( 01 )

Our Brand

Dreams have always driven Honda’s growth as a company. Each Honda employee has their own dreams and constantly challenges themselves to realize those dreams and create new value in the process. That is why Honda is a company and brand people can relate to and trust.

Our Brand describes the fundamental elements of the Honda brand and the direction we strive for. Please use it to gain a deeper understanding to ensure authentic and consistent implementation of the Honda brand.

  1. 01-1

    Brand and Branding
  2. 01-2

    Honda Brand
  3. 01-3

    Global Brand Slogan (GBS)
  4. 01-4

    GBS-based Branding Approach

01-1
Brand and Branding

What Does “Brand” Mean?

Brand refers to the intangible impression and perception that comes to mind when we hear a name or see a logo. Luxury items and fashion brands are the most obvious examples, but people, places, smell, and even sound can also spur brand recognition.

What is Branding?

Branding refers to establishing an impression or perception of the company in people’s minds. It is not the domain of just the public relations and marketing divisions. An essential form of branding that builds our brand value is the conduct of each employee in any stakeholder interaction.

01-2
Honda Brand

The beginnings of Honda

Honda’s beginnings date back to a power-assisted bicycle affectionately known as the “Bata-Bata” for the rattling sound it made. In a period of scarcity soon after the war, Honda started attaching auxiliary engines to bicycles to create an affordable and convenient means of transportation for the general public. This innovative product took shape from the thoughts and ideas of Soichiro Honda to help people through technology.

What Shapes the Honda Brand?

The Honda brand today is shaped by the impressions and perceptions that people have of Honda as a whole, from our extensive history to the actions we seek to undertake and products and services we seek to provide in the future.
We now have diverse operations worldwide and a broad customer base, but our long history of taking on challenges has made Honda widely recognized as a single, strong brand.

Honda Philosophy

'The Power of Dreams' drives not only Honda employees but also our customers and society at large. 'Move' encompasses both the physical and the emotional, moving both objects and hearts. 'CREATE' refers to Honda's creativity, as we (Honda) utilize our creative abilities to turn dreams into reality. 'TRANSCEND' means to liberate people from the constraints of time and space, making the previously impossible possible. 'AUGMENT' is about expanding all human potential, including physical abilities and capacities. Together, TRANSCEND and AUGMENT define the value that Honda offers.

The Honda Philosophy, which underlies all of our activities, is based on the wisdom of our predecessors acquired throughout the history of the company. It can be turned to in many different situations, and it forms the foundation of thought and activity at Honda.

01-3
Global Brand Slogan (GBS)

Honda has always been driven by dreams to create new mobility. In 2001, we established “The Power of Dreams” as our Global Brand Slogan (GBS) to communicate, inside and outside the company, our firm commitment to realizing the essential value of our brand. With our underlying Honda Philosophy, each of us continues to take on new challenges while being driven by dreams. As we pursue this essential value, we will exceed customer expectations and deliver value through products, services, and communications that are ahead of the times. In this way, we have created a strong loop of relatability and expectations with people around the world, leading to the next dreams for us at Honda and motivation that springs from within.“The Power of Dreams” depicts this circular flow.

Business Environment Surrounding Honda

With the mobility industry undergoing an enormous transformation, Honda also is in its “second founding.” In such uncertain times as these, if we stuck to the same way of doing things going forward, Honda’s uniqueness would dissipate, and we would gradually lose relatability and expectations of people.

Business Environment Surrounding Honda

Redefinition of the GBS

With this in mind, and to continue to be a company society wants to exist, we redefined the Global Brand Slogan in 2023. This is because right now, as the industry undergoes a major change, we again need to demonstrate, to ourselves and to the world, who we are and, driven by our dreams, what essential value we want to provide.

With the redefinition of the GBS, we added the tagline “How we move you.” to incorporate our desire to continue as the driving force moving people and society forward through the dream of mobility, and we also revised our explanatory text.The word “move” has two meanings; not only to physically move a person as a mobility company, but to move the hearts of people as well through the value we provide.We also included the words “Transcend” and “Augment” below the tagline as the essential value that we wish to provide, and the word “Create” to demonstrate our strong commitment to creating that value.

Redefinition of the GBS

Thoughts Behind GBS

'The Power of Dreams' drives not only Honda employees but also our customers and society at large. 'Move' encompasses both the physical and the emotional, moving both objects and hearts. 'CREATE' refers to Honda's creativity, as we (Honda) utilize our creative abilities to turn dreams into reality. 'TRANSCEND' means to liberate people from the constraints of time and space, making the previously impossible possible. 'AUGMENT' is about expanding all human potential, including physical abilities and capacities. Together, TRANSCEND and AUGMENT define the value that Honda offers.

GBS Explanatory Text

The explanatory text for the GBS again emphasizes that the dreams of each and every one of us, as individuals and as the motivation that springs from within, are the driving force and the origins of Honda.
The dreams of every Honda associate are the source that leads us to “create,” while also showing us the way to “transcend” and “augment” as embodiments of the essential value that we provide to people and society.

The notes explain that Honda is a company of associates that all have different kinds of dreams and have continuously taken on new challenges to realize them.They explain what kind of worldview Honda holds for the future, and what kind of value Honda brings to the table.They also explain how the intrinsic motivations of individuals lead to realization of the dreams of people and society as a whole.They further explain that the aim of “How we move you.” as a tagline to “The Power of Dreams” is to achieve mutual self-fulfillment through a circular flow back to Honda as a member of that society.Finally, the notes explain Honda’s vision and the promise we make to society through the dream of mobility.

01-4
GBS-based Branding Approach

What is the Brand Playbook?

The Brand Playbook is a tool to facilitate consistent branding based on the Global Brand Slogan (GBS). We aim to create a Honda brand that people can deeply relate to by using our Brand Personality and Outreach Principles specified based on the GBS explanatory text.

Honda Brand Personality

We established the Honda Brand Personality as a projection of the various elements in our Global Brand Slogan and to facilitate consistent branding based on the Global Brand Slogan.
This Brand Personality summarizes the qualities that people think of when they hear the word “Honda.” Focusing on Brand Personality, in determining and practicing the direction of our behavior and outreach, shapes trust and recognition of the unique Honda brand.

Honda Brand Personality

Background to the Brand Personality Formulation

We formulated the Brand Personality by extracting elements associated with personality from the Global Brand Slogan explanatory text. Keeping these elements (Personality/Characteristics) in mind, we set about documenting how a person with that personality would act (Action/Implementation) and what other people would think of them (Perception).

Background to the Brand Personality Formulation

Outreach Principles

We established the outreach principles, based on the Brand Personality, to support specific outcomes from our outreach activities.

In the same way that one person could behave differently according to the situation, we delved further into how the personality would speak or act, or what impression it would have on others, in a range of situations. As a result, we were able to specify three elements that our outcomes should include.

Our aim is to bring valuable consistency to Honda’s planning, choice of words, and choice of imagery by considering outreach directions, with these three elements in mind, in various situations.

We have also included some tools for improving the effect of each element of these principles in the Creative Inspiration section of the Brand Playbook. Please use them as needed.

HONDA Outreach Principles. straightforward：Honda’s straightforward words and actions convey sincerity and trustworthiness / enthusiastic：Honda’s passion and dedication to stand up for our own thoughts and beliefs touch people’s hearts / uplifting：Honda’s fresh perspectives are uplifting and inspiring

*Please refer to “Creative Inspiration” for specifics on concept generation and production techniques based on Outreach Principles.

See Creative Inspiration