Bajaj Pulsar, er, pays tribute to Apple

In their own words, “Ogilvy Mumbai recently launched this film to mark Bajaj Pulsar’s 10th year. The film - ‘A Decade of Dominance’ on the web, depicts Pulsar as a true testament to a counter-culture, a culture that challenges mediocrity, laughs at convention and is the bedrock of Pulsar’s dominance of the performance bike segment over the last 10 years.This video is as much a tribute to the spirit of the Pulsarmaniac as it is to the decade of dominance of the Pulsar.” [caption id=“attachment_209450” align=“alignleft” width=“350” caption=“Reuters”] [/caption] Ten years of dominance is certainly a landmark that deserves a pat on the back, and in today’s hypercompetitive environment, even more than that. It deserves a film, a great film, which is what Ogilvy set out to create. Do they succeed at it, is the question. The film stops you in your tracks; it’s not in spectacular colour, but in a sort of dated, black and white treatment. It’s stark, with a haunting background score, while a flat monotone comments on the brand’s journey over the last decade. It arrests you, and, despite nothing happening except a Pulsar that rides down the road, you’re transfixed as it carries on for two minutes. It’s a new film; so why do I get the niggling feeling that I’ve seen this before? Because I have. Not this film, but a film that, er, this film has borrowed from? So I go to YouTube and search for Apple + crazy ones, and find this: Ah, the same black and white treatment, a haunting background score, monotonic comments. Er, and, if the Apple film begins with ‘here’s to the crazy ones’, the Pulsar film ends with, ‘here’s to the decade’. While Apple’s protagonists had ‘no respect for the status quo’, Pulsar is ‘never happy with the status quo’. Uh oh. Not a coincidence. Unless, of course, it’s Bajaj’s tribute to Apple.