BMW the Ultimate Attraction - Case Study Example

? BMW – THE ULTIMATE ATTRACTION RESEARCH ANALYSIS REPORT The CEO BMW - Headquarters [Insert (The Address of November 2011 The Chief Executive Officer B.M.W – Headquarters Munich, Germany Dear Sir, BMW has been in the market providing a premium automobile to the premium consumer for more than a century now. Its unique product design backed by cut throat marketing campaigns have lead BMW to a massive brand awareness and an impressive chunk in the market. Coupled with the experience offered by BWM rather than a mere drive, high performance and super luxury is what entails the brand of BMW. BMW’s advertisement strategies have been effectively executed in the past and especially short films with Clive Owen, a Hollywood star, has further leveraged the brand equity of BMW. However, one of recent BMW’s advertisements which appeared in Canada features somewhat inappropriate concept against a greater good. This advertisement features an intimate couple with a picture of BMW’s picture concealing the face of the woman. This may be offensive to some cultures living across Canada and might serve the purpose contrary to the company’s objectives. For this advertisement, a focus group of about 20 to 30 people were given a survey questionnaire to gauge the receptiveness and effectiveness of the ad. A detailed analysis of the advertisement is done in this report along with the results of the research. This would help BMW to get a picture of the effect which this ad might have had on the target. I hope you will consider this report to be the base of any further decision which you would take for the betterment of BMW. Sincerely, (Insert Your Name) (Insert Your University) Table of Contents 1LIST OF FIGURES 4 2EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 3INTRODUCTION 6 4RESEARCH 7 4.1Research Method 7 4.2Question-wise responses and their findings: 8 4.2.1Questions 1 – 2: 8 4.2.2Question 3 and 4 9 4.2.3Question 5 9 4.2.4Question 6 10 4.2.5Question 7 12 4.2.6Question 8 13 4.2.7Question 9 and 10 13 4.2.8Question 11 14 4.2.9Question 12 15 4.2.10Question 13 16 5CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 17 6APPENDIX 18 7BIBLIOGRAPHY 21 Particular Content Page No Exhibit 1 Advertisement of BMW – The ultimate attraction 6 Figure 1 Response of Question 1 of the Survey Questionnaire 8 Figure 2 Response of Question 2 of the Survey Questionnaire 8 Figure 3 Response of Question 3 of the Survey Questionnaire 9 Figure 5 Response of Question 5 of the Survey Questionnaire 9 Figure 6 Response of Question 6 of the Survey Questionnaire 11 Figure 7 Response of Question 7 of the Survey Questionnaire 12 Figure 8 Response of Question 8 of the Survey Questionnaire 13 Figure 9 Response of Question 9 of the Survey Questionnaire 13 Figure 10 Response of Question 10 of the Survey Questionnaire 14 Figure 11 Response of Question 11 of the Survey Questionnaire 14 Figure 12 Response of Question 12 of the Survey Questionnaire 15 Figure 13 Response of Question 13 of the Survey Questionnaire 16 1 LIST OF FIGURES 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The objective of this report is to present a detailed analysis of an advertisement of BMW featured in the market of Canada. The advertisement contains strong and creative execution of an idea of a car – BMW specifically, being “The Ultimate Attraction”. The execution of the advertisement however, may be inappropriate for some audiences. Some may take offence whereas other s may feel discomfort and some might react positively towards the brand. These mixed feelings are scaled down through research in the form of a survey which was conducted online to gauge people’s perception and reaction to the advertisement. The report contains the analysis of the data which was extracted from the research and then, this data is interpreted into results of the ad campaign. 3 INTRODUCTION The brand of BMW revolves around the concept of intimacy which is centered in the ad. This goes against its corporate identity of a brand build on high performance and technology, as explained by Rosengarten, Philipp G, and Christoph B. Stu?rmer. In their publication: Premium Power: The Secret of Success of Mercedes-Benz, Bmw, Porsche and Audi. The man in the ad seems to be intimate with the car apparently in lieu of a woman. The advertisement presents three elements all together. What first catches the eye is a couple being intimate which is followed by the magazine centerfold picture of a BMW placed on the woman’s face as a more preferred substitute. This represents the elements of a humorous puffery ad which can create entirely opposite reactions amongst the audience. Some may be amused while others must have felt uncomfortable and so on (Rosengarten et al, 2006). 4 RESEARCH 4.1 Research Method A sample questionnaire was designed and conducted online to find out a general response of the ad amongst the target market. The questionnaire was aimed to finding out how the target audience reacts when exposed to the advertisement. The main objective of this research was to see whether the advertisement was effective or contained flaws in accordance with the values and expectations of the audience, especially women who might find this offensive according to John Wood’s publication on advertising which may offend women (Wood, 1982). The elements of intimacy and humor in the ad are prominent enough to catch the eye of a potential consumer. However the brand is being exhibited at a very small level. The aim of this research was also to gauge the integration of all the elements in the ad and to see whether the ad had stopping power. Besides this, the objective of every advertisement, as explained by Wells, William, John Burnett, and Sandra E. Moriarty, in their book: Advertising: Principles & Practice, is to generate top-of-mind brand recall for the advertised brand (Wells et al, 1999). The survey questionnaire was also aimed to help decide whether the ad was fulfilling its basic objective – to create the top-of-mind brand recall. The questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first part aimed to demonstrate people’s preferences and role of advertisements in their purchase decision. In the second part of the questionnaire, the advertisement was shown to them which followed questions relevant to their perception of the ad, attitude towards the ad, immediate response. The responses were then analyzed to see what elements of the ad were most effective on the consumer and what elements were least effective, hence determining the overall effect of the ad campaign. 4.2 Question-wise responses and their findings: 4.2.1 Questions 1 – 2: The first two questions were to know the demographics of the target audience. The audience was predominantly male and belonged to the young age-group. As portrayed in the ad, which features a young couple who appear to be between the age-group of 25 – 30, the research was conducted amongst a relatively younger audience. 4.2.2 Question 3 and 4 The third and the forth question asked the participants about the type of car which they drive and what brand of car could they afford. A majority of about 70% of the target audience drives a sedan out of which, 30% could afford the lower category brands of Toyota and Honda. 4.2.3 Question 5 This question asked what factors the audience would consider while buying a car. This can further be helpful in deciding brand positioning of BWM. Mixed responses were received from this question. The options were: luxury, low maintenance, brand image, mileage, durability, good resale value, the experience and speed. The responses indicated that most number of the target audience graded ‘low maintenance’ and ‘durability’ as most considered. This was 17.5 percent respectively amongst the target audience. However, luxury, mileage and good resale value follow closely at 15.8%, 15.8% and 14% respectively. The advertisement however, focuses on the attraction of men towards cars in a humorous way. A very few (3.5%) of the people would consider ‘brand image’ and as the advertisement does not have any relevance to the factors important to the consumers, it is more likely to be viewed once and forgotten and very less likely to bring the brand of BMW in the consideration set of a potential consumer. Moreover, the brand of BMW is known for its performance and technological excellence therefore the current campaign does not meet the criterion which falls under consumers’ expectations from the brand of BMW (Rosengarten et al, 2006). 4.2.4 Question 6 The question aimed to understand the role of advertisements generically in the consumer decision making process while buying a car. The role of advertisements was found to be low as 45% of the responses indicated that they’d rather have other means of information for research while planning to buy a car. This does not imply that automobile ads are ineffective altogether. Renowned brands like BMW, Mercedes, Hummer, Audi etc do not need to advertise like smaller brands. However, an ad campaign must muster all the relevant information and create a buzz in the minds of the consumers. This ad of BMW will have no role in influencing the buying decision of the consumers as it does not say anything about any car of any model rather, this is merely a corporate campaign to leverage the corporate brand identity (Rosengarten et al, 2006; Garbett, 1981). The rest of the questions altogether form the second part of the questionnaire in which, the participants were asked to view the ad prior to answering the questions. 4.2.5 Question 7 The question asked how much time the participants approximately took to notice the magazine centerfold concealing the woman’s face. 60% of the responses claim to have noticed the magazine instantly. This can be a good sign. As Burnett explains in his book Advertising: Principles and Practice, that advertisements with sex appeal are ineffective as the brands advertized through sex appeal, have less probability to get registered as it is the sex appeal alone which lead to a high ad recall (Wells et al, 1999). 4.2.6 Question 8 This question attempts to gauge the imagery of the advertisement with a question which asks about the most prominent color in the ad. Skin color and red color have proved to be the most prominent ones however, white, which is in the emblem and the logo of BMW, is somewhat overshadowed. Given a scenario, where the logo of BMW would be hidden, people would hardly see it as an advertisement of an automobile company. 4.2.7 Question 9 and 10 Figure 9: A) BMW 7 Series; (B) BMW M6; (C) BMW 3 Series; (D) Can’t comprehend; (E) Other Related to question 7, these questions were meant to see what elements of the ads were most prominent and noticeable. The responses indicate that the element of humor and intimacy puts the brand in shade. Moreover, the participants could not comprehend what car of BMW was being exhibited. As noted above, the objective of this advertisement seems to generate a buzz of the corporate brand of BMW that its cars are “the ultimate attraction”. 4.2.8 Question 11 Having received somewhat balanced responses for this question, the consumers have however shown interest for the brand as their immediate emotion. However, other emotions of disgust and discomfort were also reported by the audience. This interest might be generated through the humor which was portrayed in the advertisement. 4.2.9 Question 12 This question asked the target audience directly if they would bring BMW in their consideration set while buying a car based on the concept in the advertisement. An overwhelming response of negative is registered here. This means that this ad, even as a corporate campaign, does not have the power to make its way in the consideration set of the consumers. Assertions made in the analysis of question 5 are proved by the responses of this question as the consumers will merely be entertained and hence, the brand will be overshadowed in this vampire activity. 4.2.10 Question 13 Figure 12 The ad seems to be perceived negatively against the moral and social values of the consumers. 55% of the responses confirm to have been offended by the imagery and the concept presented in this ad. 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS The objective of this ad campaign seems to be a corporate ad which aims to promote the corporate identity of BMW. BMW is known for providing luxury cars to the market. The brand itself is positioned as a luxury brand with attributes of high performance and high technology (Rosengarten, et al, 2006). The ad in question personifies the level of attraction which a man would feel for a BMW car. Mixed with humor and the factor of intimacy, the image of the brand portrayed by this ad, seems to be inconsistent with the brand image and the corporate identity of BMW besides being offensive to women (Rosengarten, et al, 2006; Wood, 1982). The ad in question seems to be repositioning the brand of BMW towards a younger audience judging from its imagery. With the current scenario present, where the market is highly competitive, a better strategy would be to stick to the brand’s consistent image of high performance. This is because the brand is already established in the market therefore, de-freezing and freezing the market would be very risky as the current customer base which BMW has, might be taken over by competition. A better strategy would be present the brand in the same way, promoting the factors of luxury associated with the brand. This does not mean that the brand should not explore creative ideas in its advertising campaigns. Instead, it must explore endless possibilities of executing an idea which presents the image of the brand as per its established image to further leverage its brand equity (Wells et al, 1999). 6 APPENDIX Male   Female  2)  Please choose your age group 20 – 30   30 – 35   35 – 40   40 – 50   3)  What car do you drive? Coupe   Sedan   SUV   4)  What brand of car can you afford? Suzuki Cutlus, Suzuki Liana   Toyota Corolla; Honda-City, Honda-Civic   Toyota-Premio, Toyota-Mark X; Honda-Accord   Toyota-Land Cruiser, Prado    Mercedes   Audi   BMW   Hummer   None on the above     Other (Please Specify): 5) What is the most important factor you look for in a car? (You may select more than one option)   Luxury   Low Maintenance   Brand image   Mileage   Durability   Good resale value   The Experience   Speed   Other (Please Specify): 6)  What role do advertisements play in your choice of a car? High   Low   None   7) Please refer to this picture for questions 7 - 12. Q7). How long did it take for you approximately to notice the magazine? 2 seconds   1 second   Instantly    Other (Please Specify): 8)  What colors in the attached advertisement are most prominent? Skin color   Red   Black   White   Green   9)  What elements of this ad are most prominent? Brand    Humor   Intimacy    Other (Please Specify): 10)  What model and make of BMW is featured in the magazine on the woman’s face? BMW 7 Series   BMW M6   BMW 3 Series   Can’t comprehend    Other (Please Specify): 11) After looking at the ad, what were your immediate feelings? Disgust   Arousal   Discomfort   Interest for the brand    Other (Please Specify): 12)  Would you be interested to look into buying a BMW based on the concept portrayed in the attached ad? Yes   No  13)  Does this ad in any way go against your moral and social values? Yes   No   7 BIBLIOGRAPHY Wood, John. Advertising and Women's Portrayal: What Women Find Offensive. Canberra City: Office of Women's Affairs, 1982. Print. Wells, William, John Burnett, and Sandra E. Moriarty.Advertising: Principles & Practice. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall, 1999. Print Belch, George E, and Michael A. Belch. Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2012. Print. Garbett, Thomas F. Corporate Advertising: The What, the Why, and the How. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981. Print. Rosengarten, Philipp G, and Christoph B. Stu?rmer.Premium Power: The Secret of Success of Mercedes-Benz, Bmw, Porsche and Audi. Basingstoke [UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Print Read More