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Text & Photos: Sunil Gupta/sunilg
Yamaha Motor India Sales today unveiled Yamaha Children Safety Program (YCSP). Under YCSP, a team of trained individuals from Yamaha will visit schools to school in various parts of the country to educate kids and their parents about road safety and about becoming a better and informed road user. The YCSP team members were trained in Japan and will be using various methods like educative videos, pictorial sessions, and other interactive mediums to educate the children.
To promote the YCSP, Yamaha India also unveiled their mascot for this program. Yamaha is planning to build a brand connect with this mascot among the young children. This mascot has not been named & Yamaha has launched a nationwide contest where it has invited kids age between 5-20 years to suggest a name for the mascot based on some qualities that this mascot has (as per Yamaha). The winner of this contest whose suggested name is chosen for the mascot will get a scholarship worth Rs. 1 Lac.
Apart from this scholarship, there are several other prizes that can be won like Yamaha cap, friendship bands, tee shirts, yamaha leather jacket, etc. These prizes can be won by getting stamps on the contest stamp book that will be given to the kids by Yamaha. For example, they will get one stamp on their stamp card whenever they visit a Yamaha showroom. Then there's a stamp for planting a tree, etc. etc.
Yamaha also unveiled a range of 3 helmets for kids. These helmets will be available at Yamaha Dealerships across the country and will cost Rs. 1350 each.
xBhp Says :Yamaha's press conference today surrounding the launch of YCSP & the mascot certainly left a lot of people disappointed. To a large extent, this disappointment was justified as a lot of hype had been built around this launch. The spy pics of the R25 gave more fuel to the fire. And a lot of people were expecting that the R25 will be launched. The complete silence by Yamaha and the fact that they invited the top media houses from all over the country without even giving any hint about the launch made the matters worse. The atmosphere in the conference was that this is going to be a big ticket launch. However, the unveiling of a cartoon figure dancing away with kids certainly left a lot of people shocked, so much so that nobody even bothered to ask a question to top Yamaha officials during the open question answer session.
However, if you look at the big picture, it is an initiative by Yamaha that must be praised for two main reasons.
The first & foremost reason is that xBhp welcomes any initiative that aims to spread awareness about road safety. YCSP is the first of its initiative by a big corporate house that plans to EDUCATE the kids about being a responsible road user. There is a going to be a team of properly trained individuals who will be visiting various schools across the country and teaching road etiquette to kids using various interactive methods and not just the boring theory classes that our own education system offers. We might not see its visible results anytime sooner, but from a long-term perspective if we want to make India a safer place these are the kind of initiatives that must be supported.
Secondly, from a pure marketing point of view, this is again a very thoughtful campaign that will catch its potential customers at a very young age. Surely they want to "catch'em young" and why not? It is a well known fact that things that we see, hear, or use while growing up leave an ever lasting image on our hearts & minds. So if they can somehow penetrate into a 6-7 year old kid's (who probably has nothing to do with the brand or its product at this stage) list of things, then I am sure when that kids grows up and decides to buy his/her first set of motorized two-wheels, then the first brand he will think of will probably be Yamaha. A clever marketing campaign as it will bring some more footfall to their dealerships (read about their stamp program above). Again a good long-term strategy which will bear fruit many years down the line for them. Of course, it will depend on how well they are able to execute this.
On the downside, what this strategy can do is that it can dissolve their brand completely. Yamaha has always been known as a brand that people associate with speed and aggression. This entire mascot thing has already left their fans in a state of shock.
Probably if they had launched it in a not-so-loud and larger than life manner, it would've evoked a little less negative sentiments. The time can't be turned back, but we wish Yamaha all the best. Hope this YCSP will make our younger generation more aware about their responsibility while using the public roads.
Yamaha Motor India Sales today unveiled Yamaha Children Safety Program (YCSP). Under YCSP, a team of trained individuals from Yamaha will visit schools to school in various parts of the country to educate kids and their parents about road safety and about becoming a better and informed road user. The YCSP team members were trained in Japan and will be using various methods like educative videos, pictorial sessions, and other interactive mediums to educate the children.
To promote the YCSP, Yamaha India also unveiled their mascot for this program. Yamaha is planning to build a brand connect with this mascot among the young children. This mascot has not been named & Yamaha has launched a nationwide contest where it has invited kids age between 5-20 years to suggest a name for the mascot based on some qualities that this mascot has (as per Yamaha). The winner of this contest whose suggested name is chosen for the mascot will get a scholarship worth Rs. 1 Lac.
Apart from this scholarship, there are several other prizes that can be won like Yamaha cap, friendship bands, tee shirts, yamaha leather jacket, etc. These prizes can be won by getting stamps on the contest stamp book that will be given to the kids by Yamaha. For example, they will get one stamp on their stamp card whenever they visit a Yamaha showroom. Then there's a stamp for planting a tree, etc. etc.
Yamaha also unveiled a range of 3 helmets for kids. These helmets will be available at Yamaha Dealerships across the country and will cost Rs. 1350 each.
xBhp Says :Yamaha's press conference today surrounding the launch of YCSP & the mascot certainly left a lot of people disappointed. To a large extent, this disappointment was justified as a lot of hype had been built around this launch. The spy pics of the R25 gave more fuel to the fire. And a lot of people were expecting that the R25 will be launched. The complete silence by Yamaha and the fact that they invited the top media houses from all over the country without even giving any hint about the launch made the matters worse. The atmosphere in the conference was that this is going to be a big ticket launch. However, the unveiling of a cartoon figure dancing away with kids certainly left a lot of people shocked, so much so that nobody even bothered to ask a question to top Yamaha officials during the open question answer session.
However, if you look at the big picture, it is an initiative by Yamaha that must be praised for two main reasons.
The first & foremost reason is that xBhp welcomes any initiative that aims to spread awareness about road safety. YCSP is the first of its initiative by a big corporate house that plans to EDUCATE the kids about being a responsible road user. There is a going to be a team of properly trained individuals who will be visiting various schools across the country and teaching road etiquette to kids using various interactive methods and not just the boring theory classes that our own education system offers. We might not see its visible results anytime sooner, but from a long-term perspective if we want to make India a safer place these are the kind of initiatives that must be supported.
Secondly, from a pure marketing point of view, this is again a very thoughtful campaign that will catch its potential customers at a very young age. Surely they want to "catch'em young" and why not? It is a well known fact that things that we see, hear, or use while growing up leave an ever lasting image on our hearts & minds. So if they can somehow penetrate into a 6-7 year old kid's (who probably has nothing to do with the brand or its product at this stage) list of things, then I am sure when that kids grows up and decides to buy his/her first set of motorized two-wheels, then the first brand he will think of will probably be Yamaha. A clever marketing campaign as it will bring some more footfall to their dealerships (read about their stamp program above). Again a good long-term strategy which will bear fruit many years down the line for them. Of course, it will depend on how well they are able to execute this.
On the downside, what this strategy can do is that it can dissolve their brand completely. Yamaha has always been known as a brand that people associate with speed and aggression. This entire mascot thing has already left their fans in a state of shock.
Probably if they had launched it in a not-so-loud and larger than life manner, it would've evoked a little less negative sentiments. The time can't be turned back, but we wish Yamaha all the best. Hope this YCSP will make our younger generation more aware about their responsibility while using the public roads.
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Maybe the 2014 versions of their superbikes ?
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