Product and Branding Strategies - Essay Example

But overall the two main competitors of BMW are Mercedes and Lexus (Carscoop 2011) All these names are of the luxury car manufacturers. The reason that BMW automobiles are different from its competitors’ vehicles is that BMW offers a wide range of vehicles from luxury to sports cars. BMW vehicles are different on the basis of its design. BMW vehicles are designed keeping in mind the biasness towards sports, whereas Mercedes are designed keeping in mind the comfort and luxury attributes. Innovation rate at BMW is high as compared to the competitors.

It has several series or categories of vehicles unlike other vehicle brands e.g. z-series, x-series etc. Brand personality of BMW is of a person who is mobile, wants recognition and freedom. The person wants to be considered important by others. He wants the people to look at him. He is a symbol of status. This refers to the recognition trait of the personality. The freedom trait refers to that the person is free and can go beyond the boundaries anywhere it wants. He wants fun and looks for adventure (Freeman.

David 2006) Consumers have a deep relationship with the brand of BMW. This relationship is significant because consumers do not buy this brand only because it performs well but also because it adds meaning to their lives (Fournier.Susan 1998) Consumers associate themselves with the BMW vehicles personally. IT can be explained simply by saying that a consumer can buy other automobile brands as well which performs well and is of high quality but they prefer BMW vehicles because it has more meaning attached to it.

Consumers get more than just a better performing automobile. People relate to the brands they buy. The consumer relationship with the BMW vehicles will lie under the typology of “Best Friend” and “Kinship” (Fournier.Susan 1998) Some consumers consider BMW vehicles as an important part of their personal and professional lives and many others buy the brand just because some relative have been using it. BMW have a huge customer loyalty. People who drive BMW vehicles hardly switch to other vehicle brands.

A reason for this customer loyalty is that BMW is a luxury brand; not everyone can afford it. Anyone who will make this huge investment in the purchase of a BMW vehicle will somehow be loyal to the brand; otherwise he could have made a decision of purchasing some other luxury car brand. Another reason for this customer loyalty is that BMW vehicles give a lifetime value to its customers, though some of its competitors have greater customer loyalty. BMW’s target market include of those people who want to buy luxury cars, who have high incomes.

BMW is basically targeting a niche market. It has differentiated its vehicles and targets them to the niche market of people who are status conscious and who can afford to buy luxury items. The target market comprises of the people who are sporty and look for adventure and BMW sports cars are the best means of fulfilling their desire of sports and adventure. The target market of the brand relates quite well to the brand personality. There is a fit between the target market and the brand personality of BMW.

BMW is an already established brand which requires less marketing efforts. But still some marketing efforts need to be put in to market the upcoming products and to instate the recall of the current vehicles in the minds of the consumers. BMW has well defined brand personality and the target market, so it can make the best decision about