Excerpt
List of contents
1. Introduction
2. Description of the brand Mini and its attributes
3. Analysis of the brand performance
4. Explanation of Brand Performance and Customer perception
5. Analysis of future performance
6. Conclusion
7. Bibliography
8. Appendix 1 - Customer based Brand Equity
9. Appendix 2 - Positioning of Mini and its competitors
10. Appendix 3 - 2010 Apeal Nameplate Ranking
11. Appendix 4 - Customer Service Index Ranking
1. Introduction
Consumers consider automobiles like the Mini not only as a means of conveyance but also express their attitudes towards life. The Mini fascinates people due to its outstanding design and image and touches its owners in an emotional way expressed through the brand’s slogan characterized with an “emotional modifier” (Keller, 2008): Mini “Is it love?“ (Automotive Intelligence, 2001).
Successful automobile manufacturers realized that cars are not only purchased due to rational reasons but that it highly depends on its design, equipment and image. Due to the importance of the customer perception to a brand and also due to an increasing product portfolio, the goal of car makers is to differentiate their brand from competition by building a strong and unique image (Meffert et al., 2008).
The goal of the subsequent paper is to analyse how BMW managed the Mini’s brand significant revival. Beginning with a description of the brand and its related attributes, the paper analyses the Mini’s brand performance in the last five years and its positioning related to its main competitors. Furthermore, it explains the brand’s performance by analysing its customer perceptions and gives some recommendation how to capture and manage future opportunities and challenges.
2. Description of the brand Mini and its attributes
Due to the closure of the Suez Canal and its combined oil crisis the engineer and designer Alec Issigonis received the mission from the British Leyland Motor Corporation to design a fuel-efficient car. During the 1960’s the Mini’s brand gained an image of cult and lifestyle however, the car was accident-sensitive and sales figures dropped significantly which is why the BMW Group overtook the Mini brand in 1994 (Bessing et al., 2006).
BMW created a high-quality product which is well-known and well ranked in consumer reports. The Mini’s pricing starts at €15.550 for the Mini One, €23.650 for the Mini Cooper S, €18.600 for the Mini Clubman and the Cabriolets’ prices start at €20.950 (Geiger, 2010). The Mini is thus more expensive than its competitors like e.g. the VW Polo whose price starts at € 12.275 and ends at € 20.900 for the CrossPolo (Volkswagen AG, 2011). The core brand attributes of the Mini are that the automobile was not created in terms of a retro design, but conceived to be a modern car, that recalls to a stylistic harmonisation in the exterior design with the old Mini including e.g. the big round headlamps (Thunig, 2003) and the “happy face grill” (Elliott, 2009). Further attributes include the Mini’s unique design as well as the possibility to customization to individual tastes. The Mini’s modernisation was insofar the basis for its succesful relaunch, as it was a logical further development of the primordial British Mini’s attributes which hence enabled the brand to maintain its authenticity and substance (Bessing et al., 2006).
BMW presents all its brands and car models in the same way; Minis for €20.000 are presented in the same paradigms like an M6 for €140.000. Hence, no focus is set on different customer segments; BMW and Mini use the same distribution channels and work production-wise very close together (Probst et al, 2006).
3. Analysis of the brand performance
Mini global sales figures (Units sold) 2006 - 2010
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Source: BMW Group, (2006-2010)
The United States followed by Great Britain and Germany count for the biggest sales market for the Mini brand (Auto Clever, 2011). Due to the economic downturn in 2009 Mini listed a considerable deacrease in turnover. However, in 2010 BMW was able to increase sales of the Mini (BMW Group, 2010); especially the Mini Countryman contributed to this performance which according to the
BMW’s sales director Robertson is on the way to become a success model (Auto Clever, 2011). In 2010, BMW achieved a turnover of €60.477 mio. (+19,3%) in comparison to the previous year with €50.681 mio. (Bloomberg, 2011).
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Source: Auto Clever, (2011).
The Mini’s strongest competitor brands are the VW Polo, the Peugeot 207, the Smart, the VW Beetle and the BMW1. The VW Polo and the Peugeot 207 are the Mini’s strongest competitors in terms of market share. However, these competitors do not have the Mini’s lifestyle reference and are mostly purchased due to rational and practical reasons (Thunig, 2003). The Mini’s main competitors in terms of lifestyle are the VW Beetle and the Smart which represent similar symbolic characteristcs but have a much smaller market share than the Mini. A further competitor that counts as the major internal competitor inside the BMW Group is represented by the BMW1.
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Source: Annual reports BMW AG, VW AG, PSA, Daimler AG; (2006-2010)
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