What’s in a name? A lot if it is a brand name with a

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Bajaj in it. After all, ‘Hamara Bajaj’ became a household catch phrase for nothing. Entire generations grew up in the 60s, 70s and 80s dreaming of owning a Bajaj scooter. The scooters have long ceased to come out of Bajaj Auto’s (BAL) assembly lines, but Rahul Bajaj, chairman of Bajaj Auto, still wants the company to continue with the `Bajaj’ brand name.

But the company management led by his son, Rajiv Bajaj, is going ahead with its plan to focus on individual brand-centred marketing activities and do away with the ‘Bajaj’ name for the motorcycles that the company manufactures today.

On Tuesday, Rahul Bajaj told Financial Chronicle that the Bajaj brand name would continue to be there on the motorcycles sold by Bajaj Auto. “Bajaj is like a mother brand name for all the products sold by the company. The company may adopt a brand-centred strategy, but the Bajaj brand name will continue to be there,” he said.

In the chairman’s letter in BAL’s annual report for 2009-10, Rahul Bajaj said: “Your managing director (Rajiv Bajaj) often says that while products may generate market share, brands provide pricing power and create higher profits. I am increasingly tending to agree with him.”

“I believe that 2009-10 saw a near-perfect alignment between the power of the brands – the front-end – and production efficiency, quality, costs and logistics, or the back-end. I agree with the managing director and his team that it is this alignment, which has resulted in your company growing faster than the market and earning the highest profit rate in the industry,” he further said in the annual report.

But there is no denying the fact that the ‘Bajaj’ name as part of product branding is still a contentious issue. On May 5 this year, Rajiv Bajaj had said, “Today the product portfolio is more like a zoo where you have an elephant in the form of Pulsar and a small animal in the form of a Discover. All in all, Bajaj is like a zoo that unfortunately has no pedigree."

The junior Bajaj had also highlighted the fact that in earlier times, even if one made a three-wheeler stand along with two-wheelers, it looked more like from one family but not any more. Hence, there is a need to highlight the sub-brands to make the perception clear in the minds of the consumer of what to expect.

“Products like the Pulsar, Boxer, Discover have become brands by themselves, as a result of which the Bajaj brand has become more like a garage,” he had said.

On the company’s plans to drop the ‘Bajaj’ name from the brand, the junior Bajaj had said, “We are not in anyway suggesting that we are dissociating from the main Bajaj, but the implementation (for downplaying the brand) is underway for some time."

“We have realised that the Bajaj brand has become diluted over the years and now the accent will be on products like Pulsar, Discover and Boxer which have caught the imagination of customers,” a senior Bajaj Auto official said, requesting anonymity. A major marketing strategy was being evolved to highlight the products rather than the family name.

R Sridhar, BAL’s CEO – two-wheelers, told Financial Chronicle, “Bajaj is an endorsement brand, it will be displayed on the motorcycles, but not on prominent places like petrol tanks or the back of two-wheelers. It will be there in places like the engine cover. The company adopted this strategy last year and is now marketing and selling motorcycles under the brand names Pulsar and Discover and not Bajaj Pulsar or Bajaj Discover.”

Bajaj Auto has positioned its motorcycle brands in the utility, price, value and sports categories. The basic proposition is that while products may generate market share, it is brands that provide pricing power and create higher profits.

“This move is aimed to take on rival brands like Splendor & Passion from Hero Honda, Unicorn, Shine & Dazzler from Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, among others,” Sridhar said.

The CEO further said that depending on customer acceptance and the company’s comfort, the ‘Bajaj’ name will also be removed from the two-wheelers. “Then only the Discover and Pulsar brand names will remain on the motorcycles. From when we will start doing this is not yet decided,” said Sridhar.

By going by patriarch Rahul Bajaj’s stance, the once-popular jingle that ended with the line “Buland Bharat ki, Buland tasveer…Hamara Bajaj! Hamara Bajaj!” may enjoy a slightly longer shelf life.

(With inputs from Michael Gonsalves)