Kusha Kapila packs a punch for Tata Motors’s Punch

It wasn’t a surprise of sorts when content creator Kusha Kapila appeared in Tata Punch's digital video as a worried parent Rita. Kapila, who has been associated with multiple brands, has done an automobile brand promotion for the first time. The video in which Kapila is seen scolding her young children after an eventful parent-teacher (PTM) meeting has been shot in Tata's SUV Punch. The creator is seen talking about the sub-compact SUV brand albeit subtly in the entertaining video full of punches.

Conceptualised and executed by Tata Motor’s internal team, the campaign on Instagram itself has garnered over 5 million views and close to 4,300 comments. Tata Punch was launched in India on October 18, 2021.

Speaking exclusively to Storyboard18, Rajan Amba, vice president, sales, marketing and customer care, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, says that since Punch is a young brand, the company wanted to choose someone who not only matches the brand personality but also has a strong digital presence.

“As a part of this targeted outreach, we wanted to focus on our women customers. Tata Motors has witnessed a surge in women customers by more than 30 percent, making it an important category for us. To take this ahead, the collaboration with Kusha Kapila fit our requirement. Her content is very well received by audiences across demographics and it made perfect sense for us to leverage her popularity,” he says.

"Tata Motors has witnessed a surge in women customers by more than 30 percent, making it an important category for us," Rajan Amba, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles

The new influencer-led campaign is aimed at communicating the safety, infotainment and design attributes of Punch to consumers between 22 and 50 years of age.

Earlier this year, Tata Motors partnered with Indian cricketers during the Indian Premier League (IPL) to promote Tata Punch.

The brand will continue to leverage influencer outreach campaigns with a focus on developing powerful digital content across platforms.

“We carefully choose the influencers we want to engage with depending on the messaging we want to communicate,” says Tata Motor’s Amba.

"Tata Punch's campaign could play a key role in redefining automobile advertising in India,” Mitesh Kothari, White Rivers Media

According to him these campaigns are not restricted to bigger cities or metro. “Depending on the region we want to focus on, we choose influencers who are locally popular and make content that customers can relate to. However, while working on larger campaigns, we make sure that the content we create resonates with a wide spectrum of audience. The communication then becomes such that it is relevant to someone living in a metro as well as someone living in a Tier II and III towns,” he adds.

Tata Punch sits below the Nexon in Tata Motors’ portfolio and is now the smallest sports utility vehicle in the company’s India line-up. The prices of the Punch start at Rs 5.49 lakh and they go up to Rs 9.09 lakh for the top-spec variant with AMT.

Mitesh Kothari, co-founder and CCO of digital agency, White Rivers Media believes that the SUV sector, which has been dominated by men all along, is now observing a growing interest from women.

“Not just small cars, we often see women preferring to drive bigger SUVs these days, and Tata Motors understands this fact. India's ever-growing female automobile influencers are showing considerable interest in the campaign. It's time to steer past the prejudice and stereotypical opinions and put women behind the wheel. Tata Punch's campaign could play a key role in redefining automobile advertising in India,” he concludes.