Another view on India – Jack Yan writes in the beyond branding blog that the next revolution in motoring is likely to come from this part of the world… (I am quoting the entire post here since it is not very long…)
Ford is going to launch a replacement for the Excursion, which by my reckoning is over 19 ft long, that’s even bigger. Somehow I think this is foolish given that oil has just hit $60 a barrel. Last time the Japanese walked all over the Americans when the Arab–Israeli War took place. This time, I’m betting it’s Tata’s $2,000 car that the Indian company is planning.
Tata might not have a brand that is as well known as Toyota, and its exports have been fairly limited. But when the demand comes, it’s going to be the only place with a small, cheap mass transport that the Smart could have been but isn’t.
It’s going to be one of those cases where a great product defines or redefines a brand, just as iPod is doing for Apple. And at least its brand is already out there, in a limited way, which is more than I can say for the Red Chinese ones. Tata may well be providing the world with the next Fiat Cinquecento or Mini. And then Detroit will be wondering why it didn’t remember the lessons of the 1970s.
Oh, I’m betting the world’s next revolution in software, operating systems and computing could well come from there, too.
Update : Sambharmafia links to this article in newsweek on how Tata is a ‘uniquely Indian kind of multinational’…
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Talking about the lessons of the 1970s, I just had to show you this ad for Volkswagen – created by Bill Bernbach for Volkswagen showing an America reeling under the rising price of gas… This entire campaign for Volkswagen has been called the greatest ad campaign of the century – and very rightly so…
Bernbach built the Volkswagen, and particularly the Beetle story at a time when anti-German sentiments were very strong in America. Couple this with the fact that the car he was selling was ugly – no getting away from that. And with these, he built not just an advertising campaign bordering on genius, but a lovable brand too… the Volkswagen Beetle…
Even today Volkswagen ads are some of the most creative ones on tv. And this is in a country where probably 60% of television advertising time is taken up by automobile ads.
example : A man drives into a parking lot in a Volkswagen, there are only a few cars bunched up at one end of the parking lot, but this guy drives to the most remote empty corner of the lot and parks there. The end. And god, i wish i had been as intelligent as that guy, because then my Volkswagen Jetta wouldnt have been banged up at my workplace parking lot by some unknown moron.
Another one: A couple of guys standing around a tree. Apparently they’ve lost something up there, and they throw various objects up into the branches to get their prize to fall. Finally it does: And it’s a Volkswagen GTI. One guy mutters something about letting the clutch out more slowly next time (its a kinda powerful car).
yes dregg, the volkwagen ads are a super lot! and the older ones are even better…
Thank you for quoting me. I do mean it: I believe India is the next great Asian tiger nation; the difference being the democratic Indian people will have a better clue on how to sustain the growth (unlike Hong Kong). Corporate America will be sitting around puzzled.
Thanks Jack for dropping in – and for your faith in India’s ability to march ahead as the next great Asian nation… but sometimes we in the country are not so optimistic!