[drive on]

This is a unique thread indeed. While thinking of core value, it needs to be looked at from two perspective i.e. the consumer and the brand. The consumer perspective of core value of a brand develops over a period of time by product/service interaction, word of mouthing media consumption where as for the brand owner the core value shifts/evolves based on market trends and consumer needs.

The consumers too respond to the current market trends and their perception of brand shifts where as brand owners will think of their ‘Emotional Positioning Platform’ and keep changing/tweaking it from time to time.

There are so many examples we can see around:

- Tata’s brand /core value was never about - safety, technology and style whereas these are today.
- Honda, once talked about value, premiumness and quality does not have a clear positioning today in consumer’s mind.
- Toyota few years back was all about quality, safety and reliability talked in a very grey tone whereas today they are talking premiumness, quality and reliability still stays, technology has been added as a value and the tone has become very youthful.
- Mahindra- from raw, utilitarian and rugged has evolved into style, ruggedness, adventure and technology as their defining core/brand value.

The brand in todays time have to be dynamic and can’t afford to be static more so with confluence of technology and various product spaces merging and evolving into new ones.

[tanbeamer]

Originally Posted by GTO

Tata = Trust. To most Indians, buying any product or service from the Tata Group means you can't go wrong. The Tata Group enjoys phenomenal brand equity in the market. However, one part of the Tata Group i.e. the passenger car division hasn't exactly lived up to that. The 1st-gen Indicas & Indigos destroyed Tata Motor's brand name due to their poor reliability & durability. Many spent over a million bucks on the old Safari, only to bring home an SUV plagued with problems (just ask TSK1979).

Net result: Today, Tata is building competent cars, but other than the Tiago (early days yet), all have bombed. Even the competent Bolt & Zest are poor performers (Bolt sales have settled in the triple digits). Once you lose the customer's trust, it's nearly impossible to get it back.

This has aged well. Feels good to see that Tata has turned the tables. Save for the Harrier and Safari (which still do a combined five thousand odd units), the rest of the line-up has been a blockbuster for them. Tigor, Tiago, Punch and Nexon have been strong successes.

Hoping for Tata to continue their journey towards the top