MxMIndia

Tag: Maruti Suzuki

  • The company will reduce the number of cars produced at the Gurgaon plant and make available space for expanding the engine manufacturing capacity, including a new diesel engine plant.

    Maruti Suzuki will not shut down car production at Gurgaon

    By A Correspondent

     

    During a media interaction, Maruti Suzuki’s top management had announced plans to set up a diesel engine manufacturing plant in Gurgaon. Some sections of the media had taken this to mean that Maruti Suzuki would shut down production of cars in the Gurgaon plant and shift car-making to Gujarat. The company has clarified that there is no plan to stop production of cars in the Gurgaon plant, and car-making operations at the Gurgaon plant will continue.

     

    A statement from Maruti Suzuki said, “The company will reduce the number of cars produced at the Gurgaon plant and make available space for expanding the engine manufacturing capacity, including a new diesel engine plant. The company will continue to increase production at Manesar, where a third plant with an annual capacity of 2.50 lakh units is coming up. Once the capacity in Manesar is fully utilized, the company plans to set up a new facility in Gujarat. Together, the facilities at all three locations – Gurgaon, Manesar and Gujarat – will be used by the company to manufacture vehicles to meet market demand.”

     

  • DID viewers can pick up the phone and give a Missed Call to vote for their favourite contestants

    One missed call to vote for DID 3 participants

    By A Correspondent

     

    We all have hopes. It’s what equips us to deal with life’s trials and tribulations. Each one of us has endless hopes….It’s this ‘Umeed’ that keeps us going.

     

    Zee TV’s dance reality show, Maruti Suzuki Presents Dance India Dance will be shortly announcing its Behtareen Terah (13) contestants. And the key decision has been thrown open to the janta. Voting is our fundamental right and if we can vote for free to choose our government, then why should we spend money to vote for our favourite reality show contestants?

     

    Taking this thought forward, Zee TV has made the entire voting process in reality shows free of cost. DID viewers can pick up the phone and give a Missed Call to their favourite contestants.

     

    The thought of giving audiences an opportunity to choose the winner of a reality show through a public voting system, as a concept, was initiated by Zee TV for the very first time in 2003 for the show, Zee Cine Stars Ki Khoj.

     

    After that, the concept of ‘one mobile- one vote’ was introduced during the time of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Singing Superstar in 2010, to avoid duplication while counting of votes made from the same number.

     

    Now, the channel has devised a method which nullifies the entire debate about voting being a money making mechanism between the channel and the telecom companies! The Missed Call voting system devised by Zee TV in Dance India Dance Season 3 will ensure that there’s no fallacy in choosing a winner and will also erase all doubts about the existence of any benefits to the channel in the voting process. The channel will incorporate the same in its future reality shows as well.

     

    “With DID Season 3 – Voting Free, we are aiming for never before achieved viewer’s participation in the show. With this voting system, every unique missed call will be counted as one unique vote thus making the janta janardan, the true adjudicator in deciding the fate of our show.  Technology is helping us value the viewer’s point of view even further. The decision of free voting is a welcome change to those who have hitherto refrained from participating owing to extra charges for an SMS to special numbers! There can be nothing more transparent than this mechanism in the decision of choosing the final winner of any reality show on ZEE TV,” said Akash Chawla, Head Marketing, National Channels, ZEEL.

     

    Here’s how the mechanism works: Every contestant in the Behterein Terah has been designated with an unique number. All a viewer has to do is dial that number and after one ring, the call gets disconnected automatically. The viewer gets an acknowledgement message that his vote for the particular contestant has been registered. In one week, a viewer can vote for a particular contestant only once. However he can vote for multiple contestants in the same week. The best part is the viewers can call to vote their favourite contestant even with zero balance. The mechanism has already assisted in choosing the Wild Card entrants of the show.

     

    Dance India Dance has always believed in exploring unique initiatives on a large scale to build its brand equity. Be it the grand Carnival that was conducted on the streets of Mumbai during DID Season 2 or the unique ‘Dance Mobs’ that were conducted in malls, multiplexes, railway stations and streets of Mumbai and Delhi during the launch of DID season 3 or the very recent Licensing & Merchandizing deal that the show has done with apparel giant Reebok to further build the brand.

     

  • Several marketers are now waking up to the potential of small screen stars as brand endorsers

    Big brands use TV stars to connect with masses

    By Rajiv Singh

     

    Now, Malhotras can raise a toast. After gulping down countless cups of tea during umpteen meetings over the last few months, this middle class family in North West Delhi has finally found a ‘perfect’ match for their son. Rashmi, their prospective daughter-in-law, is not only beautiful but also has a pet name ‘Toasty’ – something that instantly clicked with the Malhotras.

     

    Reason: The other Toasty they know is a lovable daughter-in-law, played by Aishwarya Sakhuja in Sony’s TV fiction Saas Bina Sasural, who keeps her family together. “I am sure Rashmi has similar qualities like Toasty,” said an elated Mrs Malhotra.

     

    Malhotras are not alone in getting influenced by serial characters. There are thousands of such people across the country. And several marketers are now waking up to the potential of small screen stars as brand endorsers.

     

    Over the last six months, a slew of brands including Cadbury, Emami, Hyundai, Maruti, Dulux, Red Label and Lux has roped in popular TV celebrities such as Sakhuja and Hussain Kuwajerwala who can connect well with people at a fraction of cost of hiring a popular Bollywood actor.

     

    “It’s a great strategic move by brands. The TV characters have a strong resonance with the viewers, especially the middle class that relates to the values shown in the serials,” said Prathap Suthan, an advertising industry veteran who created the government’s ‘India Shining’ and ‘Incredible India’ campaigns and is now the chief creative officer of iYogi, an online technical support services provider.

     

    Saurabh Uboweja, director of brand consulting firm Brands of Desire, said that by casting TV stars with successful running soaps, advertisers can have the dual advantage of both role and star endorsement for a sensible signing amount: “They get two candies for the price of one.”

     

    MONEY MATTERS

    While TV celebrities do have their own large fan following, their relatively lower endorsement fee is a huge plus for several companies in the present tough business environment where subdued consumer sentiments and rising costs have hit sales of several products.

     

    One such company is Maruti Suzuki, the country’s largest carmaker that has had a tough last year and expects its sales to fall 11 per cent in the year ending March.

    “In the current cost-cutting environment, it makes more sense to hire TV stars,” said Shashank Srivastava, Maruti Suzuki Chief General Manager (Marketing). The carmaker roped in TV celebrity Anita Hassanandini this month to feature in its Swift Dzire commercial. Last December, it signed Kavita Kaushik and Rajesh Kumar from SAB TV to endorse its multi-purpose vehicle, Eeco.

     

    “Selling a car is not like selling a Bournvita,” said Mr Srivastava. “So, there’s no point in shelling out fortune in having big Bollywood celebrities.” Big celebrities have not really worked for Maruti. Father-son duo of Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan could not boost its Versa sales in 2000-2001. Maruti has also had actor-director Farhan Akhtar and actor R Madhavan to endorse A-Star and Wagon R, respectively, but with limited success.

     

    CLOSER TO LIFE

    Marketers also say it’s easier for people to relate to TV celebrities than big screen stars. “While a Bollywood celebrity projects an image which is aspirational and larger than life, TV celebrities relate closer to the real life of the viewers and are hence becoming extremely popular,” said Krishna Mohan, CEO of FMCG firm Emami, which signed Suhana of Star Plus’ serial Sasuraal Genda Phool aka Ragini Khanna in November last to endorse its moisturiser Vasocare.

     

    Unlike film stars, small screen celebrities are identified with the characters they portray in popular long-run serials. So people relate them to the values their characters hold, like a committed housewife, an ideal husband, a perfect daughter… ¦ It helps brands project a distinct identity by endorsing them.

     

    Late last year, paints brand Dulux rolled out a media innovation by tying up with three popular television serials to create vignettes that resonate with their thematic campaign, ‘Apne Rang Chalakne Do’. AkzoNobel’s brand showed the lead pairs from Star TV soaps Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon, and Sony’s Saas Bina Sasural in its commercial.

     

    “Since daily soaps are a big draw in India and the consumer follows their journey closely, the protagonists of the daily shows had the appeal that was needed to propel the idea,” said Pushkar Jain, marketing manager for Dulux at AkzoNobel India.

     

    However, there’s a flip side of using TV celebrities as well, said Mr Uboweja: “Brands want to capture these stars and their soaps when they are running hot. But the shelf life for both is fairly short”. “This ad strategy is a bit like instant noodles, good enough to fill the stomach but not enough to satiate the appetite,” he added.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • The 10 millionth vehicle, a Red Swift Vxi, was dispatched toCoimbatoreon Thursday morning from the Company's Manesar plant

    Maruti Suzuki attains 10 mn domestic sales mark

    By A Correspondent

     

    Maruti Suzuki India Limited crossed the 10 million cumulative domestic sales mark here on Thursday. It is the only automobile company inIndiato cross this milestone. The company, which had rolled out its first car in December 1983, attained 5 million domestic sales in February 2006. The next 5 million domestic sales have been achieved in six years.

     

    The 10 millionth vehicle, a Red Swift Vxi, was dispatched toCoimbatoreon Thursday morning from the Company’s Manesar plant.

     

    While Maruti 800 and Omni powered sales for almost two decades, the Alto has beenIndia’s best-selling car for the last over seven years. In recent years, the success of WagonR and Swift, among others, has accelerated the company’s progress towards the 10 million mark.

     

    Dedicating this milestone to customers, Shinzo Nakanishi, Managing Director and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, said: “Maruti Suzuki’s success story is closely linked with the success story ofIndiain the last two decades. Even asIndiahas grown and transformed, Maruti Suzuki has evolved to meet changing demands. We will continue to drive the growth and evolution ofIndia’s car market. I thank employees, dealers and suppliers for their support and commitment.”

     

    To mark the occasion, Maruti Suzuki has unveiled a celebration edition of its SX4 sedan. The exclusive special White SX4 carries the celebration dome decal and body graphics.

     

  • Maruti Suzuki has trained over 10 lakh people in safe driving in the last decade in its ‘National Road Safety Mission’ which attains the 500,000 mark, and the company targets to double Maruti Driving Schools in next three years.

    500,000 milestone for Maruti Suzuki’s safety mission

    By A Correspondent

    Car Market Leader Maruti Suzuki’s flagship road safety initiative on promoting safe driving, ’National Road Safety Mission’, has attained the milestone of 500,000 trainees.

    Under the programme launched in December 2008, the company has successfully trained over 500,000 people so far. Out of these 500,000 trainees, over, 147,000 are from economically challenged sections, who are beneficiaries of this special programme. They were sponsored by Maruti Suzuki and many of them are meaningfully engaged today.

    In addition, the Company has successfully expanded its training infrastructure in the form of 6 operational Institutes of Driving and Traffic Research and over 192 Maruti Driving Schools thriving across the country. With this special infrastructure in place, the Company has in a small way institutionalized driving training in the country and brought in international best practices to the Country.

    On the occasion, Mayank Pareek, Managing Executive Office, Marketing & Sales, said, “The milestone of training 500,000 people in safe driving, is only a humble beginning, compared to the scale of the issue. The scale can be gauged from the latest report compiled by International Road Federation, which states that India loses close to about Rs 100,000 Crore every year in road accidents. In terms of fatalities, around 160,000 lives are lost annually in road accidents. As the automobile sector continues to grow, there is a need to bring in high quality training institutes, which help institutionalize high `quality training’ on road safety. This requires a 360-degree approach and involvement of several bodies. We hope to be the catalyst for other organizations to join the road safety efforts.”

    Added Mr Pareek, “I take this opportunity to thank our dealer partners, who have partnered with us in setting up state-of-the art driving training infrastructure in the country. With their support, we are successfully running over 192 driving schools in the country. Various State governments have joined hands with us in setting up IDTRs and institutionalizing driving training in the country. Going forward, we look forward to support and guidance of several other state governments to strengthen this initiative of national importance.”

    Announcing the road map ahead, Mr Pareek added, “So far we have trained over 10 lakh people through our existing network of 6 IDTRs and 192 Maruti Driving Schools. We now target to double the network of Maruti Driving Schools to 400 in the next 2 to 3 years. This will help us train more people by spreading high quality structured driving training in the country.”

    To strengthen its road safety initiatives , the Company recently, added another interesting format in the form of `Road Safety Knowledge Centre’, in partnership with the Gurgaon police. This new platform targets to enhance traffic education and inculcate safe driving habits for commuters of Gurgaon. In addition to existing driving training modules, the centre has been equipped to offer specialized training to traffic violators.