Please analyze below by answering ALL questions. Your discussions should apply the marketing communication theories, target market, brand positioning, and marketing mix principles

1. Explain the importance of the strapline that embodies the essence of the brand.

2. Discuss the following for a brand like BMW:

a) Importance of clear positioning in the marketplace.

b) Changing nature of the communications mix.

c) Potential limitations of online activity such as social media.

High involvement with BMW the Ultimate Driving Machine again

This case illustrates how BMW has moved back to its successful strapline ultimate driving machine after a brief dalliance with its Joy campaign, although BMW maintains that joy was part of the ultimate driving machine and experience anyway. BMWs target market, involvement, potential tension between performance fuel economy and the changes in the media and communications mix used are also considered. The Strapline BMW has returned, in North America at least, to its long-running strapline the Ultimate Driving Machine which is nearly 40 years old as BMW gears up to dominate the North American automobile market at the high end. In terms of the marketing communications tools required to achieve this, television advertising has been, once again, a key ingredient. Henry (2012) suggests that BMW is still indeed The Ultimate Driving Machine and that in fact it always has been. A recent TV ad says, We dont make sports cars. We dont make SUVs. We dont make hybrids. We dont make luxury sedans. We only make one thing: The Ultimate Driving Machine. This is a statement of the obvious. Yet the tagline is a touchy subject inside BMW. For BMW came up with what eventually became a worldwide ad campaign called Joy in time for its sponsorship of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada. The idea was to reinforce the user benefit of owning The Ultimate Driving Machine. BMW never entirely abandoned Ultimate Driving Machine but the Joy campaign started a public uproar that BMW was turning its back on one of the best taglines ever (Henry, 2012). The Target BMW models have been targeted at customers who want luxury, the latest technology and the latest in design. These are customers who are willing to pay a premium price for a very desirable brand. There are, however, a range of target customers including independent, private buyers but also those who are corporate customers who influence the purchase of executive, luxury cars. The latter consist of top executives, business leaders and decision makers from many companies around the world. The target market can be said to be made up of particular types who have certain characteristics, for example who read business magazines and broadsheet newspapers and who watch television news programmes for insights and ideas on trends in relevant sectors and markets including financial and product issues such as high end products and services like a BMW. These are: Top/senior executives, ther professionals and investors Middle management and sales executives who are decision makers and who would influence the car purchase within their companies. Other expert decision makers who are also influencers on the purchase process. Affluent individuals with high disposable incomes SME (small to medium sized enterprise) owner-managers and directors. These types of potential customer are likely to be highly involved customers with the BMW brand. They expect quality, luxury and performance from such a high end brand.

The dilemma that BMW faces is the notion that high performance vehicles might not be seen as fuel-efficient or vice-versa, i.e. if a car is seen as fuel efficient and therefore good for the environment (some might say better for the environment at best), then it will not be seen as dynamic. Certainly the way BMW sees it, it does not matter which model of BMW that is in focus since all BMWs are ultimate driving machines, so that in other segments of the marketplace, say small cars, the BMW positioned there will be an ultimate driving machine, as a premium brand and a great product with high credibility and authenticity. The dilemma that BMW faces is the notion that high performance vehicles might not be seen as fuel-efficient or vice-versa, i.e. if a car is seen as fuel efficient and therefore good for the environment (some might say better for the environment at best), then it will not be seen as dynamic. Certainly the way BMW sees it, it does not matter which model of BMW that is in focus since all BMWs are ultimate driving machines, so that in other segments of the marketplace, say small cars, the BMW positioned there will be an ultimate driving machine, as a premium brand and a great product with high credibility and authenticity.

The Media Given the profile of the various types of potential customer the chosen media for the BMW brand includes traditional as well as non-traditional, newer digital forms. Clearly the media chosen have to be capable of getting the message through to the target audiences. Each medium has to be suitable for each of the BMW products whether it be a 3, 5 or 7 series model, a SUV or sports car model bearing in mind that all are ultimate driving machines. BMW still needs to attract attention and create interest before other tools in the corporate and marketing communications tool box in conjunction with its dealership network can be used and be influential on the buying process, part of which is the evaluation of alternatives. Of course BMW does have competition and there are alternatives. By its very nature a BMW is a high involvement product. It has a high value but a BMW is much more than this whereby many other factors such as self-esteem and self-actualisation come into play. The potential customer will follow through on attention and interest by moving through the stages of the buying decision-making process and because of the extent of involvement a lot of information will be sought before moving on to the next stage of the process.

Clearly the media values need to align with BMW values so that business magazines, broadsheet newspapers, billboards and certain television slots are traditional media contenders to be part of BMWs media mix for advertising. Online activity is important in reaching new buyers. For example the BMW 118i Sport Line 5- door hatch for the European market is seen in a promotional video whereby BMW claimed an 88 million-euro ($110 million) revenue gain for its 1-Series line by wooing customers with a web-only campaign. Bloggers are seen as an important source of messages that are targeted at a growing audience of would-be buyers who cant be reached through TV and newspaper ads. The feedback from blog comments and Twitter feeds also flows back to affect styling and sales forecasts (Webb, 2012). Social media appears important to BMW as an effective means to achieving ROI. Not only do BMW customers have a higher income and education levels but they also have high internet usage and BMW tripled internet advertising spending in Germany to 1.3 million euros in 2012, but this was still behind Audis 3.3 million euros and Mercedesparent Daimlers 3.7 million euros (Webb, 2012). However television spending was still much higher and for Webb the move to scrap ads on Facebook (FB) (by General Motors during 2012) reflect the webs limits. For the present, at least this kind of online activity by luxury car marketers appears to be a supplement to the television medium. Other Communication Tools The rest of the communications mix is tailored by BMW in conjunction with its dealer networks as would be expected. Even for a brand like BMW, sales promotion has to be a consideration. Sales promotion offers additional value and since price deals are unlikely, additional incentives such as test drives, brochures and web activity, for example videos on its YouTube channel, during the buying process can add value. PR at both product and corporate levels is a must in order to manage image and reputation and direct marketing is a useful part of the BMW communications activities, especially in getting potential customers to test drive. Personal selling plays an important role in BMWs communications mix, especially in relation to the dealership networks.