What is the brand strategy being used by the top dog? What is the brand strategy being used by the underdog?
I chose to go with Toyota vs Honda for my top dog vs underdog. I love cars and this was the obvious choice for me. For this battle Toyota is the top dog. Their main focus is on reliability and safety. This is evident through all of their ad campaigns and the perception the general public has on these vehicles. Honda drives their strategy towards more creating products they make consumers lives better all while innovating in technologies to try and overcome top dog Toyota.
How can the underdog improve its strategy so that it can gain more market share and surpass the top dog? Provide three recommendations.
The underdog needs to improve its strategy by trying to directly insert its self into that market. They can find some sort of statistic that will break the public’s opinion of Toyota’s reliability. For example they can see how many civics are on the road today compared to corolla from 10 years ago. They could also go after their competitors gas mileage and compare the two brands by model. Lastly, they could do a blind test inside a vehicle to see which people prefer. From my experience its way nicer inside a Honda than a Toyota.
Why do you believe consumers prefer the top dog over the underdog? Which do you prefer, and why?
I think its simple when it comes to this. The public wants reliability when they are shopping for a vehicle in the segment that these companies play in. Everyone has a perception of Toyota lasting a long time and being low maintenance. I personally don’t go with the top dog. I prefer Honda simply because they have very similar gas mileage, similar price, similar options on cars and have just as good reliability in my opinion.
References:
Toyota Motor Corporation. (2020). Design. Retrieved February 16, 2020, from https://global.toyota/en/mobility/toyota-brand/toyota-design/
American Honda Motor Co. (2020). About Us: Honda Services & Quality Cars | Honda. Retrieved February 16, 2020, from https://www.honda.com/about
Hayden's Blog 