Italian auto major Fiat has kicked off its new branding strategy in the Indian market with a complete overhaul of its media buying and creative accounts. Fiat’s media buying duties have been handed over to Group M agency Maxus, while its creative duties are now with Bates David Enterprise.
The media account, earlier with Starcom, is estimated to be in the region of Rs 50 crore. While the pitch for the media buying account involved Maxus, Lodestar and Starcom, FCB Ulka, Grey and incumbent Leo Burnett pitched for the creative account.
When contacted, Maxus MD Ajit Varghese said: “As the auto market is becoming increasingly competitive, we are happy that Fiat finds us best to partner them for a new beginning. This is a prestigious account for us.” Fiat will be the first auto account for Maxus, though another Group M agency, Mind-Share, handles the Ford account.
“Considering the new image of Fiat and the job ahead of establishing it as a powerful brand in the Indian four-wheeler market, we feel Maxus is the right media partner for Fiat in India,” Fiat CEO Rajeev Kapoor told ET.
The change in media buying and creative agencies is part of Fiat’s rebranding exercise. At the recentlyheld Auto Expo in Delhi, Fiat launched its new red rectangle logo that will grace all cars made in India.
The company has also lined up a host of new launches for this year across various segments. Around March, it plans to launch the Palio Stile with the 1.3-litre multijet diesel engine. Sources said it will be very competitively priced vis-a-vis the Swift diesel, the other hot hatch that also uses the same engine.
Fiat will launch two completely-imported, small but lifestyle cars — the Fiat 500 in the Rs 10-13 lakh range around May and the Bravo in the Rs 25-lakh range in June. September will see the launch of the Linea midsize sedan which too will be aggressively priced around Rs 7.5-9 lakh to take on the City, SX4 and others. Fiat plans to end the year with a flourish by launching the Grande Punto in November-December.
The Grande Punto will take on the Swift and be priced around Rs 6 lakh. The company has started working on marketing and promotional efforts and will increase its dealer footprint from 65 to near 100 by September.
Fiat has had a chequered past in India despite being present in the market since long. Sources said among its problems, Fiat has had to deal with quality issues, distribution and diffused positioning. But post its joint venture with the Tata group, Fiat India has drawn up a fresh blueprint to restructure its positioning and portfolio.
- The Economic Times
Showing posts with label Cars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cars. Show all posts
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Auto designers set to ride the Nano wave
When Ratan Tata drove the ‘Made in India’ car, Nano, at the Auto Expo, the world applauded the Indian enterprise. Suddenly, global auto leaders are on hot trail for Indian designers who can sculpt automobiles to perfection.
If until now it was Pune-based automobile designer Dilip Chhabria whose castle on wheels have been driving home style and flamboyance, the advent of Nano has spurred the present breed of designers to take India to the world through their designs. Pinnen Ferina, Renault , Ford and General Motors among others are looking at Indian designers for their future models.
Finally, the world has woken to the paradigm shift in Indian automobile industry, says National Institute of Design’s principal designer (faculty of industrial design) Pradyumna Vyas.
“If IT ruled the roost in 1990s, this will be an era of automobile designers. With Indian designers thinking out of the box and daring to dream beyond the obvious, the good times for the sector have just set in,” he said.
Mr Vyas who worked with Tata Motor’s design team in Pune for ideation on the small car in mid-2000 even guided three NID students to create concept small cars in 2005.
Vyas told ET, “There is more to Nano than miniaturisation — it is a trend setter and a technological marvel. With automobile industry realising that sheer styling can put their product on the forefront, automobile designers have plethora of opportunities ahead of them.”
Nano has stamped its approval on the capability of Indian automobile designers. No one feels it more than Chennai-based Rajesh Mirajker who was the Tata Motors consultant in 2003 when the decision to go ahead with Nano was frozen by Ratan Tata.
Mr Mirajker is the proprietor of industrial designing firm Mirajker Design. He told said, “Tata has designed an Indian car for Indians. Importantly, it is even designed and styled by Indians and that is what is significant. Nano made ‘Made in India’ dream shape in a big way for the automobile sector.”
Mr Mirajker said designing a small car was a challenge as the team had to get the right mix of parameters — technical, marketing, manufacturing and homologation — to make ends meet, it proved the might of Indian designers.
“The ball has been set rolling. Indian designers must continue to churn out more revolutionary products,” he said. Further, with the likes of Pinnen Ferina, Renault, Ford and General Motors reaching out to Indian designers, there is no time to be lost for designers to join the automobile design revolution era, he said.
Experts say the car has opened up a new world of automobile design to Indian companies and professionals.
- The Economic Times
By: Shramana Ganguly Mehta, TNN
If until now it was Pune-based automobile designer Dilip Chhabria whose castle on wheels have been driving home style and flamboyance, the advent of Nano has spurred the present breed of designers to take India to the world through their designs. Pinnen Ferina, Renault , Ford and General Motors among others are looking at Indian designers for their future models.
Finally, the world has woken to the paradigm shift in Indian automobile industry, says National Institute of Design’s principal designer (faculty of industrial design) Pradyumna Vyas.
“If IT ruled the roost in 1990s, this will be an era of automobile designers. With Indian designers thinking out of the box and daring to dream beyond the obvious, the good times for the sector have just set in,” he said.
Mr Vyas who worked with Tata Motor’s design team in Pune for ideation on the small car in mid-2000 even guided three NID students to create concept small cars in 2005.
Vyas told ET, “There is more to Nano than miniaturisation — it is a trend setter and a technological marvel. With automobile industry realising that sheer styling can put their product on the forefront, automobile designers have plethora of opportunities ahead of them.”
Nano has stamped its approval on the capability of Indian automobile designers. No one feels it more than Chennai-based Rajesh Mirajker who was the Tata Motors consultant in 2003 when the decision to go ahead with Nano was frozen by Ratan Tata.
Mr Mirajker is the proprietor of industrial designing firm Mirajker Design. He told said, “Tata has designed an Indian car for Indians. Importantly, it is even designed and styled by Indians and that is what is significant. Nano made ‘Made in India’ dream shape in a big way for the automobile sector.”
Mr Mirajker said designing a small car was a challenge as the team had to get the right mix of parameters — technical, marketing, manufacturing and homologation — to make ends meet, it proved the might of Indian designers.
“The ball has been set rolling. Indian designers must continue to churn out more revolutionary products,” he said. Further, with the likes of Pinnen Ferina, Renault, Ford and General Motors reaching out to Indian designers, there is no time to be lost for designers to join the automobile design revolution era, he said.
Experts say the car has opened up a new world of automobile design to Indian companies and professionals.
- The Economic Times
By: Shramana Ganguly Mehta, TNN
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