 "Which is the car - Ertiga or LUV?")
Suzuki introduces the concept for LUV, or ‘Life Utility Vehicle’ with Ertiga.
The launch ad, a lavish and extravagant double spread in leading newspapers, has a headline which launches the concept of LUV: “Live life with LUV”, it says.
The subhead says: “Presenting ERTIGA. The Life Utility Vehicle.”
Up to this point, one is clear that the car model is called Ertiga, and Life Utility Vehicle is a descriptor.
The confusion begins when one gets to the body copy. “LUV is not just a car. It is a Life Utility Vehicle designed to help you do all the things you love, with a little more love. And it is here in India before anywhere else in the world. So you can experience this feeling called LUV before the rest of the world does.”
The highlights of the car are then listed. “LUV is flexible. 5 +2 flexi-seating. LUV is powerful. 95 PS in petrol & 90 PS in diesel. LUV goes further. 16.02* km/l in petrol and 20.77* km/l in diesel. LUV is accommodating. Roominess in a compact design. LUV is comforting. 2nd row AC.”
The autosuggestion, because LUV as an acronym is so close to the industry standard acronym SUV for Sports Utility Vehicle, is that LUV is a path-breaking new category from Suzuki.
The headline, the subhead and the body copy, however, suggest that LUV is a brand, not a category, not a descriptor.
The SUV, for example, is an acronym that can be used for any sports utility vehicle by any manufacturer, just as any manufacturer can call a sedan a sedan or a saloon a saloon.
Suzuki has trademarked LUV, so it’s an acronym that they have felt the need to own. The way that they have gone about it in the launch campaign makes it more the name of the car, rather than a new category, of which Ertiga is the first.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsLUV should have been about a particular new kind of car, rather than about a particular car. The moment Suzuki detailed the specifications, LUV became a defined car model. The highlights of LUV should have been “LUV gives you flexi-seating, LUV is powerful. LUV gives great mileage. LUV is accommodating. LUV cools the entire car.”
The thought was large - that of creating a category which they could ‘own’. Where the campaign gets hazy and goes wrong is in their effort to club two launches into one - the launch of the concept, LUV, and the launch of the first offering in the LUV class, Ertiga.
What Suzuki should have done is to launch LUV, the new category as defined by cars with flexi-seating, great mileage, great power and efficient air-conditioning, and followed that up with the launch of the first car in the LUV class, the Ertiga.
The way both LUV and Ertiga have been launched, there’s confusion. Is one buying the LUV or the Ertiga? Or both?
Anant Rangaswami was, until recently, the editor of Campaign India magazine, of which Anant was also the founding editor. Campaign India is now arguably India's most respected publication in the advertising and media space. Anant has over 20 years experience in media and advertising. He began in Madras, for STAR TV, moving on as Regional Manager, South for Sony’s SET and finally as Chief Manager at BCCL’s Times Television and Times FM. He then moved to advertising, rising to the post of Associate Vice President at TBWA India. Anant then made the leap into journalism, taking over as editor of what is now Campaign India's competitive publication, Impact. Anant teaches regularly and is a prolific blogger and author of Watching from the sidelines.