Yamaha Hires 2nd Ad Agency

Yamaha Motor India Ltd has decided to engage a second advertising agency, in addition to TBWA Anthem, to take care of its expanding product portfolio.

The company which turned a 100 per cent subsidiary of Yamaha Motor last year, after the Japanese firm bought out Escorts Ltd's shares, has also got a fresh infusion of capital of Rs 400 crore at the end of last calendar to fund its expansion plan. Several new models are at the design and development stage, and new marketing strategies are being worked out.

A source said having two advertising agencies will help the company adopt the 'bidding concept' helping it derive the best product marketing strategies in terms of both product as well as price positioning. This is a normal practice in industry. Originally, Yamaha too employed two ad-firms but it gave up one due to receding volumes over the past few years. The motorcycle maker is now back on track with volumes increasing .. per cent in April-January 2001-02.

 

Said Yamaha Motor India's general manager (marketing), R R Prasad, "We plan to introduce newer models and it is quite obvious that different brands will require different advertising strategies. Hence, the decision to have two advertising agencies." The company is going to launch a new model, Royal Star, by June this year. The company is also launching Yamaha's new worldwide campaign theme called 'Kando' (touching your heart).

Several advertising firms have had the mandate for the Yamaha brand in the past, which included among others Everest and Headstart.

Since it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha, the Indian company has registered a steady growth in volumes. During April 2001- January 2002, Yamaha was the fourth largest motorcycle manufacturer with a 7 per cent market share. The company has registered a 34.5 per cent growth over April 2000-January 2001 in terms of units sold. During the period, the company sold 1,73,736 units in the domestic market and 15,398 units in the exports market.