Kevin Harrington // marketing // blog

Yamaha West London

It’s funny when you spot a brand. We all tend to make assumptions based on our experiences.

When I saw Yamaha West London I immediately thought it was a keyboard or guitar shop. I then wondered why there was an MOT sign on the front of the building. It turned out it was a motorbike retailer.

Full marks to Yamaha for the consistent presentation of their brand.

How many consumer brands have product ranges as diverse as guitars and motorbikes? Loads when you start thinking about it: Hitachi (nuclear power stations to clock radios); GE; Sony. I think the difference with Yamaha is that they hold such strong brand positions with consumers in vastly different sectors.

BTW … West London Yamaha can be found at 138 Twickenham Road, Hanworth, Middlesex, TW13 6HD. www.westlondonyamaha.co.uk

We make all sorts of assumptions about communication media for different age groups. Recent examples that help me keep a broad focus:

1. Charlie, my 6 year old son, not only now uses Outlook for his personal email account he is also sending me messsages with images embedded. The one on the left arrived the other day.

2. My mother, who has enjoyed free bus travel for some while now (to people outside of the UK: that means she is over 65), sends me texts littered with text speak. You know the type of thing, cu l8r and similar abbreviations.

3. I actually found someone in their late teens that doesn’t use Facebook/Twitter/MySpace. I am sure he is not alone.

The lesson to me was useful: don’t make assumptions. I’m sure I’ll need reminding of this again very soon!