The Art of Re-Branding !!!

Change Beckons....

During the end of 2010 and coming of 2011 the country saw one of the major rebranding done in the Telecom space with Airtel having a new logo and new tagline. But 2011 seems to be bigger as far as rebranding is concerned.

New Logo

Old Logo

Bajaj Auto will go for a complete rebranding by drooping its age old family name “ Bajaj” from its products and pushing its products Pulsar and Discover as standalone bikes in the market. Similarly Hero Honda would have to go for rebranding as they have no option left after Honda opting out from the 26 year old JV recently.

This may be new to the India Market but Bajaj started the process of rebranding in the year 2007 itself with fixing its back end operations for a smooth roll-out by March 2011.

The famous “ Hamara Bajaj” will now R.I.P. The company which introduced a refreshed “Hamara Bajaj” version in 2001 with the tagline of “Badal Rahe hain Hum Yahan” was much appreciated and showcased the transformations that company was going through along with the change in the automobile industry.

The company has decided to drop the name of Bajaj from its products treading the path of major FMCG companies like Apple, HUL, Kraft food etc. The marketing success of international automotive companies like Germany’s Volkswagen or Japan’s Toyota Motor Corporation that have several brands operating as independent entities, has also attracted Bajaj.

The Indian consumer seems to be maturing with the opening up of the economy and Bajaj seems to be ahead of its Rivals, Hero Honda who will now have to shift the focus on creating a new brand identity once the Hero Honda brand is over by 2015 as per their agreement with the Honda. The Munjals have already started to focus on creating brand differentiation process for its successful bikes like Splendor and Passion but time will tell that whether the Indian consumer is ready to see their much loved Bajaj name going off the shelves, the name by which most of us has grown by and seen evolving over the years.

--Sumit