Plenty of 'zoom' left in Mazda catchphrase

Stephen Odell of Mazda says the car company had to ask whether the world needed Mazda. Picture / Dean Purcell

What happens after "Zoom Zoom"?

It's a question a lot of grown-ups ask Mazda Corporation marketing guru Stephen Odell.

"You only ask that if you assume Zoom Zoom is just a communications strategy," said the English-born senior executive and Mazda board member during his first visit to New Zealand this week.

"Zoom Zoom" is Mazda's global catchphrase, and Mazda's engineers believe they invented it. "They are building cars that are 'zoom zoom'. I think there are a lot of legs left in it around the world."

Odell zoomed in and out of the country for a business review with Mazda's New Zealand management team. At the end of this month he will become chairman of Ford Britain with a big say in Ford Europe. But he will not be leaving this car family. Ford owns 33 per cent of Mazda.

Mazda has 6 per cent of the new car market in New Zealand, and a 2.5 per cent global market share, he said.

So what is so special about Mazda? "That was the question they asked themselves seven years ago when they were in trouble. The question was, does the world need Mazda? At the time it was difficult to answer, but it's now becoming clearer that the world likes Japanese cars for the perception, and reality, of quality. It likes cars that are unique, highly styled, and we have a bias towards sports cars. In the RX8 and the new MX5 coming up, we make real fun cars to drive. I don't think you can get out of an MX5 without a smile."

Mazda means "god of life" in Japanese. The name has been around since 1930, derived from the company's founder, Matsuda Jujiro.

This financial year the company lifted its operating profit for the fifth year in a row to US$772.5 million ($1 billion), up 18 per cent on 2004. Net income rose 35 per cent to US$594.6 million ($838.4 million).

But 10 years ago Mazda was a confused brand, Odell said.

"We were looking over the fence at Honda and Toyota and wanting to be like them. We got into financial trouble because we forgot who we were. Mazda has recovered, or at least is in recovery, because we remembered we were supposed to be a Japanese car company, but with a bit of a twinkle in the eye.

"We've got the only rotary engine in the world, we reinvented the British roadster and we do things a little uniquely."

New Zealand is an interesting market because of the high number of imported used cars: 160,000 a year compared to 100,000 imported new cars, Odell said. But Kiwi buyers were coming back to new cars, and despite having to compete with the love affair with European cars and our antipodean bent for Holden and Ford, Mazda was annually growing its niche market spot, he said.

Odell thinks advertisements are a very small part of communication.

"I believe there's a lot in grassroots communication through the dealers. The value of the dealer is being part of the local community."

Much of Mazda's advertising here comes in from the company's international agencies, JWT in Europe, Doner in the US and Hakuhodo in Japan. But the creative theme is global, and it's Zoom Zoom.

Mazda's market was "psychographic" rather than demographic, he said. "We haven't targeted an age span, we have targeted a mind-set." The Kiwi Mazda customer was young family, baby boomers who rewards themselves with a value-for-money sports car, and a generous proportion of women, Odell said.

Next up for Mazda in New Zealand is the launch of the new MX5 in September. A new pickup truck and an SUV are coming up.

"We've accelerated the number of products coming through in the next five years. [If you] take our foot off the accelerator ... you die."