thrlls
05-05-2006, 06:17 PM
Got this off of the Dealers Edge report. I wonder what performance will be like in a year or two?
BMW ads target a different "class" of buyers
BMW Vice-President of Marketing Jack Pitney was distressed to find that BMW's own research shows that despite record sales in the U.S. last year, a shocking 75% of luxury buyers aren't even considering a BMW, according to a special report in Business Week.
The problem is that for too long BMW has overemphasized the brand as the paragon of performance driving. BMW was indelibly etched in performance-car enthusiasts' psyches as "The Ultimate Driving Machine" in ads for 33 years. All that will change with a new ad campaign. Rather than horsepower and handling, it's featuring its design prowess and financial independence.
In one ad, for example, it asserts that BMW's designers and engineers answer only to BMW, while reminding readers that Volvo and Jaguar are owned by Ford, that Audi is but a unit of Volkswagen, and that its nemesis, Mercedes-Benz, is all merged up with Chrysler.
In another ad, BMW spotlights the rear end of its 7 Series flagship sedan, the very design element that was lampooned by journalists in 2001 when the car debuted. But since then, Toyota and even Mercedes have copied the styling. The headline: "Not taking risks is risky." With pitches like these, the Bavarian carmaker hopes to curry favor with the "creative class" in America that, the theory goes, values independent thinking and design and the kind of risk taking that watered-down, conglomerated companies can't afford.
The targeting of the creative class is an idea inspired by Richard Florida, a Carnegie-Mellon University professor who has written three books on this "class" of people, who include scientists, engineers, architects, educators, writers, artists, and entertainers. Their economic function is to create new ideas, new technology, and new creative content. Members of this group, which is about 38 million strong, share common characteristics, where the company feels it can reach the creative-class cognoscenti.
BMW ads target a different "class" of buyers
BMW Vice-President of Marketing Jack Pitney was distressed to find that BMW's own research shows that despite record sales in the U.S. last year, a shocking 75% of luxury buyers aren't even considering a BMW, according to a special report in Business Week.
The problem is that for too long BMW has overemphasized the brand as the paragon of performance driving. BMW was indelibly etched in performance-car enthusiasts' psyches as "The Ultimate Driving Machine" in ads for 33 years. All that will change with a new ad campaign. Rather than horsepower and handling, it's featuring its design prowess and financial independence.
In one ad, for example, it asserts that BMW's designers and engineers answer only to BMW, while reminding readers that Volvo and Jaguar are owned by Ford, that Audi is but a unit of Volkswagen, and that its nemesis, Mercedes-Benz, is all merged up with Chrysler.
In another ad, BMW spotlights the rear end of its 7 Series flagship sedan, the very design element that was lampooned by journalists in 2001 when the car debuted. But since then, Toyota and even Mercedes have copied the styling. The headline: "Not taking risks is risky." With pitches like these, the Bavarian carmaker hopes to curry favor with the "creative class" in America that, the theory goes, values independent thinking and design and the kind of risk taking that watered-down, conglomerated companies can't afford.
The targeting of the creative class is an idea inspired by Richard Florida, a Carnegie-Mellon University professor who has written three books on this "class" of people, who include scientists, engineers, architects, educators, writers, artists, and entertainers. Their economic function is to create new ideas, new technology, and new creative content. Members of this group, which is about 38 million strong, share common characteristics, where the company feels it can reach the creative-class cognoscenti.