The world’s single largest two-wheeler manufacturer, Hero Honda Motors Ltd (HHML), is set to don a new identity.
On Thursday, it announced it had appointed London-based Wolff Olins, a part of the Omnicom Group, to design a new brand identity for it. This would cover brand architecture, name, logo and positioning for HHML.
Wolff Olins is a known entity in the Indian market. It was hired, among others, by telecom companies such as Tata DOCOMO and Airtel to revitalise their brands. That apart, the well-documented Tata brand revamp from it's earlier stodgy look was also implemented by this company. It is also reportedly working on a major revamp of the Ashok Leyland brand, as part of that group’s restructuring exercise.
In the global arena, the company has been known for the branding of telecom major Telenor, of Adidas, GE and also McDonald’s, among others.
“We (are) pass(ing) through this exciting phase in the life of our company — changing for the future, while anchoring ourselves to our core values and fundamental principles that have guided us in the past. The new buzzwords at Hero Honda are creation, renewal and re-energising,” said Pawan Munjal, managing director and chief executive officer, HHML.
Hero Honda has initiated a rebranding exercise to carve a new identity after termination of the joint venture agreement between Japanese auto major Honda Motor Corporation (HMC) and the Munjals’ Hero Group last December. HHML has rights to use the Hero Honda brand on its products till 2014, but the company is keen on promoting new products, to be introduced in its portfolio under its own name.
Hero Investments Pvt Ltd (HIPL), a Hero Group company, announced on Tuesday that it would buy out Honda’s 26 per cent stake in the JV for Rs 3,841 crore. Through a technological collaboration, HMC would continue to provide products to Hero Honda till June 2014. While Hero Honda would now work at building presence in markets abroad, Honda, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Ltd (HMSI), is looking at scaling up operatons on Indian shores.
Hero Honda would start physical work to put in place a distribution network to export products abroad in the coming months. Anil Dua, senior vice-president (marketing and sales), had earlier said, “We have so far been a national player with limited global presence. We will now look at rapidly tapping opportunities worldwide. In our existing exports’ market, we will use the joint brand during the transition period for our products. In new geographies, we will project our own brand.” The company is looking at exploring markets in South Africa, South Asia, West Asia and Latin America.