Table of Content

  Introduction Page  3

  General Page  3

  Survey Page  4

  Target Market Page  4

  Brand Positioning Page  5

  Tools Page  6

  Brand Elements Page  6

  Secondary Associations Page  8

  Current Marketing Program Page  8

  New Marketing Approaches Page  8

  Product Page  11

  Price Page  12

  Place Page  13

  Promotion Page  13

  Effects of Current Marketing Program Page  17

  Implementing Branding Strategies Page  19

  Brand-Product Matrix Page  19

  Brand Hierarchy Page  21

  Knowledge Structure Page  23

  Brand Awareness Page  23

  Brand Image Page  24

  Brand Outcomes Page  26

  Suggestions and Recommendations Page  28

Appendix Page  34  34

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Introduction General The brand that our group chose to assess is BMW. BMW, which stands for ‘Bayerische Motoren Werke’, is a major European manufacturer of luxury cars. The headquarters of this multinational corporation (BMW Group) is in Munich, Germany. The company has built substantial brand equity over the years through the continuous branding efforts for high quality products.

BMW is a manufacturer of luxury cars. The luxury car category includes both traditional and functional luxury cars. U.S. manufacturers like Cadillac mainly produce traditional luxury cars. These manufacturers focus on customers that want to enjoy a soft, comfortable and living room style appearance. Functional luxury cars are represented primarily by European manufacturers such as BMW and focus on customers interested in a car that provides more performance and style then a traditional luxury car. BMW focuses on providing performance via pinpoint steering and precision suspension system that ‘put the driver in touch with his surroundings’ and ‘inform the driver of the immediate environment’.

Direct competitors for BMW include luxury car manufacturers from Japan, the U.S., and other European Union countries. Globally, BMW’s biggest U.S. competitors are Ford, Cadillac, Lincoln, Buick, and Chrysler. Japanese competitors include Lexus, Honda, and Toyota. BMW competes locally (in Germany) and globally with other EU companies such as Mercedes Benz, Audi and Jaguar. BMW has a target market in each of the countries they compete in. Following section will summarize their target market in the U.S.A.

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Survey The survey was given to 30 people and was responded by 25 people. Out of these

25 people, 10 were female and 15 were male. The survey was given to people of different

age groups and different professions. The survey included questions to tools, knowledge structure and outcome of the brand BMW. The process we used to capture our results left us unable to directly correlate a segment in the responding demographics with a bias in responses. For example we can’t determine which responses came from the 25 respondents in the 26 to 35 year old age range. With that capability we could have better identified which segment of the market was responding positively or negatively to a question, and determine if negative trends (i.e. all that age range didn’t think BMW was exciting) had developed. Please find attached an outline of the survey. Target Market BMW targets affluent men and women between the ages of twenty-five and forty. Since the functional luxury market’s traditional male domination is lessening, the target market for BMW consists of both genders. Citizenship or ethnicity i s unimportant. As an exporter, BMW goal is to appeal to all people regardless of ethnicity. BMW believes the positive associations (country of origin) for their brand assist them in their export markets. The survey results indicate that the BMW message is reaching their target market. Of the survey respondents, more then two thirds recalled BMW as a luxury car, nearly all recalled BMW as a foreign car, and all respondents recognized the BMW name.

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BMW produces models targeting the singles market as well as models for families. The survey data indicates the attributes relating to associations with the singles market to be far weaker then those focused on the family market. BMW realizes that their target market’s financial status requires them to focus on a mo re educated customer, one that has completed college, and survey results confirm their success. The price segmentation BMW chooses limits its target market to individuals at higher levels of income. The market segmentation requires income levels corresponding to educated individuals and professionals. Professions of survey participants included managers and other professional’s BMW targets.

The survey also indicated respondents not targeted by BMW are interested their products. This is a result of BMW’s association as a status symbol. Our survey resulted in a score of 4.1 and 4.6 (5 maximum possible) when participants were asked to indicate agreement with the words ‘prestigious car’ and ‘status symbol’, respectively. Some of those not targeted yet interest ed in BMW could move into the target market through graduation from college or increasing levels of corporate responsibility.

Brand Positioning The BMW brand is positioned (in relation to competitors) by price. Its premium price is meant to guarantee the consumer a high level of quality engineering, which can display status or success in a visible manner for social approval. The car’s driving ability combined with its looks and advertised image distinguishes BMW from its competition. It is positioned to attract consumers interested in more than an ordinary car for their money. The survey results indicate BMW to be strongly positioned. Both quantitative and qualitative questions asking the same (or similar) questions were answered similarly. The

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survey asked the same question different ways; such as ‘if BMW gave a feeling of safety’, ‘how well does the word safe describe BMW’, and indicate agreement on a scale from one to five with the word safe. In all three instances, (Yes , Yes, and 4.1) a positive response was received. Similar results were with reliable/trustworthy/security and social approval/upper class/prestige questions. Survey questions related to positioning for a more youthful market were not associated as well with the BMW name. Tools Brand Elements BMW utilizes most of the brand elements in building its brand image. Assessment of the brand elements that helped BMW build brand equity revealed that the name is simple and easy to remember. Although very few in our survey new what BMW meant, all recognized the name BMW, and over eighty percent recalled they were in the luxury car market. The BMW logo is simple with blue and white background colors (which are the colors of the Bavarian flag). The slogan is the most important element due to its relevance. None of the survey questions allow us to quantitatively judge the effectiveness of the logo or slogan. In the strict context, packaging as a brand element doesn’t apply to cars since they are not sold with any extraneous protective or packaging material. A case can be made many consider the automotive body as a form of packaging surrounding occupants. As packaging, the body is also important since looks are quite important to consumers in this market. The survey results indicate brand judgments based on packaging to be in agreement with some terms such as stylish looking, but weaker on more youthful terms such as sexy and magnificent.

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BMW’s brand elements meet the six criteria. Memorability is strong because the commonly used name consists of three letters. Its simplicity assists in the development of high level of brand recall measured in the survey. The brand element of meaningfulness is strengthened since BMW is an abbreviation of the company’s formal full name. The uniqueness of the letters BMW ha s allowed the company to protect the name, and the protectability is enforceable because any other 3- letter name similar to it would be an obvious attempt to violate BMW’s trademark. Another criterion that is met is likeability. The survey indicated that BMW is not only known but considered somewhat admirable and concerned with their customers also. Part of this may be a result of the brand elements. The transferability criterion was not met according to our survey. Everyone in our survey had heard of BMW, but they couldn’t name any specific models. Furthermore, we see no attempts at linking the luxury car division with the motorcycle, or any other divisions of BME Group. Comparing sales of the different models would be a better indication of transferability then a survey. If a ‘sportier’ model has an equal or greater market share then the more traditional models, transferability would be confirmed. BMW’s past element adaptability could be measured by sales more accurately by historical market share then by a survey. Its current adaptability may be better measured by a focus group then a survey. The survey results indicate the BMW brand element is adaptable since over ninety percent described BMW as ‘up to date engineering’, eighty four percent rated BMW as ‘durable’, and seventy percent rated them ‘stylish’. The products capability provides much of this opinion, but again, the elements support those feelings. These results also indicate the survey participant’s level of brand awareness.

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Secondary Associations Since BMW is originated in Germany, the country of origin becomes linked to the brand and generates positive secondary associations. More specific, Germany has become known for expertise in engineering. Thus, BMW was able to create a strong point of difference in part because of consumers’ identification of and beliefs about Germany’s expertise in engineering.

Current Marketing Program New Marketing Approaches Analysis of BMW’s marketing programs showed us that BMW embraced new approaches. BMW does more personalized marketing like experimental marketing. This promotes the product by not only communicating the product’s features and benefits but also connecting it with unique and interesting experiences. The “Ultimate Driving Machine” advertisements emphasize the driver’s link to the car and the road for an enhanced driving experience. BMW also offers test drives to deliver a desirable customer experience and lead them to action. This is the point-of-difference between them and their competitors. The idea is not to sell something, but to demonstrate how the brand can enrich the consumer’s life.

Another tool that BMW effectively uses is one -to-one marketing in order to strengthen the BMW brand perception at the individual customer level. To a certain extent BMW does customize the vehicles by adding or eliminating options for individual customer. But all automotive dealers do. BMW also has tools for responding to the customer through the one on one contact with its salesmen in the showroom and through its website. But again all dealers do, so again this provides no competitive advantage.

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