Apposite Branding

Apposite branding & marketing of a car

I would like to start this piece with an example, since the human mind deduces best when offered illustrations. Let us rewind to circa. 1998 – The year when Hyundai jabbed at the Indian market with the quirky looking Santro. A relatively unknown brand to the Indian diaspora then, today is a force to reckon with in the domestic automobile scene. The Hyundai Santro is the perfect example of what a concoction of a good product and right marketing can do. From being an alien automobile marque to a household brand second only to Maruti in the country. It would not be unsafe to say that brand ‘Hyundai’ was built from scratch. As much as marketing strategies helped to build the brand it is also their products which are class leading. Like I said earlier, it’s the concoction that works and not any one single attribute.

The Mahindra Alturas G4 is a transcendent product, period. There are no two ways to it. Arguably it’s the best in the segment. Let alone its contemporaries and competitors like the Toyota Fortuner and Ford Endeavour, it’s a product which punches well above its weight. And boy, does it punch hard! Hard is an understatement. It’s visceral. Kudos to Mahindra for building such a world class product and they certainly deserve a standing ovation. Alturas evokes a myriad of emotions within me and within me resides two distinct personalities too. Within one of the personalities it evokes patriotism, pride, dominion – look, we own the brand and it also appeals to the rationale.
Now coming to my alter ego – would he spend his 30 lakhs on a Mahindra, irrespective of it being a class leading product in every possible way, when for the same money he can buy a Toyota, Ford, Skoda, Hyundai etc. Yes, the car does appeal to the thinking man within me, but when it comes to the automobile aficionado within me, my knees go weak while heading to the showroom to buy the Alturas. Why is it that I am experiencing such a phenomenon when I know that the Alturas is the best in the segment? Well, it’s the badge on the front grille. By no means this piece intends to disrespect Mahindra in anyway, but a wise man is the one who plays his cards well.

Statistics show that Mahindra can sell a product priced in the 20 lakh range quite well. The XUV500 and top end Scorpios are proof of it. But, does the brand ‘Mahindra’ have enough steam (presently) go past the 30 lakh mark and challenge the might of Toyota, Ford, Skoda, et al? Or do we still have some way to go before Mahindra can take a stab at the 30 lakh segment?

It pains me a lot to see an exemplary product not doing the sales number it deserves to do owing to marketing and branding strategy gone wrong. It certainly deserves to do a lot better than it is doing. An unknown brand (Hyundai) from the same country (Korea) can go on to become a household name, proves it’s a feat not impossible to achieve.

The product is excellent without an iota of ambiguity. Then why not spend a few hundred crores in building the brand Ssangyong and position it as ‘The Ultimate SUV brand from Korea - Now in India’. In my humble opinion Mahindra should have given more effort, expertise and money in building the brand Ssangyong. The marketing campaign could have had points like 1) The SUV brand from Korea, 2) A good brand ambassador to endorse the brand, 3) The flag bearer of SUVs in Korea has finally come to India. It could have been positioned as the Land Rover of Korea. It just needed a good marketing and brand building team and some money of course. It needs to be built as a premium and aspirational brand. What Lexus is to Toyota or what Audi is to Volkswagen or what Alfa Romeo is to Fiat, Ssanyong could have been same for Mahindra if built as I seen it from my humble vision. Once the brand ‘Ssangyong’ had been established the way I see it from my perspective, I strongly feel the Alturas would have had a much, much better prospect in the market than what it has today.

Alternatively, the brand Mahindra could have also been built  to be able to sell a 30 lakh car, but that should have been done before launching the Alturas. The strategy of building the Mahindra brand is another topic of debate which needs another write-up. For now my focus is building the brand Ssangyong and it's positioning.

But it’s very painful as things stand today.

(Disclaimer: I do not mean to disrespect Mahindra. I am a car enthusiast and I feel a lot of pain in the gut when a product worthy of standing ovation doesn’t get its due owing to inappropriate marketing and branding strategy)