Bearing the stamp of luxury

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: of brands considered to be the ultimate in luxury. The road to success hasn’t been easy, but the company is known not to give up. Explains a senior automobile analyst with a national-level advertising agency, “The acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover completes the picture for Tata Motors. It is now a holistic automobile company.” Says Gangadharan Menon, creative director at the Mumbai-based Octane Communications: “In one stroke it has pushed the company into a different league altogether. The acquisition in a sense has helped the company shake off the tag of being an indigenous manufacturer. It now controls brands that are not only great to have, but are also technologically superior.”

No doubt Tata Motors’ brand equity has been lifted a few notches with the acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover, but as the dust settles, the question emerges: how is the company likely to manage a diverse set of brands in its portfolio? Above all, how will it manage these just-acquired luxury brands? “It won’t be easy,” says Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director, Ogilvy India & South Asia, the agency that has done the advertising for the company’s sports utility vehicles such as Tata Safari and Safari Dicor.

“The Tatas have never promoted the company, they have promoted individual brands,” he says. “They are not likely to deviate from this even as the company emerges as a force to reckon with on the global stage. The idea will be to try and keep each of the brands apart, identify their individual needs, their target audience and tailor the communication accordingly.”

But with no experience in managing luxury cars, would the company even attempt to take stock of its advertising. The answer to this can be found in the statement by Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Sons and Tata Motors, following the acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover. He said, “We will endeavour to preserve and build on the brands’ heritage keeping their identities intact.”