Apollo gives more details on its brand strategy

By David Shaw, ERJ staff report

Essen, Germany -- Apollo expects to have European fitments on its Apollo brand tyres in Europe in the next three to four years, and is aiming to be a top-10 tyre maker with $5 billion in sales by 2015.

Marc Luyten, Chief Marketing Officer, Apollo Tyres Ltd told ERJ that the group already has good relations with European car makes, such as BMW and Volkswagen Group through historical links with Vredestein in Europe and also through existing OE contracts with Apollo in India and in VW's case, South Africa. "We are not starting from scratch," he said.

Luyten said Apollo group can build on its existing technical and commercial links with these companies to bid for OE contracts in Europe and expected that such efforts will result in contracts to supply OE contracts in Europe for models launched in three to four years' time.

In India, he noted, the Apollo brand is a positive benefit to BMW and other brands in India, where Apollo is a respected market leader but that is not yet the case in Europe. In the coming three years, Apollo expects to invest in a major promotional campaign to make the European consumers aware of the Apollo name. This, he said, will ensure that Apollo branded tyres will add to the image of its OE partners.

He said consumers need to be aware of the brand and to have a positive association with it, but they do not need to recall the name unprompted. He noted that the dealers make a large part of the buying decision, so Apollo will aim to offer dealers a good margin on the Apollo products, in order to persuade them to sell the tyres to the consumer.

Luyten said the Apollo marketing campaign will involve sports sponsorship. He said it was unlikely to be a sport where tyres are an existing sponsor and specifically excluded soccer and motorsport -- but declined to give any further hint.

Globally, Apollo will be the brand for original equipment and for the full range of products. Those will, eventually, include agricultural and off-road products, industrial products as well as car and truck tyres.

Vredestein will continue to be a replacement-only car brand. In Europe, the brand will maintain its existing positioning, but in the rest of the world, Vredestein will be positioned as a premium, specialised brand, focussing on winter applications and high performance, with a minimum speed rating of V (240 km/h) in all parts of the world outside Europe.

Apollo Group will also bring other brands into Europe in the coming years, such as Kaizen and Regal, though plans for these brands are less advanced at present.