Honda Activa Electric Launch Likely In Early 2025
- Apr 22, 2024
- Views : 2180
What’s in a marketing campaign? Lots, if a company aspires to be number 1 in the market. And it has to be one which not only strengthens and reinforces the brand, but should also provide clarity to the target consumer group about brand identity and equity.
This may seem like a straight enough brief to any advertising and marketing agency, but it has to be thought out carefully, particularly when your brand equity has, for long been used by your biggest rival. This is the quandary Honda Motorcycle and Scooter finds itself in.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt Ltd (HMSI) has launched its latest corporate campaign titled ‘Honda is Honda’ across TV, print, radio, outdoor and even cinema. According to the company, Honda has unleashed the second wave of its business expansion and the tagline of the campaign ‘Honda is Honda’ is penned to announce a new era to establish HMSI as the ‘only Honda in the Indian two wheeler industry.’
Clearly, the campaign seeks not only to reinforce Honda’s brand identity in the market but also to reiterate that the Honda name is to be associated only with HMSI.
Remember Hero Honda? It’s been four years since Honda walked out of that 25-year-old partnership with Hero MotoCorp after differences cropped up over a variety of issues, ranging from Honda’s reluctance to fully and freely share technology with Hero MotoCorp as well as the Indian partner’s uneasiness over high royalty payouts.
Despite the Hero Honda partnership, Honda also had an independent, fully owned two-wheeler subsidiary since 1999 – HMSI. And Honda engines did service in two wheeler products of both companies. Another irritant for Honda was Hero’s refusal to merge the company’s spare parts business with HMSI. This finally resulted in the termination of the joint venture in 2010.
Honda’s partnership with Hero, in a sense, will go down in history as one of the pioneering companies in the Indian two wheeler industry. The last quarter century has seen the evolution of the Indian two wheeler market, led by Hero Honda with the first of the Indo-Jap two wheelers in the ‘80s. The tagline for one of the popular early commercials for the Hero Honda CD100 was ‘fill it, shut it and forget it’, advertising the low fuel consumption of the CD100.
The CD100 went on to become the highest selling motorcycle in India, and over the years, Hero also managed to grab the “largest two wheeler company in the world” tag, riding largely on the success of two wheelers powered by Honda technology. And now, four years after the joint venture was terminated, Honda wants to move on from that relationship and wants consumers as well to ‘shut it and forget it’.
But it’s not easy to let go of the past. Twenty five years is a long time in any market, and the name Hero Honda has become synonymous with high quality, low maintenance and frugal to run motorcycles in India and continues to remain so. In 2011, Hero MotoCorp formed a new brand identity, and renamed all motorcycles and scooters under the Hero brand. However, there are still a massive number of two wheelers on the streets, all with the Hero Honda moniker.
This is what is irking HMSI. The Japanese company has been aggressively marketing its products and has set sights on wresting the top spot from former partner Hero MotoCorp. And to do so, it not only has to launch competitive and high quality products in the market, but also has to reposition and reinforce the Honda brand as the only Honda in India.
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