WolffOlins to steer the creative wheel of Hero Group

Hero Group assigns Wolff Olins to create a new brand identity after their split from Honda. Hero Group ranks amongst the Top 10 Indian Business Houses. Tracing back to 1956, The Group today comprises of 20 companies, 300 ancillary suppliers, over 5,000 outlets, and has employee strength of more than 23,000.

Manev Mianwal, Head of Strategy, Wolff Olins, Dubai confirms the reports. Mainwal will be the lead strategist for the project. Commenting on the project Mianwal, says, "The brief is to re-energise and revitalize Hero Honda. We will be working on the new brand in its totality, covering brand architecture, name, mark and overall positioning."

According to Mianwal brands are an integral part of the ecosystem they exist in. The philosophy of a brand is it needs to embrace and in turn influence the local canvas and culture. He says, "India has metamorphosed in the recent past, accentuating its role on the world stage. Hero Honda is an Indian icon and will continue to be the flag-bearer of the spirit of this new India."

The sweet spot for the new Hero Honda brand will lie at a three way juncture which will depend on what is great about the company, what the customers want and what is missing in the world. Mainwal states that the new brand will merge the inherent strengths of Hero Honda, dialing these up to fill the existing and estimated cracks in the market and in doing so delivering the business aspiration.

Wolff Olins is a brand business. From London, New York and Dubai, they work strategically with ambitious organisations worldwide and have been part of the Omnicom Group since 2001. Some of their recent associations have been Tata Docomo, Airtel, Tata Group, Unilever and PwC, as well as many other companies across the world.

In addition, Mianwal expresses, "India is a strategic priority for us and for Omnicom as a whole. We look forward to working with companies in India, taking the business to international markets while consolidating at home. Our 46 years of experience working with global brands across the world gives us the solid platform to be their partner of choice" | By Vanessa Azavedo [vanessa(at)adgully.com]