In 2002 Honda Motor Company was the number-three Japanese automobile manufacturer in the world, behind Toyota and Nissan. While Honda’s automobile sales in Japan and the United States were considered strong, sales in the United Kingdom and mainland Europe were thought to be weak, even though automobile production in the United Kingdom had been ongoing for a decade. Further, Honda vehicle sales had been declining in these regions since 1998. In response to these problems Honda hired ad agency Wieden+Kennedy London office to create an advertising campaign that would directly address the issues. ‘‘The Power of Dreams,’’ released in 2002, was an omnipresent campaign in the United Kingdom and beyond, using television, direct mail, radio, posters, press, interactive television, cinema, magazines, motor shows, press launches, dealerships, postcards, beermats (coasters), and even traffic cones. It built upon Honda’s company slogan, ‘‘Yume No Chikara,’’ which was first endorsed in the 1940s by Continue reading
Marketing Case Studies
Case Study of Onida: Brand Analysis and Revival Strategies
Story so far….. Household name in television Onida was founded in 1981 and by1982 the company had started assembling television sets at its own factory. Superior products backed up by distinctive design, cutting-edge advertising and purposeful marketing made Onida a household name in India. In addition to televisions, the company has recently made a foray into other household appliances, including air-conditioners, washing machines, DVDs and home theatre systems. For business and industry, Onida has introduced state-of-the-art multimedia presentation products. Onida, is still well known for its brand mascot ‘The Onida Devil’ and its punch line “Neighbor’s Envy Owner’s Pride”. In the 1980s when owning a television set was considered a luxury, Onida launched its advertising campaign on the platform of envy, to promote its television range. A green-horned devil with a long pointed tail was the spokesperson in all its ad campaigns till the 1990s. The ‘Devil’ helped Onida gain Continue reading
Case Study of Motorola: Brand Revitalization Through Design
When Motorola released its earnings report for the second quarter ending June 2005, analyst and competitors alike were stumped. The company posted revenues of $8.83 billion up from $7.4 billion a year ago and earnings of $993 million against a $203 million loss a year ago. Selling 34 million handsets, the cell phone unit accounted for 55% of the quarterly revenue and $ 498 million in operating earnings. Motorola’s market share increased to 18.1%, a gain of 3.3%, establishing itself firmly as the second largest manufacturer behind Nokia (33% market share). This was an impressive turnaround for a company that had seen market share decline from a high of 51% during 1996 to a low of 13% in 2004 pushing it behind the market leader Nokia and the South Korean rival Samsung. A key contributor to Motorola’s turnaround was the RAZR V3 (Razr), the thinnest phone ever developed. This ultra-slim Continue reading
Case Study: “Dove Chooses Beautiful” Advertising Campaign
In 2015, Dove launched its new Dove Choose Beautiful advertising campaign, writing a new chapter to one of the most successful marketing campaigns ever, the Real Beauty campaign that started in 2004. The campaign was groundbreaking: its purpose went beyond promoting its commercial products but aimed at drawing people’s attention to some topical themes. Dove Choose Beautiful, follows the path outlined by the original campaign, questioning the unachievable female beauty canons promoted by the media and encouraging self-esteem and genuine Beauty instead. Since 2004, the renowned New York-based advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather has been developing a successful mix of print ads, billboards, and videos which raised public attention, generated debates and, ultimately, increased sales. Understanding the 2004 Real Beauty campaign, its premises, social background, and grounding philosophy is an obligatory path to discuss the Dove Chooses Beautiful marketing strategy. Case Background Dove is a beauty care brand owned by Unilever, a British-Dutch Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) multinational company. Continue reading
Case Study: The Body Shop’s Ruby Ad Campaign
In 1976, when the cosmetics industry was making exaggerated claims about scientific advancements in skin care, Anita Roddick opened a store, The Body Shop, in a seaside town on the southern coast of England. Her product line, based on natural ingredients and age-old beauty secrets from Polynesia and the Amazon rain-forest, was a vast departure from the patented laboratory-created, animal-tested products that promised to stop the aging process, eradicate dark circles under the eyes, and otherwise correct a woman’s flaws. The products were plainly packaged, and they were not tested on animals and not promoted through extravagant advertising campaigns. Her company’s refusal to test products on animals, along with an insistence on non-exploitative labor practices among suppliers around the world, appealed especially to upscale, mainly middle-class women, who were and have continued to be the company’s primary market. Part of the secret of The Body Shop’s early success was that Continue reading
Case Study: Success of Amazon’s Kindle Fire
In 2007 Amazon introduced the first Kindle e-reader for $359, their first foray into selling a tangible product under their own brand. The media quickly named the product an e-reader, a limited use mobile device designed for downloading and storing content from online. Perpetuating a successful, yet deceptively simple business model, the Kindle e-reader made “online [book] shopping so easy and convenient,” customers could browse, download and read books, magazines and newspaper content, at the click of a button on the Kindle. The e-reader market perked up as Amazon offered an affordable price point of $9.99 for book downloads and blended it with an easy to read e-ink, glare free device along with a simple user interface and operating system. Kindle’s launch success became the catalyst that opened up the e-reader market for big box book retailers, Barnes and Noble and Borders bookstores who shortly followed with introductions of their Continue reading