Question

In 5-7 paragraph please prepare a Communication Plan for Honda Motor Company?

Answer 1

Formed an ad agency with a group to develop a comprehensive marketing plan for fuel cell concept vehicle for the client, Honda Motor Company. The project given by Honda was to develop a comprehensive integrated marketing communications plan for the upcoming release of their concept vehicle. Honda allocated the group a very small budget asking for an online and social media based plan. The objective is to effectively move consumers through the consumer purchase funnel and ultimately get 1,000 qualified customers on the wait list for the vehicle's release.
Honda produces and sells automobiles, motorcycles, agricultural equipment, snow throwers, outboard engines and other products globally. They excel at making "products that exceed customers' expectations" and to do so, it is essential to develop products that foresee customer needs and to build a global supply chain that provides them quickly.

"We develop our products globally with the aim of meeting varying local needs," says Mr. Mikiya Fujita of Honda.

However, Honda was having issues establishing smooth collaboration with suppliers spread around the globe. When developing a new product, Honda's product development team would first draw up a new mechanism, for example, and then the design would be passed on to suppliers. The suppliers would produce a prototype for mass production in 3D CAD and return it to Honda. Throughout parts testing and production, these large data files had to be sent back and forth.

There are supposedly between 20,000 to 30,000 parts in a car. Each part requires this kind of back and forth of data, and conventional exchange methods vary from region to region. A data transfer service was used in Japan and Thailand, but other regions used other media, mailing paper copies, and other methods.

"Mail could take up to a few weeks to be delivered, and it was affecting the speed of product development," says Mr. Fujita.

This difficulty in sharing data across regions was causing issues in the flexible selection of suppliers for their global network to ensure stable supply lines.

"At the time of the earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan and the flood in Thailand, both in 2011, many suppliers were unable to operate, which had a huge impact on our production. We not only need to procure parts at optimum cost and speed during normal business operations, but in times of natural disasters as well, we need a global network of suppliers we can work closely with," says Mr. Fujita.