In-Depth Case study on Honda’s Marketing and Advertising Strategy

About Honda

Honda is one of the largest manufacturers of automobiles and motorcycles in the world. It is a Japanese multinational company that operates in North America, Asia, and Europe. It is also known for the manufacture of aircraft and power equipment. Honda has been the largest manufacturer of motorcycles since 1959. It is also the largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines in the world. Honda is also actively involved in advanced research such as robotics.

The company was founded in 1948 as Honda Motor Co. Ltd & has come a long way to emerge as the world’s largest 2-wheeler manufacturer and one of the world’s biggest automakers. It is expanding its operations and business in different parts of the world.

Source – thehansindia.com

Now let us look deeper into the case study of Honda

Honda Target Market

Mainly the target market of honda is the customer of the middle-income group as they mainly go for 2 wheeler first as it suits their budget and at the same time gives them value for money. Talking about the past, Honda was mainly targeting the age group of above 30 – 51, but in the recent few years, it has punched a new market segment for the younger driver group and young families which has a strong base in the market and will eventually lead to higher sales of the company.

Let’s explore further and look at how did Honda grab customer attention through various marketing tactics

Marketing Mix of Honda’s Two-Wheeler

Here is the marketing mix of Honda which explains the strategy implemented by them. Honda motors use a mix of demographic, psychographic, and geographic segmentation variables to understand the different markets and satisfy the changing needs of the customers accordingly. Let us look further into the marketing mix of the company.

Honda Product Strategy

The company’s main objective is to enrich the lives of the people. It is known as the leading manufacturer of motorcycles around the globe which has brought several attractive car and bike models to the market. In recent years, its sales have grown immensely fast due to the various new innovative products in the market with new techniques. Following is the image of the products which honda offers into three segments that are motorcycles, scooters, and big bikes:

Products under Motorcycles

 Source – honda2wheelersindia

Products under Scooters

Source – honda2wheelersindia

Products under Big bikes

Source – honda2wheelersindia

These were some of the products offered by Honda in various segments.

Honda Price Strategy

The price strategy implemented by Honda is acknowledged as it keeps in mind their main target segment is the middle-income group thus, their pricing strategy also goes according to that. They provide a wide range of products with an affordable pricing strategy. They have also built huge manufacturing hubs in developing countries and export bikes in developed countries where the cost of production is higher. It also provides sports bikes and luxury bikes which are priced at the higher end. Also, one of the penetration pricing strategies initiated by honda is that they set artificially low prices to gain market share and once that is achieved they increase their price.

Honda Place Strategy

Following is the distribution channel of honda:

It has direct contact with dealers which doesn’t involve any middlemen. The dealers directly sell to the customers and therefore there is a good communication link between the customers and the dealers. Also, the production distribution of the company is done by authorized dealers. There are a variety of products available in showrooms across many locations in many major cities throughout the country.

Honda Promotional Strategy

The promotional strategy of the company uses various new techniques to promote its brand; it does aggressive marketing on TV as it advertises to a large audience. It has released ads with different themes to attract customers. It has also released an advertisement showcasing the Honda founder’s dream of producing high-quality cars. Here is the image of the ad:

Source – civicX.com

The Power of Dreams Ad by Honda’s beliefs in giving high-end technology products, for the determination to bring them to market.

Various other campaigns initiated by Honda are as follows:

• Honda creates various innovative campaigns to attract its customers and engage with them, here is one of the successful and oldest campaigns done by them which hit the sales of honda by 90,000 in 1963 alone.

  Source – drive tribe

The campaign name is “You meet the nicest people on Honda”, this campaign showcased that the motorcycles were made for the common man.

• “Precious as a gold” campaign by Honda is one of the recent ad campaigns. Here is the image of the ad:

 Source – honda 2wheeler youtube

“Precious, as the gold” campaign was celebrated as the Honda Activa, completed 20 years, and thus this campaign was portrayed to celebrate the joys occasion during the 20th-anniversary edition.

In 2023, Honda unveiled its new brand campaign ‘A Honda Goes Beyond’, this campaign celebrated the relationship between customers and the brand, along with showing the brand’s promise towards enhancing the customer experience with the help of innovation.

Honda Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing helps companies to advertise their product to reach a huge market as social media is one of the major platforms in today’s time.

Here are some of the marketing tactics of Honda during the festive season and current market trends & how they tried to portray their brand:

Festive Marketing

Source – Honda Instagram

Source – Honda Instagram

Source – Honda Instagram

These were some of the posts from Honda Instagram about how they created such innovative posts and portrayed their brand image.

Current Affairs – Marketing during COVID-19 Lockdown 

Honda is making a comprehensive effort to be a good corporate citizen that looks after customers, communities, and employees as the COVID-19 pandemic limits everyday activities like going to work and running errands. As people look to brands as a source of trustworthy information and even inspiration amid widespread uncertainties about public health and the pandemic’s economic consequences, Honda is demonstrating a can-do spirit that may resonate with the consumers.

Source – Honda Instagram

Source – Honda Instagram

Source – Honda Instagram

Here are some of the current trend posts on Instagram which show how to tackle the on-going situation during a pandemic by staying home. It has tried to create awareness about taking necessary precautions.

Digital Presence of Honda

A digital presence simply refers to how your business appears online and how you manage your brand on various social media platforms. Following is the social media presence of Honda on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter:

Instagram Profile

 Source – Honda Instagram

Facebook Profile

Source – Honda Facebook

Twitter Profile

Source – Honda Twitter

As we see from the above images Honda has a strong market base with a huge number of followers. It is the leading company under motorcycle and the customer’s trust and believes the brand perception which creates a major impact on the company.

Competitor Analysis

Honda is one of the leading manufacturers of motorcycles in the world and has major competition in the market with several other brands.

There are several major competitors of Honda in the global market including Volkswagen, Toyota, and Ford. All these brands have a huge market presence and thus, they invest aggressively into marketing for promoting their products to beat the competition in the market. The demand for vehicles has risen over the years and therefore the companies also invest in the research and development of their products. Honda has a huge sale in the Asian market and therefore, Yamaha is one of the major competitors as it not only produces motorcycles but also several other products.

As we know, every brand is eager for faster growth and each one is spending more on marketing as well as research and development to acquire a larger market share and attract new customers. Thus, the competition is high in the market.

Conclusion

Honda’s Digital Marketing Strategy has to keep changing according to the current trends. The consumer preference depends upon a wider network and better services. Customers are influenced more to buy a product by advertisements in which Honda has done an amazing job by creating various innovative tactics to attract the customers.

The students at IIDE work on various case studies of companies and get hands-on experience of the company profile. To learn more about such case studies and get knowledge check out our website. 

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