Maruti have come out with a new appealing advertisement which I assume is in response to the recent fuel price hike. The ad is not about any particular Maruti car, it's about all of them and how they provide superior mileage. The punchline of this ad is "kitna deti hai?" (translates to "how much does it give?" ).

Advertisements of Maruti have always revolved around their core strengths of good service network and mileage. Each of their ad has a fair bit of exaggeration and end with a humorous punchline. Some of the memorable ads from the past are the young sardarji kid playing with a Maruti 800 looking toy that ends with a "Petrol khatam hi nahi hota hai" and the ad with Maruti drivers in Ladhak looking for a service station. Each of them lead the viewer to expect a funny intuitive answer and leave you with a counter-intutive one. So far none of the answers seem to come through as cliches. To get it right time and again is really an impressive feat.

This years Maruti ad too starts with what seems like an impossibility and ends with a punchline that reveals customer insight. There are two versions of this ad and both of them start with an elaborate presentations out of common-man's reach vehicles- a rocket and a yacht . Towards the end the audience have only one question 'Kitna deti hai?" - which is so true with almost everyone who has bought a vehicle. The deal make or break decision for most has been that of mileage.

Inspite of all the tashan and jugaad a consumer may do, they still have this one common question about their ROI. A lesser mileage is automatically considered higher running expense (even though at times it may not be). A higher mileage means more to more of us than a feature like higher ground clearance or power windows. "Kitna deti hai?" is a winner of a question - it's straight, bitter and sarcastic at the same time, like our filmy - "kitna kamaate ho?"