata Motors anymore, but, still, it’s a campaign I’m quite fond of.
Here’s the complete text of the Agencyfaqs story –
Andy meets Leela through Tata Indica Vista
Kapil Ohri | afaqs! | New Delhi, December 05, 2008Tata Motors is running a website called ChangesEverything.in to promote a new version of the Indica called Tata Indica Vista among young executives.
Ironically, the website is not loaded with information and statistics about the car. Instead, it carries an episodic graphic novel, which tells the story of two virtual characters called Andy and Leela, who meet at an Indica Vista showroom and gradually fall in love with each other.
The car brand plays a supporting role in the story, stepping in at key times to solve Andy and Leela’s problems.
So, what’s the story and how is Indica Vista a part of it? Andy or Anand Sharma is a 28-year-old bachelor and an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. He runs a digital marketing agency in Mumbai and uses his father’s car to commute. When he is sent to Delhi to set up a branch of his agency, he plans to buy his own car.
Leela Banerjee is 26 years old and has studied at the National Institute of Fashion Technology. She works with a leading fashion designer in Delhi and dreams of setting up her own boutique. She is planning to buy a car with her own money.
Speaking to afaqs!, Satish Ramachandran, vice-president, DraftFCB Ulka, says, “Both Andy and Leela are represented as free spirited and ambitious individuals aspiring for the better things in life. They are proud of what they have achieved and unafraid of taking the less-travelled path to success. They are down to earth and fun-loving and value relationships. We think that these are the character traits that the Indica Vista target audience identifies with, thus making the characters more real and identifiable.”
The first two episodes build the background of the story and show the lives of Andy and Leela independently. They highlight the traffic and other problems both of them face while using public transport. Fed up with the commute problems, both decide to buy an Indica Vista.
In the third episode, Andy and Leela arrive separately at a Tata Motors showroom for a test drive of the Indica Vista. But only one car is available for the test drive, so both of them agree to take the test drive together. The fourth episode shows that during the long ride, the two get to know each other, and eventually start dating.
Ramachandran explains why they opted for virtual characters: “The character-based approach is an interesting way to tell the brand story and it also has the potential to involve the prospects and generate consumer dialogue.”
He adds, “The primary objective behind ChangesEverything.in is not to push the brand or generate test drives. The idea is to create an interesting story that the prospect can identify with and to weave the Indica Vista features subtly around it. While the plot revolves around Andy and Leela’s love story, the brand plays the role of a facilitator at key stages. This will lead to a positive buzz and awareness about the brand.”
Saurabh Gupta, chief executive officer, Phonethics, the agency which developed the characters and story, tells afaqs!, “The story does not end here. In fact, it will now move into the consumers’ hands and they will decide where they want to take the story. For this, we will launch a Facebook application which will provide specific tools to its members to create a comic strip around Andy and Leela and decide their fate.”
He adds, “The automobile company will incorporate the best comic strip in the story as the fifth episode and also reward the person who takes the story forward.”
DraftFCB Ulka manages the Tata Motors account.
c_h_u_c_k and 23 others are discussing. 
Bloggers’ mind
Priya Shah 12:22 pm on February 25, 2008 Permalink |
Now that is a comprehensive list.
Damm only one person in PR – i guess its not to late for me to jump in
Great going Gaurav.
Gaurav 1:17 pm on February 25, 2008 Permalink |
Thanks, Priya, feel free to ping me and ask me to add to the list of agencies/ clients anytime you hear of any new developments.
Rajiv Dingra 3:14 pm on February 25, 2008 Permalink |
Gaurav Im not sure how you missed it but our list of clients is listed on our website here -> http://www.watconsult.com/?page_id=11 And that also is a partial list (as many clients are under NDA). As far as I know We are among the largest stand alone social media consulting companies (Both in terms of number of people we employ and revenues) in India you can check all the media buzz about us here -> http://www.watconsult.com/?page_id=8
Infact we are doing a lot of work with large digital media agencies as well as direct clients. We are soon to announce major developments both on scale and clients. So watch out for us.
Really appreciate your effort to list the companies though.
Gaurav 4:34 pm on February 25, 2008 Permalink |
@Rajiv: Apologies for the oversight. That’s a really impressive clients list. Have updated the post.
Will be watching out for your upcoming major announcements.
Rajiv Dingra 4:38 pm on February 25, 2008 Permalink |
Thanks gaurav. Will keep you updated.
Rajesh 9:56 pm on February 25, 2008 Permalink |
Nice list Gaurav. Thanks.
It might be interesting to add differentiators to make it even more meaningful.
Social media can be many things – setting up a blog for someone can be social media , so can be uploading a video on You Tube
For eg. we deliver strategic advice that’s aligned with business/ marketing needs/ goals of the clients. Deliver insight programmes, drive evangelist programmes etc.
Social media is just one of the routes for outreach, we combine our learnings in mainstream and social media to drive value for our clients.
Cheers.
Rajesh
IdeaSmith 2:18 pm on February 26, 2008 Permalink |
I’m nitpicking but you spelt NIELSEN wrong.