Down the Memory Lane: Bike Advertisements which are still remembered

Giving the best of memories, commercials make us recall the product in one hint. And if we talk about advertisements of late 90’s, we still murmur the tunes of the background score composed back then. For eg. ‘Desh ki Dhadkan’ by Hero or ‘Hamara Bajaj, Alag Andaaz’ by Bajaj. These video commercials made such Indian automotive brands, a household name. Remembering the legendary ads, we are listing top four video commercials that changed the meaning of promoting a product and gave it a familiar feel. Let’s start the countdown and recall the best part of watching the breaks between a show.


1) Hero Honda ‘Desh ki Dhadkan’

Indian manufacturer Hero is the best example of the company which became a household name through its ad campaigns. Starting with punch lines like ‘Desh ki Dhadkan’ and ‘Dhak Dhak’, Hero MotoCorp filled the vacant parking spot of nearly every Indian residency. Manufacturing bikes of every range, low to high displacement, Hero sold its every two wheeler which gave the company confidence and developed a trust in the nation towards the Indian manufacturer.


As depicted in the commercial, Hero’s two wheelers are compatible with every situation, whether it’s an outing with your spouse, a trip to your village or your parents first choice, Hero Motocorp developed bike for every situation, which offered consumers a variety of choices to go for. ‘Desh ki Dhadkan’ campaign by Hero was a superhit advertisement series and was sung by almost every Indian, rural or urban.

2) Bajaj Scooter Commercial ‘Hamara Bajaj Alag Andaaz’

An advertisement which makes us relive our old young days is surely one of the best commercials by Bajaj. Almost every Indian is surely familiar with the famous Bajaj ad which displays the company's scooter ‘Chetak’. The name of the scooter is kept on famous horse of warrior Maharana Pratap of Mewar region. ‘Chetak’ depicts power and commitment to its rider and its long lasting performance was surely one of its quality.


Talking about the advertisement, it shows beautifully directed visuals, well written lyrics, peacefully composed background score and what not. Everything about this ad is just perfect and the punch line of the ad ‘Hamara Bajaj Alag Andaaz’ is still recalled by everyone who has witnessed it on Doordarshan in 90’s. I still remember the day when I saw the commercial during a cricket match played between India and Pakistan, I don't remember the innings but the music and the lyrics are still fixed in mind.

3) Kinetic Luna

There was a time when Luna was considered as an example of two wheeler. If you owned a  two wheeler at that time, the first question which was asked by everyone is ‘How is Luna performing ?’. An economical 50cc two wheeler by Kinetic made a boom in the Indian automobile space and was so much popular that every second house had a unit of Kinetic Luna. Luna was a 50cc machine launched by Kinetic Engineering in 1972 in India. Being the licensed copy of Piaggio Ciao, Kinetic Luna was sold as Kinetic TFR in United States. Another version of Luna was the same 35 cc machine and the two wheeler was stopped being manufactured in early 2000.


What we can grab from the advertisement is that Luna had strong steel body and that was only plus point of the two wheeler. Other than this, Kinetic Luna did not have any other specification that made it stand out in the market. Head Lamps were dull and pick up was just their to oblige. But the main attraction of the two wheeler is the pedal start. Luna neither had kick start not self start, it had something different which we cannot found even after googling various automobiles. To start the Luna, we had to cycle the pedal for a while to get the engine started. Yes, that was Luna, a legend which will be missed for sure.

4) Royal Enfield Bullet Commercial

The bike which has its rough and tough side, the bike which makes you try off road, the bike with trust, performance and bunch of other capabilities, is none other than, Bullet by Royal Enfield. The commercial made its debut years ago and gave Royal Enfield Bullet a long lasting name. Its clearly shown in the commercial that how capable and trustworthy the tough machine is.


You can clearly see the bike been taken on various tracks in the video, whether it’s a smooth highway, off road, village roads, etc., Bullet has immense power to tackle the toughest situation offered. The advertisement is as beautiful as Bajaj’s commercial, its lyrics, composition, direction, casting, situations shown and the story which is very well written for the Indian audience, clearly touches heart of each biker of that era.

5) TVS Suzuki Fiero

A joint collaboration of TVS & Suzuki created a machine named Fiero, which now has been discontinued by the company but its advertisement showing the rough and tough side of the bike created a buzz at that time and made it ‘wanted’ by everyone. Whether its off road, dirt tracks or long highways, what we can see in the advertisement is that the bike favors all the tricky conditions with a support of its power and technology.

However, production of this two wheeler has been stopped but many Fiero can still be owned second hand and a feel of 90’s can be experienced. Revealing a surprise, Apache series is a good R&D (Research & Development) result of Fiero or you can say the company stopped its production to bring a higher version in the market as Apache range.