As regular readers of my blog might know by now, I have spent the past many years thinking about JLR and its brands and how Tata Motors can integrate better with them while building its own automotive brand at the same time. In my last post I managed to fill the missing link that was still remaining in the Tata Motors brand strategy as far as their core strengths are concerned.
Now, I am finally sharing my thoughts on what Tata Motors Cars brand strategy ought to be going forward, how they can collaborate better with JLR, rationalize their domestic product range with adequate differentiation built in. My new brand strategy and positioning for Tata Motors is still the same that I had recommended on my blog many years ago, but now, you can see all the different building blocks fall into place. It is important to not just look at the Tata Motors-JLR connection, but how they can together build a truly distinctive automotive brand not just in India, but in important markets around the world. You may read my thoughts and ideas for the Tata Motors Cars brand strategy and campaign in the document below.
Car markets, consumers and competition would all vary from country to country, and since I am not very sure which countries Tata Motors is operating in and/or exporting to, I have focused on the Indian market right now. I think my ideas for the Tata Motors cars campaign will set it in the right direction for the future. After seeing Tata Motors’ strange rebranding to Tata.cars, and the advertising that has followed from the company, I am of the opinion that it reeks of unprofessional PR agency idiot bosses who haven’t a clue about advertising or marketing and shouldn’t even be in the industry.
While the TV advertising ideas are in the document above in the form of scripts, I have worked on the layouts for the print campaign which you can read below. This new brand campaign will help establish what Tata Motors cars stands for, and is not for any particular car model. I must also clarify that the images used in the print campaign layouts are stock images and these will have to be specifically shot for the campaign when it is executed.
I have also created a couple of tactical adverts to illustrate how the same brand positioning and strategy can be followed when creating product launch advertisements or when doing festive advertising. You may read the launch advert for the new Tata Sierra as well as a festive advert from Tata Motors below. I must mention that the visual in the Tata Sierra launch advert layout is a Tata Nexon right now, so apologies for this. The photo in the festive advert is from Canva which claims to be shot in Berlin but it looks doctored to me, and once again unprofessional PR agency idiot bosses could be behind this.
In addition, I have given some thought as to how digital media can and should be used for Tata Motors Cars, especially since one must address younger audiences and auto enthusiasts. The same brand positioning of Tata Motors cars must be established in their minds as well.
And I also think that Tata Motors with its new brand strategy would do well to create and sponsor a motoring event in India and perhaps in its other important markets. This can also become an important intellectual property of the Tata Motors car brand. What I had in mind is a cross-country car rally – not necessarily pan India – that is located in a region of the country that offers a wide range of terrain to drive on, along with breathtaking landscapes. There should be international participation for such a motoring event.
And finally, speaking of international participation and motoring events, these should be seen as opportunities to help carmakers innovate and improve their vehicles. Just as the world over, Formula 1 racing and tracks are used as testing ground for new and innovative types of automotive technologies, car components, and engineering. I am not sure if the old motor racing track in Chennai is used as a testing track by carmakers, as south India too has a large automobile manufacturing hub.
India, as I just discovered, is the world’s number three market for cars. Whether true or not, such a large and important industry in India and the world surely deserves its own F1 race and F! racetrack. Whatever happened to Buddh International Circuit, proudly dedicated to the nation around 20 years ago?
The featured image at the start of this blog post is of the new Tata Punch and is from Tata Motors’ website.
Stock images used in the campaign layouts for the Tata Motors brand campaign and the tactical adverts are from Canva, Unsplash and from Tata Motors’ website and I thank them.
