When Your Product Carries History, Not Just Horsepower, you don't need to advertise

Hello, Creative Souls.

Let’s talk about offers.
Not the “20% off if you buy today” kind.
Not the “limited-time pre-order bonus” kind.

We mean an offer that feels impossible to ignore.
An offer that hits so deep, people don’t compare prices — they feel an emotional need to own it.

Bajaj’s launch of the V motorcycle is a masterclass in exactly that.
Because when your bike is literally built from the metal of India’s first aircraft carrier — you’re not just selling transportation.
You’re offering history you can ride.

Campaign: Bajaj V — INS Vikrant Lives On

Client: Bajaj Motorcycles
Agency: Leo Burnett India

The Big Idea: Don’t Sell The Product. Sell What It Means.

When India’s first aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, was being dismantled, Bajaj saw something the scrapyard didn’t: an opportunity to forge meaning.

They took the metal from this iconic warship — a ship that had helped India secure victory in the 1971 Indo-Pak war — and infused it into the frame of a new motorcycle.

This wasn’t nostalgia marketing.
It was engineering memory into motion.

Now, when a consumer bought a Bajaj V, they weren’t just buying a bike.
They were owning a piece of national pride.

Why It Worked

1. It was an offer with cultural gravity.
Anyone can build a fast bike.
No one else could offer this story: a motorcycle forged from the metal of a war hero.

2. It aligned product and emotion perfectly.
The V was positioned as a rugged, proud, everyday warrior.
What better origin story than steel that had already defended a nation?

3. It bypassed rational decision-making.
Specs and price points? Irrelevant.
This was about identity, belonging, and pride — things you can’t compare on a shelf.

4. It created unstoppable buzz.
Media outlets picked it up instantly.
Consumers queued up not for performance, but for a chance to own history.

Steal This Energy (How You Can Apply It)

• Ask: what story are we really selling?
  The V wasn’t about torque. It was about patriotism on wheels.

• Turn cultural moments into product meaning.
  Bajaj didn’t invent INS Vikrant’s story. They connected it to the consumer’s life.

• Make the offer bigger than the product.
  When people buy something that makes them feel something, price becomes secondary.

• Look for emotional materials.
  Not literal metal, necessarily. But moments, symbols, or cultural artefacts you can embed into what you sell.

The GIST:

Purpose works better than promotions.

You can run discounts all day.
But when you launch an idea that taps into identity, memory, or cultural pride, your product stops being a transaction.

It becomes a conversation.
It becomes a story consumers want to tell.

And that’s what Bajaj V gave India: a chance to ride through modern life on a frame of history.

Because sometimes, the most irresistible offer you can make is this:

Figment is written by Abbhinav Kastura, a writer/producer who has spent a decade making impactful internet videos and Guru Nicketan, an advertising nerd, B2B Marketer, stand-up comedian, and a film buff.