Branding a $14 Billion Secret

"Brand equity is based on the quality of product or service combined with intangibles such as user imagery, usage imagery, brand feeling and personality and the customer relationship," said Karen Galas, senior manager at DENSO Sales California. "The last component is becoming the greatest factor as e-commerce increases and brand relationships evolve from one-way mass communications to two-way personal communications. Strong brands share attributes that can be used to measure brand equity, the greatest asset a company owns."

Galas focused her presentation on how DENSO, a 50-year-old company that has followed the traditional Japanese business philosophy to serve the OE, anonymously, is now faced with the challenge of creating brand identity and equity. DENSO, formerly ND Denso, has annual sales in excess of $14.5 billion, right behind Delphi, Visteon and Bosch, except DENSO is virtually unknown.

Using a brand equity rating system, Galas evaluated several DENSO Robotics advertising campaigns for their strength. One of the most interesting conclusions Galas demonstrated is to remember who you are trying to reach. The ad campaigns that appeal to advertising directors and communications specialists are not always the same campaigns that appeal to mechanics or buyers of aftermarket parts.

Galas illustrated this by detailing the challenges DENSO faced in re-establishing the DENSO brand of spark plugs. Their final, and most successful, tack was aligning DENSO with trusted names like NASCAR's Ken Schrader and Snap-on Tools. Through these strategic alliances, DENSO clarified the company name, reinforcing its OE position and building a new aftermarket organization to support the introduction of DENSO products.

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