Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

The power of real people helps re-build the Mercedes-Benz brand.

Friday, March 4th, 2011

The power of “real” people in marketing is certainly not new. The latest iteration of  the idea is peer-to-peer marketing in social media. The underlying notion is simple, whether it is social media or a traditional “testimonial” commercial, consumers are more likely to trust the opinion or experience of people that they perceive to be like them…real and therefore trustworthy.

Mercedes-Benz has been in the process of re-building their brand’s core values (see earlier post) and recently has been focusing on safety. Mercedes-Benz’ use of real people to make their case for safety results in a very compelling campaign. Here’s a recent television commercial:

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” The accidents changed their lives, the films could change yours.” While the television commercial is nice, the real power comes if you visit the website.  There you can select from a whole range of films and hear each person’s or family’s story. Here are a couple of examples: (more…)

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Posted in advertising, Auto manufacturers, Branding, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

VW’s Bulli concept, the VW Bus, Jerry Garcia and Yogi; deja vu all over again?

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

Wow.  VW just introduced a new people mover concept in Geneva that has everyone talking.  Understandably so, it’s called the “Bulli” and it’s great:

Obviously this idea shares some genes with the original and iconic VW Bus which many of us associate with the ’60′s, hippies and perhaps a simpler time:

The VW Bus has such a deep connection with the ’60′s, the counter culture and baby boomers, that a tearful one was used in an ad by VW to commemorate Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995:

So a reincarnation of the iconic VW Bus is inherently exciting and interesting to many Americans.  The Bulli concept seems to be creating the kind of interest in Geneva that has everyone hoping that VW will decide to put it into production.

Unfortunately, we’ve been here before.   (more…)

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Posted in Auto manufacturers, Branding, Uncategorized | 10 Comments »

Ford, with Mike Rowe, gets Tier 2 retail right.

Friday, October 1st, 2010

Anyone who has worked in automotive marketing knows how tough it is to do really good Tier 2 advertising.

Here’s the issue.  Tier 1 is funded by the manufacturer and is often referred to as the “brand” communications.  Tier 3 is the communications funded and executed at the local level by individual dealers.  Tier 2 is caught betwixt and between.

Funded in part by the manufacturer and in part by the local market dealer groups.  Tier 2 must serve two masters.  The manufacturer wants to be sure that the work reflects the brand and makes the doors swing whereas the dealers are understandably concerned with just making the doors swing.  Just to make it more difficult, the manufacturer’s marketing team and the dealers often have a different points-of-view about what will make the doors swing.

Tier 2 is where the brand versus retail discussion often gets very heated.   It is very tough to find a balance between the brand and retail messages.  More often than not, you end up erring toward the retail.  We all know what this formula looks like.  The TV commercials are visuals of the vehicle on the road, held together by a litany of product features in the copy and you tie it up with a bow…the deal.  The newsprint is a visual of the car, a couple of sentences covering key features, the deal and some legal disclaimers.

This leads to a sea of sameness when it comes to Tier 2 communications.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.   (more…)

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Posted in advertising, Auto manufacturers, Automotive Retail, Retail, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

How “naughty” do you want your Volvo?

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Volvo has, since the ’70s  all but owned “safety” in the automotive segment.  Not a bad place to be…do you know anyone who’d prefer an unsafe car?

Brilliant work by Scali, McCabe, Sloves took Volvo from the choice of professors in tweed jackets to the boomer choice for family hauling. The Volvo wagon was a staple in the suburbs on both coasts.  Volvo was even featured in the movie “Crazy People” where Dudley Moore played an ad man who decided that being honest was a good idea and suggested that Volvos were “Boxy but good:

While the brand became part of popular culture and owned safety, it has struggled with that one-dimensional view for years. Volvo has its loyalists who love the brand and it’s products but it also has more than its share of detractors for whom the truth of “boxy but good” was a real barrier to purchase.  The challenge has always been how do you retain and nurture the safety reputation while also convincing a broader swath of the car buying population that the brand is cool and emotionally appealing. (more…)

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Posted in advertising, Auto manufacturers, Branding, Strategy, Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Infiniti: From “rocks and trees” to “brush-strokes,” can it become a Tier I luxury brand?

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Yesterday’s Automotive News had a brief piece about Infiniti marketing that struck me as interesting.  In it, they reported that “Infiniti has told its dealer advisory group that it is committing to a five-year run for the new ‘Way of Infiniti’ campaign–a long-term pledge intended to reassure retailers that the brand will have a consistent message.”

I immediately thought to myself “Good for them.”

Infiniti from the very beginning has had a difficult time establishing a brand identity and finding a way to execute it in communications. Introduced in 1989, Infiniti was Nissan’s response to the introductions of the other Japanese luxury marques, Acura and Lexus.  The original Q45 was a sporty performance alternative to the Lexus. Unfortunately, Infiniti got off to a rough start when it introduced the car and brand with the infamous “rocks and trees” campaign created by its agency Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos.

The “rocks and trees” campaign sought to present Infiniti as the result of the unique Japanese culture and sensibility.  The campaign attempted to make its Japanese origin an asset, similar to the way that the German brands have used their ‘German-ness.’  The Infiniti ads were very different than any automotive company had ever done (they didn’t even show the car initially).   (more…)

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Posted in advertising, Auto manufacturers, Branding, Strategy, Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

Mercedes-Benz: will they bring back “Engineered like no other car in the world.”?

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

For many years I have been concerned that many once great automotive brands have been allowed to fall into disrepair. Mercedes-Benz, a prime example, has been sliding ever since the early ’90s when it walked away from “Engineered like no other car in the world.” Superior engineering was deemed “unsupportable” in a market filled with able competitors like Lexus.  Then unfortunately, Mercedes-Benz went through a period where its product quality was questionable.  It seemed that the strategists were right, Mercedes-Benz could no longer hang it’s hat on its engineering creds.

That conclusion has always bothered me.  I’ve always thought that Mercedes-Benz had a its own brand of engineering, it wasn’t always “better” than anyone else’s (although often it is), but I always felt it was “different” and therefore uniquely Mercedes-Benz.  It always seemed crazy to walk away from one of the four or five true category drivers.  But in an effort to “broaden” the appeal of Mercedes-Benz, they gave themselves credit for engineering and assumed that all their customers and prospects understood the core of the brand.

After years of neglect, it seems to me that the marketers at Mercedes-Benz are returning to the brand’s authentic roots and regaining their focus on engineering. Here are two commercials that have been on-air recently:

(more…)

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Posted in advertising, Branding, Strategy, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

MAP just published in Advertising Age.

Friday, May 7th, 2010

Link to article.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »