Integrated Marketing Communications: A single voice brings energy to the Yazaki brand.
Situation:   Yazaki North America is an important supplier of automotive wire harnesses and related components to both transplant and domestic OEMs. The company has not, however, been well understood in terms of its broader focus on electronic technologies, vehicle infrastructure design and advanced in-vehicle networks. The perception of Yazaki as a “wire harness” supplier was seen as a detriment to growth and a factor encouraging commoditization of company products.
Goal:   Reposition Yazaki in a manner more consistent with company technical competencies, business goals and long-term marketing strategies.
Strategy:   Smith-Winchester launched a branding initiative positioning Yazaki as a leading provider of advanced automotive power and data solutions. The planning process identified customer-valued deliverables and corresponding client competencies, yielding the development of new positioning (Advanced Power and Data Solutions.) A new tagline (All Systems Go!) and re-crafted core brand messages, and a graphic standards guide to facilitate consistency of brand presentation. Finally, new branding elements were applied to an integrated array of marketing communications tools, including print advertising, radio and TV spots, capabilities literature, trade-show exhibits, website and electronic sales aids.
Results:  

Research conducted after 12 months showed significant increases in awareness/recognition scores among target audience members. These gains were broad based, reflecting ad recall, trade-show exposure and website visits. Showing especially strong improvement was the association of Yazaki with “Innovation Technology” and strong “Customer Service.”