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Matai Medical Research Institute
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Brand Positioning
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Linkedin Personal Branding
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‘Always look for the red sticker’ — protecting Honda's reputation and giving OEM partners a genuine competitive edge.
Honda's OEM division supplies engines to New Zealand manufacturers building products from wood chippers to construction equipment. Every approved engine goes through rigorous testing before a manufacturer earns Honda partner status — but that testing, and the value behind it, was invisible to the people who mattered most.
The Challenge
Parallel-imported Honda engines were showing up in NZ-built machinery, often mismatched for local conditions and unsupported by Honda's 3-year factory warranty. Most buyers had no idea. Manufacturers using genuine, approved engines had no way to prove it.
Honda needed a way to make approval visible, valuable, and something customers would actively look for — without the technical jargon.
Campaign Delivered
A physical trust mark I designed a simple red sticker, applied to every approved engine's petrol cap, that acted as an instant guarantee: tested, matched, and backed by Honda's factory warranty. The same device extended into email signatures and a dedicated commercial landing page, turning a manufacturing standard into something customers could see and ask for.
A channel-wide rollout Approval on its own doesn't build trust — the story around it does. I developed the communications programme that carried the message to every part of the channel: EDM and in-person briefings for OEMs and dealers, trade show collateral for Fieldays, and an official certification piece for display in manufacturers' offices.
Results
Customers began asking specifically for Honda Approved products within months of launch
Distributors started selling directly off the strength of their Honda NZ Approved status at Central Field Days
Strengthened commercial relationships across Honda's NZ manufacturing network
