 "Hum mein hai hero: Anna group hijacks Hero jingle")
On 16 August, Hero MotoCorp launched
their new corporate campaign
, featuring an ‘anthem’ that AR Rahman sang, based on the company’s new tagline, Hum mein hai hero. [caption id=“attachment_63266” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Over the past few days, Anna Hazare has been the cynosure of all eyes, and there were many who saw him as their hero. Reuters”]
[/caption] Over the past few days, as Anna Hazare was the cynosure of all eyes, there were many who saw Hazare as their hero. Inspired by his fast and the consequent arrest, thousands of Indians felt that Anna was their voice, the one who stood up for all that was wrong in the political system. So they took the song from the Hero commercial, and overlaid it on a montage of images of Anna Hazare and the protest images, with results like this one: Unintended gains for Hero MotoCorp, Law & Kenneth, (the agency that created the TVC) Anurag Kashyap (the director), and AR Rahman – a viral which will certainly get spectacular hits on Youtube. But before they exult, Hero needs to be reminded that this could be a double-edged sword. The song may be used in the context of a person who may not do the brand any good – and there’s nothing Hero MotoCorp could do. What happens, for example, if a Shiv Sena sympathiser uses this to pay tribute to Bal Thackeray? Or a Trinamool supporter morphs images of Mamata Banerjee? That’s the problem with real virals. They go out of control.
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.